Next I travelled SE to C3 “Future Threads” by Xavid. I had peeked at a review of this before I began, a review which described “Future Threads” as a “hidden objects” game. That describes the last game I played (“His Majesties Royal Space Navy Handbook” at B2) so I imagined this might provide a similar experience. That was not the case at all. Indeed, I’m not sure I’d describe this game as “find hidden object” at all. For me it felt more like a time travel puzzle. The PC has visions of the future, and the power to improve the future by their choices right now. The PC must set things up to protect his young ward, Kayla, from the anticipated arrival of seven murderous aliens. The setting is a jungle environment, presumably African. I don’t know if this was intended as a metaphor for the slave trade, but it could be.
I love time travel yarns, so this was an entertaining conceit. For the first half hour I felt rewarded for the discoveries I could make without the hints section. Almost everything I did precipitated some change in the future revealed through my visions. Close the shutters on the house? The invaders won’t be distracted by their reflections. Eventually, though, my progress slowed down and I turned to the in-game hints. They are well written, not giving away too much information too soon, and I was able to make a few additional discoveries. But eventually that source of insight dried up also; the hints were cycling back to hints I’d already read or (worse) cycling to solutions I’d already discovered and executed on my own without the hints.
After about ninety minutes I looked up David Welbourn’s walkthrough and map. I was closer to the end than I imagined, but there were also aspects of the winning solution that I never would have gotten on my own. The syntax for constructing a magical shield was not at all intuitive. Further, some of my earlier discoveries proved to be red herrings (the state of the window shutters I mentioned earlier is unrelated to Kayla’s ultimate success or failure.)
One thing which impressed me with this game are the number of alternative solutions. Welbourn’s walkthrough makes this clear, but I’d already begun to discover that feature on my own. Objects have properties (sharpness, reflectivity, flammability, tieability and so on). It is the combination of properties which provides the correct solution, not the specific objects; this is a feature in many games which effectively present multiple puzzle solutions (see “Metamorphoses” by Emily Short)