Noah's IF Spaceworld 2023- Evaluations

Competitions IFComp
82

Codename: Obscura (Mika Kujala)

What it is about: You’re a member of a detective agency and must apprehend some notorious boss of a criminal syndicate, and obtain, once again, the Holy Grail. Less of a murder mystery, more of a covert ops sort of thing. Unlike Vambrace of Destiny, there is an actual story and a real-world location.

The good: At least there are pictures of your surroundings. The 8-bit retro-style ZX Spectrum UI feels so engaging, yet relatively unfamiliar, considering all parser games I’ve reviewed prior have no graphics, but this is what makes it stand out. The false accusation early on ups the ante. Passwords play an important role here, not just (key) items- of which there are again plenty of. You can do plenty of things here, some rather out-of-place, but no less: wear a toga, pat a cat, throw a boomerang, buy a carpet, and so on.

The bad: It is a must for us to speak in Italian? The usage of the use command feels out of place sometimes- it is more intuitive to ‘use A on B’ for instance. Sometimes we have to take something in order to look at said thing- in some other games, the order is not important. Unlike in some other similar pieces, there are game over states. Give A to B also seems to the the main gimmick here- why?

The Huh: There is a crystal ball, I thought this isn’t a fantasy game? Why are there so many crows encountered? So that was what the Holy Grail was for? Since Schwarzberg escaped, will there be a sequel? Indiana Jones style?

Grade: 76.1%

7 Likes
83

All Hands Abandon Ship! (David Lee)

What it is about: You’re stranded on a spaceship, and once again, you’ll have to escape before you get sucked into a quantum singularity. Unlike To Sea in a Sieve, there are no things to discard (there is a way to discard things, but it’s not mandatory), but this ship is much bigger.

The good: Plenty of the ship to explore. Plenty of things to collect, some which were not even used, and others, as mentioned, are just for fun! Again, you have a turn counter before you really are stuck forever. There is more than one possible exit (and more than one false exit). The puzzle can be solved in as low as 25-26 turns, but my usual strategy of go into area, look at things, take things still applies and obviously took longer. Plenty of cultural references and memes ‘this does not spark joy’, literal red herring for example, if you look really hard enough, which only adds to the humor. Oh, and some snacks in case you’re hungry.

The bad: Sometimes unlocking a door with a key card does not work and you have to specify the name of the door. Reset (circuit) breaker, but you need to omit the middle word. Tap on glass fails, but breaking it does. Specificities are aplenty here. The turn counter is not displayed. No cats to pat? What’s this? Where’s my backstory and Shipboard Directions Off command?

The Huh: There’s a game over message, but you can still explore the ship and see what else you missed! Really cool, huh? There is also a list of amusing things to do, like some other games, but it’s in the walkthrough. What’s with the strange AI voice on the intercom? Where’s my All Your Base Are Belong To Us sign and A Winner is You message?

Grade: 75.7%

4 Likes
84

Eat the Eldritch (Olaf Nowacki)

What it is about: You’re in a ship in the middle of nowhere down at the bottom of the sea and you need to find something to eat. Eating is only the least of your troubles, however. Yes, there is another area without an exit, but no magic required to get out of it.

The good: There are no explicit Game Overs- you’re forced to undo to the last save/safe point, even though I ran into them plenty. Plenty of humor- who adds nightshade to ramen? Your first task: to find some fish sticks to eat- that’s already a wall I ran into (the mist). There are relatively few areas, but said areas and items go for depth instead of breadth, with many layers of finding. The title screams fantasy, but there are many humorous aspects, as well as some deadly shaves. Gruesome, yet hilarious. Who knew that a fish processing plant could be so crucial?

The bad: There is only one other person to talk to. How lonely. I ended up going round and round in circles with little to show for it. You can’t turn off the alarm. There is a door, but you can’t open it. You also can’t decipher the strange symbols on the cabin doors (actually you can, but it really looks like some fish). Is the Alice in Wonderland solution really fitting when you are in a tsunami? This was probably translated from the German version (like Kaboom), so Berghain (a nightclub) is an error. Could we have an achievements (and deaths) checklist please? (16/27)

The Huh: There’s an area I think I can never reach even if I go down multiple times. What, is this some secret area? Why is there swearing in Japanese? Why is there an achievement for looking at something that is not there? Is Carter a mystic? Where exactly did the worm come from? (at least unlike in Whale’s Keeper, you don’t get to be inside the worm.) Where are we going (the ending has another cliffhanger)?

Grade: 76.4%

6 Likes
85

It’s a Japanese ship, the Tataki, with a Japanese captain, Jun Do.

6 Likes
86

Gestures Towards Divinity (Charm Cochran)

What it is about: A museum on Francis Bacon (no, not the philosopher). Find out more through a series of paintings and more. Horror warning- actual- advised.

The good: This piece heavily emphasizes on asking people on certain topics. You can go into paintings to experience first-hand their context. Someone suggested Super Mario 64, I suggest a Night at the Museum like exhibits coming to life approach to this. So while there may be no item collecting, this piece seeks to demystify Bacon’s life and his works. Plenty of points of view to take in. All characters can be spoken to in any order, though there may be some backtracking. Conversation prompts are provided. And so are achievements, considering that this is the genre that is least likely to have them. And remember to expect the unexpected from the people you are with. The security guard does remind me of a certain someone from Night at the Museum… and the various views on art in general aren’t too bad. All achievements obtained.

The bad: I feel that there is not much context or backstory. How did we get here? Another somewhat dark and disturbing piece. I feel I need a topics tree of some sort. Otherwise the dialogue starts getting out of hand pretty quickly. I’m not sure if this is a good place to discuss things like love, death, violence, karma, purpose, and pretty sensitive topics like homosexuality and life after death, and such here. We have seen a few of such pieces here and most of the time the debate can’t go anywhere for long. Violence, but no pacifism. The endgame feels like a letdown. What just happened?

The Huh: Like in Pseudo-Dementia Exhibition, we don’t have our own storyline here, but someone else’s, so it can be hard to get into for people who tend to prefer a strong storyline with good puzzles. What do the shifting doorways mean? This one really leaves me with more questions than answers here. Well, the security guard said: ‘But it’s just a theory’… A Game Theory!

Grade: 63.5%

5 Likes
87

Hello Noah Si (@RockmanX),

Thank you so much for playing Codename Obscura and writing this review.

I’m glad to hear that you find the retro 8-bit style engaging!

Well, luckily no! The Italian language is there just for the athmosphere, not required to be able to complete the game. And there is a complete translation of all the Italian phrases available in the walkthrough, in case someone is interested in those details.

The somewhat clumsy parser implementation and the overuse of USE are issues reported by other people too, so point taken :+1:. Some of this is due to 8-bit limitations, and some is just due to bad implementation…

Even though this is my first IF competition entry, I was optimistic enough to leave an option open for a possible sequel!

Thank you again for playing Codename Obscura and writing the review!

Cheers,
Mika

1 Like
88

Death on the Stormrider (Daniel M. Stelzer)

What it is about: Your brother has been framed for a crime he did not commit, and both of you are stuck on a ship with the crew speaking a foreign language. Time to clear your brother’s name and escape that ship before anything goes south. Yep, yet another nautical murder mystery.

I did get all the tools, and all the evidence, though two of them were at the end. The hatch part was a huge roadblock with many moving parts. And it basically is the prerequisite for the remaining areas and items. As a result, some areas were left unvisited and some things yet to be done.

The good: Just like Puppet Head, there are people to avoid at the beginning, and items to collect (evidence and tools), and places you can go (well, not supposed to, but still). At least their roles are clearly described. That militaristic theme feels more at home than in Long Kill. Yes, you get to wreck a lot of things. And the tablet actually is a good way of tracking what you haven’t done yet- this includes unexplored areas and mission objectives, clues, people and the like- when your to-do list is long, that becomes a problem (see below). A map is provided- but it takes quite some time to get used to it. There are various endings, surprisingly for a murder mystery!

The bad: The language spoken is old Babylonian, but the technology is certainly not from that time period. Finding the hardware and the first piece of evidence was manageable, then suddenly there’s a huge difficulty spike, making it much harder and way more tedious than in Puppet Head. Probably it is due to the pipe-wrecking segment that is not made explicit- according to the hints, they are found in all rooms, but the text forgets to give you said information when you need it to activate something else. You can’t talk to the crew much, since there is a language barrier. The commands are somewhat pedantic. The artwork, while a nice addition, feels less Babylonian and more Victorian.

The Huh: This one feels like I’m going around in circles without getting much done. The directions can also be a bit messy at times- east, but is it north or south, and the like. And the map, after seeing plenty of box and line diagrams, suddenly feels like a floorplan of a laboratory rather than a ship. Still, I wonder why this one is so popular…

Grade: 74.4%

6 Likes
89

Thanks for the review! The pipes appearing in all rooms will definitely be clued better post-comp; right now the clue appears the next time you look after examining the wrench, but I think it’s way too subtle at the moment.

2 Likes
90

Barcarolle in Yellow/Giallo (Victor Ojuel)

What it is about: Warning: lots of violence and sexual activity. You are Eva Chantry, stuck in a play as yourself and there is plenty of metagame. A game about acting gone wrong- a story about acting another story, twisted. Basically Among Us acted out. In Venice, no less.

The good: Well, if there’s anything, there’s the fourth wall break where the author is mentioned, and that somebody says that you are acting. There is a mysterious script. The acting can be weird sometimes, which is actually a good thing. Someone’s chasing you, but you don’t know who. Or why. What, is this Among Us again? The horror and action scenes were nicely done. More Italian stuff. For a murder mystery, there are not too many key items needed to collect and areas that need to be visited, surprisingly. That flashback was pulled off neatly. Good enough Italian stereotypes- the scarf and mask are the McGuffin, which says that the author clearly did their homework on giallo films.

The bad: Everything at the beginning doesn’t seem to gel together, with plenty of dead ends. It feels as if we are just doing things off-script, if ever there was one. There is, but you need to use ‘think’ to get an idea of what we need to do. No wonder the script is hard to understand on a first run! The approach in the midgame feels very much like One King to Loot Them All- you go back to your hotel room and, you know the rest. The studio also feels very Puppet Head-like. The fake ending reminds me of Beat Witch. If you’re going for this approach, make it more natural.

The Huh: What’s with the sexual references? What’s with the areas that you can’t visit? What’s with the endgame feeling like it was hastily written? With us going in circles again, (unable to use the gun)? And revealed to be… just a setup for…clearly whatever’s going on…

Grade: 71.6%

6 Likes
91

This reminds me of the fact (or at least urban myth) that when filming the opening scene in Jaws, Spielberg didn’t tell the actors who was going to drown, just that someone was!

92

Citizen Makane (The Reverend)

What it is about: The misadventures of Stiffy Makane. You get to blow up plenty of women here. Warning: lots of fantastical sexually explicit scenes, more than in Giallo.

I think I reached max level.

The good: You’re thrown from your bed after a nightmare. You’re in a hospital lab. You’re the Frankenstein now. Like Dr Ludwig, but this time, you’re the devil. A post-apocalyptic scene of only females. Despite the forementioned sexually explicit scenes, there is plenty of good and understandable humor. Probably even more than Dick McButts. Shamhat just feels like Baymax, if Baymax had been programmed with more… erotica in mind. Also Shamhat doubles up as a task checker like the tablet in Stormrider. We have a chance to save the town by helping its citizens! Plenty of fun ones too! There is a way to chart the time of day. The strange card game we have to play after talking to people (see below). The skills gained feel so wrong, yet strangely fit the zeitgeist. The strategy is, after a while, clear to figure out, and the combos become longer and longer, Street (Sexual) Fighter style. Like in Assembly, there is another mysterious cult. Plenty of mysteries to solve. And it comes full circle.

The bad: The red words on black background makes it hard to see. I could never get into any of the sexually explicit scenes. Feels out of place to include how much XP you have in a sex sim. This isn’t an RPG. Which brings us to this. Sexual fights are more complicated- you just can’t use the generic ‘use A on B’ like in most other games already played earlier. Of all things, it’s a card game. ‘Being digested by an inflated caterpillar’ feels too much like Whale’s Keeper and Eat the Eldritch. Remove doesn’t work, but unequip does. You can’t look at the candles in the secret area.

The Huh: Why are playing cards and the game the central mechanic here? How does conducting lessons fit in the plot when we got a bad report? Our penthouse has an inaccessible bathroom- why, exactly? How do we so-called ‘level up’ here? What is the true Holy Grail here? Why is there a fourth wall break at the end?

Grade: 69.8%

4 Likes
93

Hehehe, thanks for the review :wink:

The Huh: What’s with the sexual references?

It’s a giallo (“as you know, professor…”).

(unable to use the gun)?

You can use it, you just need to find a bullet.

Which you can find in the first scene; that is, the Western.

Oh, where exactly, you ask? It’s loaded into a gun, of course. Which is hidden in your garters, in classic cabaret gunslinger girl style. If that’s wasn’t a classic yet, it is now.

Now, once you have it, it might be a little tricky getting it past the psychic, but there is a way.

94

Bright Brave Knight Knave (Andrew Schultz)

What it is about: Exploring some strange locations. With nothing at your disposal, not even a dictionary.

The good: The lighthearted humor. There are many possibilities for paired rhyming words. Reminds me of Dr Seuss’ One Fish Two Fish Red (Sun?) Fish Blue Fish. There are exotic friends synaptic hands all around hall surround to help. The main gimmick is simple- in a place that has stuff A and B, find a pair of rhyming words C and D such that A rhymes with C and B with D. Sometimes multiple pairs are needed. Transformation by rhyming. Easier said than done. The abstract, otherworldly, surreal locations. It’s not your typical dungeon, or city, or standard location with standard stuff. And some really out of the ordinary items you’ll need. Keeping with the IFComp 2023 theme, there is another boat. And the protagonist develops self-confidence over time, and finally helps others, so there is a moral to this story.

The bad: Too often it turned into a guess the rhyming word puzzle. Too tedious for someone who does Sudoku far more often than wordsearches. I’ll need a proper rhyming dictionary for that one. This is one of those pieces that clearly only appeals to a rather niche set of people, and unfortunately I am outside said niche, so it was hard for me to appreciate what was behind all this.

The Huh: There have been similar rhyming word puzzles like Low-Key Learny Jokey Journey last year, also from the author. Coming up with six different rhyming word games is really impressive. The author also loves hub-and-spoke style areas, I think. How many bonus items can you find here?

Grade: 62.8%

5 Likes
95

I’m generally trying not to say much in public until the voting is done, but after sleeping on it, I think it’s worth commenting on a couple of these things for the sake of a better post-comp release!

Yeah, to be honest, there are two reasons they’re speaking Old Babylonian—it’s a language that I know well enough to write some basic dialogue in it, but that most players won’t understand, and I didn’t want to associate my fictional ethnic groups too directly with any real ones. But it may have ended up being a bit of a red herring. The setting’s certainly much more Steam Age than Bronze Age! So the hints should perhaps emphasize better that it’s not meant to be connected to the real world.

During development, I was working with a box-and-line diagram, which in hindsight might make it more obvious that you have to go port and starboard instead of fore and aft in the cargo hold. Is that something people would appreciate having, alongside the “deck plan” map?

96

Thank you for the review!

97

The Witch (Charles Moore)

What it is about: You’re an elf who spent the night partying, and the next morning you find out that an evil witch has plundered your village and kidnapped everyone else. It’s time to save the village and become that superhero elf.

Walkthrough all the way. Basically I couldn’t even get past the first hurdle (show bear to widow). Exploring some more meant that I was confirmed in a stuck state pretty early. I did it again and at least managed to reach the one-third mark.

The good: There are plenty of puzzles and multiple areas to explore. Not the modern letter or number kind however. No cryptograms to decipher, no letters to remove from words. The infamously familiar Forest Maze returns. It looks innocently simple- go somewhere, look at stuff, take stuff, rinse and repeat- but there’s a lot going on underneath the hood. It’s not your typical murder mystery- the killer is known, but there is little clue how to find them. The evidence is easy to find, but hard to piece together. Expect the unexpected in key items too. For the first time in a while, we have an actually really challenging villain to deal with. At least the author was kind enough to indicate if you can win or not.

The bad: Welp, this one was really difficult, really long, really convoluted and really tedious. This is despite the cunningly simple plot. In previous games at least you have some idea what to do where. Here, there are so many areas that it is difficult to track what to do where, what to find and use where. There is not much dialogue. Unlike Little Match Girl, this one is one big area with multiple connected components, rather than many smaller interconnected stages, and this area is even more expansive than in Obscura. This one really begs for a good exploration, however, there’s a limit to the number of items you can carry, and probably a turn limit not unlike All Hands Abandon Ship (and also like that game, there are red herrings). In other words, exploration clearly discouraged. (Well, you need to escape from the witch anyway.) You can go round in circles- but unlike previous pieces, the game doesn’t indicate that you are doing this. You have to do things very precisely- what’s not to balk at? Especially in the forest maze and the one at the endgame. Defeating the witch in a maze instead of using various collected items just feels not zeitgeist.

The Huh: I was hoping for some plot twist, or some good humor like the previous games, but it was sorely lacking. In-game hints or goals? Too scant, so walkthrough all the way. Even with the walkthrough, it was still too complicated to digest at one go. Two hours certainly won’t suffice. This is probably Nintendo Hard for a different reason- not the randomness like in Stormrider and Puppet Head, but more of the things to track kind. Can’t there be another way to do certain tasks like crossing the river? Could we do away with the scoring system and have some sort of achievement system instead? Sorry, coming from the ChoiceScript category of IF, I’m probably throwing that witch into that phone booth at the bottom of the sea and locking it up. Kudos to the old school-style IF people who actually can finish this one without the need of a walkthrough. And did I say you can take regret with you?

Grade: 63.1%

6 Likes
98

Hand Me Down (Brett Witty)

What it is about: Your father is about to go for surgery, and he asks that you play a game that he made for you as a birthday present. Yes, a game within a game.

For parser games I have tried this year, normally what I do is to go and explore as many areas as possible and try to take as many things as possible. Then, backtrack. This is what I call the Items method. Some games like The Witch is much harder, but in this case, it’s more forgiving.

The good: At least there is no flashback to a previous time period unlike some other games. Everyone in your family is here, even your partner James. Like Giallo, you actually are playing as yourself! The family struggles are real. The main game symbolizes the family situation. Trying to go for an Alice in Wonderland approach may be overused, but it’s still appropriate, considering that it’s a birthday gift from father to daughter. Like Honk, there are three main stage problems to solve: invitation, costume and item to share. Each problem has several key items and multiple solutions, each using different key items. Items are not mutually exclusive, that is, some items can solve multiple problems at once. Another fountain like in Makane. We also have a cat! And some nautical references to fit in this year’s theme! And some statues to take things from like in a museum! Yes, there’s also a cryptogram within a very tricky puzzle. Plenty of cool areas and items to collect as usual. In the endgame, there are plenty of things to discuss, but you can’t exhaust all the options. Cool humor behind some ugly family issues (read: divorce).

The bad: There is considerable item ambiguity (labels, cans, frame, key, pictures). Some items are not thoroughly implemented (bedroom pillow and picture frame in master bedroom for instance), or side cases checked. There is some disruption between the parser and choice segments. We don’t get to exhaust all conversation possiblities.

The Huh: It’s a novel attempt to do a choice and parser hybrid, but I’m not sure if this one pays off. The meat and potatoes of this is clearly the parser part. Nevertheless, the contrast between both segments is strikingly pulled off well. Is the author Australian? And like in Gestures, we need to move the mouse again. I’m not quite sure if it was based on a real-world personal experience or not.

Grade: 73.7%

7 Likes
99

Thanks heaps for the review! I am Australian, as are all the characters. I did try to put in US spelling alternatives wherever I could for the parser vocab. As for real-world personal experiences… That’s very complicated to answer, but mostly no.

Thanks again!

4 Likes
100

Ribald Bat Lady Plunder Quest (Joey Acrimonious)

What it is about: You are Zorklang the Despoiler, the next big antihero since Wreck-it-Ralph, a vampire lady who is on a mission… to obtain a special gift for her husband, and hopefully wreck the city along the way.

The good: Since you’re a vampire, you need armor and some weapons, but you don’t need an armor upgrade to detect hidden passageways- you listen and smell instead. Lots of vampire lingo. We had pirate and barbarian lingo, now it’s time for vampire lingo! Sexual vampire lingo! We get a partner cat! And thugs to recruit! Looks like Dick McButts and Stiffy Makane have a new sexual rival! This aside, there is a good balance between sexual scenes, horror scenes and action scenes. This is yet another game with a murder mystery. This one, however, has plenty of people to talk to and seduce and wreck. All characters are over-the-top.

The bad: There are slightly long descriptive and dialogue scenes in between major actions. Some items do not have an obvious use (like the decanter). Some actions really remind me of Stormrider. Zorklang keeps letting her enemies get one step ahead, so she is on the backfoot nearly all the time, which is sort of a dampener. Some areas like the apothecary should be explorable, but are not. Directions after unlocking secret passages can be odd (east or south from docks to market square?).

The Huh: What is despoiling- is it just another fancy word for taking something? What’s with ye olde English? Also weird is that it’s in the third person. The humor is just sometimes on and sometimes off. The endgame felt too anticlimactic- alas, what just happened?

Grade: 71.8%

5 Likes
101

Thanks for playing and for the review!

Yes, despoiling is a fancy word for taking something. It was important to me that Zorklang uses the same parlance for what she does with both objects and people.

Edited to add: I am greatly honored that your methodology gave my game the exact same grade as Barcarolle in Yellow.

1 Like