(I played this once when I just got to know IF. On replay, with the basic parser protocol under my belt, it was so much better.
Scavenger - Details (ifdb.org))
At first, I didn’t even know why I bought this Geiger counter…
…but then it clicked.
Scavenger is what it says on the tin. The tin is corroded and highly volatile. It might be radio-active. It’s located in some raider base you just happened to find the coördinates to. Whatever it is, find the tin.
Sounds straightforward enough, doesn’t it? Well, it mostly is. Until you start to collect pieces of evidence of what exactly happened before this existence as a scavenger on a blasted Earth. Until you meet a little girl who managed to survive in a ruined bunker… Until you get to the bottom floor of the base.
Scavenger plays as the epitome of old school scavenger hunts, and in doing so far surpasses most of them. Verbose, evocative descriptions, a sympathetic-but-not-quite protagonist, a backstory savoured in bits and pieces…
The thieving-adventurer brought to his knees, stripped of his kleptomania, given purpose and sent out into the world again. A barren, ruined world. This time taking whatever is there for bare survival.
Must play.