Played only 15% of competition games for now and most favourites will be Vain Empires and Alone.
6 Likes
Turbo Chest Hair Massacre was delightful, hilarious, and not at all what I expected.
5 Likes
I hope you find time to at least look at Little Girl in Monsterland. The size of it is going to mean a lot of people pass it by entirely, but the author said they spent four years on it so I feel like the rest of us could at least take 10 minutes to open it up and decide if it interests us or not.
4 Likes
I’ve played 37 of the games so far, and I have to say that picking out really good ones is hard because everyone’s been so creative and varied this year.
I’ve been writing private reviews on IFDB, but I’ve given 13 games 5 stars so far. Is that bad? It feels weird, but I can’t help enjoying all these games.
7 Likes
I’ve been writing private reviews on IFDB, but I’ve given 13 games 5 stars so far. Is that bad?
Hey, you have a reputation to keep up!
7 Likes
I’m looking forward to that one.
I know that Spike has excellent taste in interactive fiction, and he already said that he kept playing Little Girl in Monsterland long after the two hour mark.
5 Likes
Checking these forums after playing a game can be funny sometimes, this early into IFComp. I want to see what other people have to say about the game, then it turns out there are no public (or even any) reviews about it.
I’ve only played 11 games so far, but I recommend Ulterior Spirits and “Adventures in the Tomb of Ilfane” by Willershin Rill. I also second the rec for The Magpie Takes the Train!
10 Likes
I started playing monster land. Only about 40 min so far. But really excited to play more. In many cases, I’d rather continue playing a really engaging game past the two hour limit, than hunt and peck through all the shorter entries.
6 Likes
Since it hasn’t been mentioned yet, I’ll add this one: Puzzle fans should make sure to check out The Impossible Bottle.
10 Likes
I’ve been away from IF a while but it looks like an awesome crop this year so far 
I think Limerick Quest is well worth a spin; has a cool combination of puzzles and dry wit and even the inventory is somehow always in limerick form!
If your in an RPGish mood, Tavern Crawler has a strong combination of puzzles, character development and story.
For something less puzzly with plenty of atmosphere, I thought Minor Arcana and Sense of Harmony were very immersive and well written.
If you’d like something short and less interactive that’s still a good read,
Pinecone, Capt Greybeards Plunder, You Will Thank Me and The Turnip were enjoyable (more like magical realism short stories).
12 Likes
Yeah, same. That’s my preference in any circumstance, but this year in particular with the huge amount of entries, I’m focusing on the ones that are going all out to win.
5 Likes
I’ve only tried 10 entries so far. But out of those the standouts for me so far are Tavern Crawler and Captain Graybeard’s Plunder. I think the second one may lose out / be overlooked more because it’s a short piece, but I think it’s really well done.
6 Likes
I was gripped by the icy hand of fear when I thought “Oh no! Only 10 days left for voting!”
And then I was all, “Oh, right, you can still play the games after IFcomp is over.”
So, that’s nice.
6 Likes
Favorites so far, Impossible Bottle, Vain Empires, Cursed Pickle. But there are so many great runners up also. Animalia, Happyland, Rope of Chalk, Tavern Crawler, Dr Ego.
5 Likes
With so many games in the competition, isn’t a thread like this a bad idea in that it could make less people play and vote on many of the games?
1 Like
Nope.
1 Like
I have played about 2/3 of the games in the competition so far, and many of my favourites have already been mentioned. But here are a few that have not:
- Doppeljobs: Original and fun story. Very well written.
- Seasonal Apocalypse Disorder: A time travel puzzler. Very nice game design. Loved the built-in (graphical) map.
- Lore Distance Relationship: Story-based (no puzzles), nostalgic experience.
- Jay Schilling’s Edge of Chaos: Written by Robb Sherwin & Mike Sousa. (Enough said?) Entertaining/crazy noir-like detective story. Great writing and easy puzzles.
- High Jinnks: Funny, well written, great dialogue, story-based.
- Congee: Short, warm and comforting. No puzzles.
- Ferryman’s Gate: Well, if you like comma rules, you’re going to love this game!
Traditional puzzler, with logical (not too difficult) puzzles. And even though the game map is huge (a two-story mansion + a garden), I had no trouble navigating the game without having to draw a map. That impressed me.
7 Likes
I was inspired by the Verb Your Enthusiasm podcast to try Ascension of Limbs. I gotta say, it’s a really neat antique store business simulator with touches of the occult.
4 Likes
I’ve played over thirty six games in the competition already, but only one of them on the list above. This is the value of sharing favorites. (I’ve been looking forward to several of these, based on other positive things I’ve read)
2 Likes