According to local legend, the Ark of the Covenant was secretly transferred from the Chartres Cathedral to your village’s church, where it would be safe from tourists and treasure hunters. It was subsequently hidden in the local forest prior to World War I so that it would be safe from the invading German army. It has remained there until this day.
The priest that hid the Ark recently passed away, taking the location of the Ark to his grave. The Church Council has asked you, as a trainee priest, to return to your local village, find the Ark and return it to the altar in the local church.
This game was written for ParserComp 2023. As you can tell from the title and the intro, it’s a quest for a religious artifact. I liken it to a blend between Indiana Jones and Father Brown. I did a lot of research on the Ark of the Covenant, the Bible, church architecture, Catholic customs and more, so the game should feel quite authentic, yet it’s also scattered with religious puns and humour. You do not need any knowledge of Christianity. Everything you need is in the game.
As with all my games, it’s full of puzzles, but I think they’re well hinted and relatively easy, thanks to all the great feedback I got from my play testers.
The game is written in Inform 6 using the PunyInform library, so it’s very small. You can download the z5 file to play it in your favourite Z-code interpreter or you can play it online. The game’s home page is at Search for the Lost Ark.
While you’re there, please play and rate all the other submissions for ParserComp 2023.