[copying banner idea from Sophia’s review-a-thon banners]
I’m going to put my reviews in this thread, and if there are per-game threads anywhere for those games, I’ll include a cross-post link.
I want to start with the games that I think will take the longest to review, so it may be a while before my first game gets up here. I’ll start with windows downloadable parser games (if any) and go on to over 2 hours games, since those groups take the longest to get reviews.
The Curse by Rob
This is a windows executable game in a custom system. It runs in the command line but also has pop-up windows with html-style formatting for things like hints and pictures.
It describes itself as an old-school 80’s type game with minimal story and mostly puzzles, several of them timed.
The idea is that you are on a mission to help rescue a kidnapped girl but your plane crashes near a pyramid and you find out the kidnapper, a shaman, died and the girl has disappeared.
The game is ultra-minimalistic in text. For instance, the description of the first room is:
You are in the desert.
So from here I can go north south or east.I see the plane.
Wandering around, there are several interesting things, like a foggy area called 'Perdition" and a strange altar.
I had some trouble with the parser. Early on, I was trying to answer the phone, and I had the following exchange:
I see the plane
Incoming video call…
What now Me?
> answer call
Ok.
Incoming video call…
What now Me?
> i
You Own:
a mobile phone
Incoming video call…
What now Me?
> x phone
Let’s see…
Incoming call 0331785692
What now Me?
> push answer
But… the cell phone isn’t ringing
What now Me?
My character’s name was Me because the way the game asked for my name was:
Are you the chosen one?
Who knocks at this door?
and I answered ‘Me’.
Sometimes when I got an error in the game, no matter what my next move was, the error would repeat. For instance:
> x mantle
MANTLE ? It’s not relevant now.
What now Brian?
> go in house
MANTLE ? It’s not relevant now.
What now Brian?
>
There is a help system, that first gives your a kind of riddle hint and then an explicit action. In many places, the only hint is a picture of a mummified hand and the phrase “Do you want a hand? Not now…;-)”. In others it’s more explicit. The hints often refer to things that aren’t in the room description, like walls.
I was able to get into a house with drawings in it, and the hints include a picture with a reversed message, but at that point I got stuck. I’d be happy to try again with a full walkthrough, or if anyone else can get past that point.
The best parts of this game were the cool audio messages and the very nice drawings; very nice additions for a custom command line parser!
Hi Brian. Thanks for taking the time to review my game. I didn’t include the word “push” in the dictionary.
I’ll add it to a future version. (Thanks for pointing that out.)
To answer calls, just type “answer.”
(“Call” to use your cell phone)
Thanks for the tips!
What system did you use for your game? I think the html pop ups are really clever, I haven’t seen anyone do that before, and getting voice through the command line was nice. This looks really complex, how long did it take you to set up?
The compiler is “BCC 6.0” (Powerbasic Console Compiler)
It is an evolution of the old Power Basic for DOS.
The first version in fact ran under DOS.
The system, as you can imagine, was not created for the development of Textual Adventures. So EVERYTHING must be programmed.
It took me several months.
For example, Radicofani, required about 9 months.
The game engine is a masterpiece by Enrico Colombini (the first Italian author of IF) that I slightly modified.
The Master’s Lair by @Stefan_Hoffmann
I’m not finished with this game, but have played more than 2 hours. I’d be happy to finish it later, though!
I’ve seen this game before in the German Grand Prix. I had a goal to beat every game, but when I saw this very large puzzle fest with many complex German words I was overcome by the difficulty and gave up on the Grand Prix.
So it was nice to see an English translation! It also seems to have been updated with new puzzles and more points (2000 vs 810).
You play as a magician seeking a mystical jewel of life hidden in a master magician’s lair. Once you find it, though, you realize that getting out is a whole different problem.
The game has a humorous tone and a wide variety of puzzles. It leans a bit to the risque side, as the master has pornography and is known for seeking after young women.
Gameplay can vary between traditional parser and choice-based, depending on your settings. In choice-based mode, nouns have a drop-down menu with actions, some of which involve other nouns. There are many possibilities, which is good and bad; good because you have to think and can’t just lawnmower through all choices, but bad because it can be hard to find the right option.
I found the puzzles very interesting, especially those involving the stuffed animals. My biggest difficulties were with objects where you need to USE one object WITH another, but if you get the order wrong it doesn’t work (so, for instance, using a key with a door might work but not a door with a key).
There are some minor errors here and there that can be confusing. I had a problem with a snake that I messaged the author about but which I think might be soon fixed, so I’ll update once I get past that part. There is a very helpful hint system with three levels of hints, although occasionally some things don’t have hints or the hints aren’t a complete solution.
I think the only drawback some people may not like is the sheer number of options, with many rooms having many objects which have many interactions. Playing it as a parser game can help, but some objects don’t respond to their in-game names (like ‘left shelf’ must be referred to as ‘leftmost shelf’, I think). I think the people who will like this most are people who like Steve Meretzky’s games (I feel like the tone and puzzles are similar) and are patient with working through puzzles involving a lot of careful examination.
Hello Brian, thanks a lot for the review!
The snake issue is just a small (but very confusing) text problem, nothing went really wrong. I’ll write you a PM later.
Regarding the too many multiple choice options: You can reduce them to a minimum once the game starts (or later in the options). That makes it a lot easier.
Update with some minor fixes is on the way. Thanks a lot! 
Sounds great! This is definitely a game I want to see the end too, I love the setting and atmosphere.
This is very strange. It is almost impossible to get stuck in this game. It seems you have ignored something very important (before the house)
As far as I can remember, this is what I did:
I prayed at the altar and got the fog globe.
I went to perdition and opened the globe.
I was in a room with a cave. I went into the cave. I saw a hill. I went on the hill.
I saw a house. I went into the house. The hints said there were drawings. I looked at the drawings. It was a picture of Anubis.
That’s all I found so far! I do not know what I ignored, it must have escaped my attention, and I’d be happy to know what it is so I can progress!
Hildy by J. Michael
Whew! This was a long game! I used hints a lot but I tried to do as much as I can on my own; I think I solved around 40% of the puzzles without assistance.
This is a Zorkian game, both in style and in setting; many characters from the Zork universe appear and you use its magic system.
The game has a long, linear opening that sets the stage followed by a long open puzzle segment and concluding with an endgame and epilogue.
Storywise, you are essentially a young college student named Hildegard (or, Hildy) who is on the rocks with the superiors. After unwinding, your advisor suggests you go out and clear your head, but that leads you to a long-deserted location where many mysteries await.
The author has made some solid games in the past (Diddlebucker, For the Moon Never Beams), but I think this is the best yet. The early segment is fair and the vast majority of puzzles feel well-clued and logical.
The difficulty is pretty high, though. It’s like Infocom games where sometimes the struggle is knowing that a certain verb or action is even possible. You also have to pay close attention to detail; things can get mentioned early on and then never mentioned again.
Twice I was stymied by not noticing exits, including once very early on (I didn’t realize my bedroom extended to the north).
There are some ‘old chestnut’ puzzles, mainly a logic puzzle involving squares. I didn’t mind it, but I could see others doing so.
I used a walkthrough for much of the game, and I have always done that with large parser games; it’s one reason I’ve completed so many. Without a walkthrough, this game could last many hours, maybe being good for playing over a week or two. Without any hints at all, some things would be very hard to guess, so that would make play take even longer.
So I’d recommend this to two groups of people: those who enjoy the Zorkian setting (who could use a walkthrough or not), and those who want a polished, longer parser game (where I’d recommend not using it).
Very much enjoyed this game.
Wow! Brian, thank you so much for taking the time to play Hildy and for then taking the additional time to write up your thoughts in this review. I am delighted that you enjoyed the game and reading your review made my night. Thank you!
By Zorkian magic, do you mean the Enchanter/Sorcerer/Spellbreaker system?
Yeah, with Gnusto and memorize (although both are automated by special clothing items).
Gotta check that out then! I don’t think it violates the rules to say I have a particular fondness for that system. (Who would have guessed?)
Yeah I think this particular game is right up your alley!
Thank you for your time.
Go back to the cave.
Ask for help (in the cave) (multiple times if you want)
Then you just have to d…
Don’t forget to touch the walls before leaving.
“It’s been a long, long, long time”
(Then… back to the house)
The Bureau of Strange Happenings by Phil Riley
This is a long, polished parser game that took me around 4 hours even using copious hints.
You play as an agent with they/them pronouons in the Bureau of Strange Happenings, a government agency that has recently been defunded due to political shenanigans. You end up in a small town strip mall and, even worse, all your devices have to be turned in and replaced.
Unfortunately, your phone has been locked inside your new desk. Getting it out is, in many ways, the big puzzle of the game.
I was excited to see a game about supernatural happenings, but I was kind of bummed because for the first 30-50 minutes I was met with a series of mundane challenges and events–trying to get into a laundromat, using a pawn shop, etc.
Using hints to get past that, I realized that it went so long without supernatural shenanigans because it was the prologue for a much bigger game. I remember after a couple hours of play landing in a large suburban town with over a dozen locations and thinking, ‘okay, I’m going to bed, I’ll handle this in the morning’. There’s a lot of content, and it’s super-polished; I didn’t encounter any bugs.
I do think the entrance point for the supernatural was perhaps too obscure; I had to find one of many rooms, and in that room which had many objects examine something that was only briefly mentioned, and then go to a specific location to use it. I don’t think I would have ever figured it out without either using hints or careful examination (which, to be fair, is true for a lot of parser games).
I enjoyed the unusual directions in this game. I also enjoyed several slow realizations about what is going on; this game really includes a lot of ‘delayed punchline’ or Chekhov’s gun moments.
The difficulty level is high, and I relied very heavily on hints. There is a large proliferation of keys, knicknacks, red herrings, books, and so on.
Story-wise, it’s heavy on atmosphere and world-building over pure plot. The game makes use of (spoilers) lizard people as the main enemy; while some have used this concept as anti-semitic conspiracy in the past, that doesn’t seem to be the case at all in this game, which has a much more X-Files feel.
To me, the roughest part of the game was frequently not knowing what to do. The best parts of the game were the innovative directions and compass system and the big suburban puzzle.
I don’t plan on doing transcripts for all games, but I’ve included one here.
mathbrush1.txt (571.0 KB)
A Very Strong Gland by Arthur DiBianca
What a fun little game!
This is a single-stroke parser game, a genre which I’ve seen a few of in the last year or two and not many more before then. So a single keypress becomes an entire command. It was disconcerting at times (especially trying to repeat past commands by hitting the up arrow, which maps to NORTH) but I eventually got the hold of it.
The idea is that you’re kidnapped by aliens who submit you to nonsensical tests, until disaster strikes. Now they rely on you for help!
Gameplay is limited to only two action: eXamine and Touch. A few other commands like LOOK and WAIT also work. This may not seem like a lot to work with, but it’s like the Library of Babel. That library is a conceptual idea where every possible 410-page book is in a library, containing essentially any novel that is ever written. Someone once pointed out that it’s not as weird as you might think, as you could make your own ‘library of babel’ with two books that only have one page each (one with a 0 in it and one with a 1 in it); by reading them in the right order, you could reproduce any possible text.
So it’s the same idea here. The simple two commands are made more complex by having cycling environmental elements, like buttons that do different things every time you touch them, or timers you can set off, or additional attributes you can acquire and then remove (which behave like extra verbs). So the limited command set is just a blind.
This is really hard to come up with puzzles for; I wrote a giant game last year with different areas, and one I specifically wanted to mimic Arthur DiBianca’s style. It was by far the hardest to code, the most buggy, and the hardest to figure out, trying to wrassle tons of moving scenes and machine parts.
The puzzles in this game are similar to math research, where you just try to find patterns or loopholes and bang your head against a wall until you solve it. I got stuck in the middle, and was typing up a question to ask for help, but as I typed I figured it out. The final puzzle stymied me too; I had the right idea, but my timing was off.
The story is sparse but has funny parts. Everything familiar has a goofy name and everything goofy has a familiar name. Objects are clearly chosen so that they start with distinct letters of the alphabet (like ‘yo-yo’). Overall the aliens reminded me of those in the movie Home.
I had fun with this. Several of the puzzles were very frustrating before I solved them and fun after.
Under the Cognomen of Edgar Allen Poe
This was a hefty TADS game that I took several hours to play. It employs a variety of perspectives and player characters, and uses literary quotes, mostly from Poe.
The game primarily takes place in two time periods. One is set in the present (or around the present), in which an author has been discharged from the hospital after a explosion in a skyscraper leaves him wounded. The other is set in 1800s Baltimore where Edgar Allen Poe lies raving in a hospital sickbed.
The modern parts, while they include puzzles, are more story oriented, light on puzzles, and philosophical, while the older parts are an atmosphere-heavy mystery with puzzles and codes.
The city of Baltimore is fairly large, although the author has kept the total number of rooms to a small amount and gatekeeps them a few at a time to keep from getting overwhelmed.
The story that plays out is one that many can relate to, commenting on writing and authorship itself in a way that I found delightful. The exact specifics of who is who and what we were meant to believe and what is true can be difficult to suss out at times, but I’m thinking about replaying in the future to nail down those parts.
I became very stuck at one point due to the nature of some of the puzzles in Baltimore that are based on elapsed time. Something had changed without my being aware of it, and I went through every hint in the help section and couldn’t figure it out, and even dumped the strings in the game and that didn’t help, until I wandered around a bit more. So I’d say that frequent exploration, careful examination, and gathering everything not nailed down (and maybe some that is) are definitely helpful here.
Overall, the game has a literary or cinematic feel, much like Photopia. The game itself focuses on two ideals for writers: popularity with the masses vs critical acclaim. I wonder which of the two ideals the author believes this game to be aiming towards, and which the audience response will be closest to (of course neither or both are a possibility). I love the idea, the writing rolled easily over my mind. I did have to take frequent breaks as there is quite a bit of information and it could be a lot to digest at times, what with both in-game puzzles, the big area, the multiple narrative layers and the mysteries left to the reader to puzzle out even after the game is over.
The author’s most recent game before this, According to Cain, won the XYZZY Award and placed highly in IFComp. I found this game fairly similar in length, quality and difficulty to that one, but with more of an emphasis on the passage of time and interactive NPCs and with more unity in the story while According to Cain had more unity in the puzzles.
