Good parser IF to recommend to novices?

[Hidnook]

I talked about this already elsewhere:

@Hidnook

My first (completed) game was Violet, which is nice because it introduces various puzzle mechanics but is contained in one room, so everything you need is right in front of you. I then played Lost Pig, which is longer than Violet and has more difficult/less hinted puzzles.

There are of course numerous other beginner-friendly games. Many people here will suggest The Dreamhold because it does a good job at slowly introducing new features. In my experience, though, it was still too overwhelming. So, You’ve Never Played a Text Adventure Before, Huh? is a pretty good introduction, too, with lots of references. Galatea is not your traditional parser game, and more like an interrogation where you ask an animate statue about a ton of different topics, with different endings. You may also find 77 Verbs helpful for all 77 standard verbs in the Inform [1] library. It is less an introduction to how to play parser games and more to get you familiar with all the verb options (not all of these will be used in all games).

I don’t think Counterfeit Monkey is a good choice. Puzzles are far too unconventional. You want novices to get conventional stuff so they can learn the conventions of parser, not show them a coding masterpiece, or they’ll expect the same level of wordistry in other IF.

Photopia is great early on too, but introduce a different, more beginner-friendly one first.