64 | FORBIDDEN LORE
64 | FORBIDDEN LORE
by: Alex Crossley
Progress:
- I spent about 50 minutes with this game, reaching an ending. This isn’t very representative of the amount of time it would take to normally play the game, because almost all of my progress in the game was dictated by the walkthrough. I will say more about that later, but for whatever reason, the clue style did not mesh well with how I’ve learned to play these games over the last few weeks.
Things I Appreciated:
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This game is incredibly effective at immersing you in the feeling that you are doing arcane research. The scope of the game’s lore, library, and logic is sprawling and disorganized. To honestly play this game, you would have to do what an actual researcher would do: take copious notes, define terms and concepts to see how they connect to each other. The game delivers in a strong way on the concept that it promises.
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I like the murkiness of the various factions. Every faction, agent, or historical figure in the game is some degree of self-interested or otherwise untrustworthy, so it’s really up to the player to decide how they want to interpret what they’re seeing.
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One of the only moments that I made progress on my own, was when I realized that I could talk to the bust in the room. That was an exciting moment, because I felt like I had intuited something correctly in the game. I imagine had I not gotten overly spoiled with the walkthrough, more moments like this would’ve happened. I liked the fact that I could speak with non-standard NPCs. When I read the book about a conversation with a mysterious entity, it made me want to figure out more about them to see if I, too, could have a conversation with some kind of otherworldly demonic figure.
Feedback/Recommendations/Questions:
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I think this is the type of game that I could only enjoy if there was no walkthrough. I had to go to the walkthrough early because I didn’t understand what I was even trying to do, and quickly realized that the game was incredibly difficult. Like at a basic level: since when was there a “seventh” bookcase? It’s not a game that benefits from fast-paced exploration in any way. I think this is the type of game that should be played over a longer period of time, and very deliberately, with the player taking notes and frequently rereading every bit of text. Looking at the walkthrough ended up poisoning my playthrough because I saw steps and was like, I’d never have thought to do that, so I ended up just looking at more and more of it to even get a sense of how to play. So what I’m saying is: the approach of playing this in the context of 60+ games in a short period of time, which is what I’m doing here, is not the right approach. This game, if approached outside of the competition context, for players who want something that requires a lot of deliberation and extrapolation, would be really good, I think.
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That being said: I was still craving the types of commands I had encountered in previous games. Even if I, the player, doesn’t know what’s going on, surely the in-universe protagonist has a better sense of things. A command like “think” from The Bat, where the protagonist recalls a list of their current goals for the player, would help with the overwhelming sense of wtf-am-I-even-supposed-to-be-trying-to-do that permeated my time with the game. If my character was like, I’m interested in learning more about x thing, I would’ve been able to focus on that aspect of the lore and made connections that way, rather than the lore just kind of swirling as a ceaseless mass of undifferentiated information. Similarly, something like the “spellbook” from Hildy would be useful: a list of powers/abilities that the character has gained through their research, so that it would be clear that progress is being made. This would shift the focus on puzzles from “what can I even do/what should I even want to do” to “here’s some things I could do/how and why should I use them?” Becoming aware that I was now capable of casting fireballs would’ve gotten me thinking: okay. Is there something I want to burn? What can I accomplish by burning something? Where is fire mentioned in the lore? And maybe that’s not the game Forbidden Lore wants to be. It probably wants to be as unapproachable as it is, to force players to really earn their progress, and have it feel thematically appropriate. But for where I am at in this IF Comp response process and parser game skill level, I really needed a bit more structure and guidance than the game presented. At the very least, tell me that there are seven bookcases at the outset, since that’s something that the character in the room would plainly be able to observe.
What I learned about IF writing/game design:
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For a few games, I’ve talked about how long room descriptions create focus problems and frustration when the long list of description mentions things that you can’t interact with, and how important it is to be concise. Here, I guess, is the rare example of what happens when descriptions are underwritten. Most often you’ll receive information that is just the bare minimum or slightly less than what you need to be signaled to do something. The writing errs on the side of implication and subtlety, which I was not well-tuned for. I think it’s good to have examples from both sides of this dilemma to help triangulate how the “right” amount of explicit description feels.
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This was a great example of theme/content aligning with structure. It’s a game about occult research, that is structured to feel like you are doing occult research. I think it creates a distinctive experience when this type of alignment is possible.
Quote:
- “For a practitioner of the dark arts, you are very ordinary looking.”
Lasting Memorable Moment:
- When I suddenly had the thought, can I use the mirror to… go to the MOON?! The answer: yes, but… maybe it’s not the best idea to just teleport to the moon without a plan. There’s no air there.
