The Bat by Chandler Groover

Competitions IFComp
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As promised, I went straight for @CMG’s new game, The Bat, and I just spent a couple of hours laughing until my nose was running. Those of you familiar with Groover’s games will be expecting something strange and funny and tightly constructed, with surprises and twists and a limited parser. I’m here to inform you that you will not be disappointed-- all of that is here.

Without too many spoilers, the basic story is that you’re a valet to a, um, thing. Your master is repulsive and awful and extremely difficult, and you have to do everything for him. It’s the night he’s throwing a big party, and you have to attend to all his guests, and keep him from destroying everything, and solve a mystery.

The limited parser, like all limited parsers, takes a little while to get used to, but it’s quite smooth. You can examine (X) and ATTEND TO SOMEONE/THING (A). I’ll play a choice game next because limited parsers always spoil me for the next parser.

The writing shines as usual-- it’s not overly descriptive and is in fact fairly terse compared to other Groover games, but still manages to be great, zippy as hell and full of delightfully concise descriptions of people and cringeworthy moments.

I really, really enjoyed this and am happy to report that it’s another silly, oddball, fun addition to the Groover oeuvre (which is nice to say aloud). Highly recommend!

There was a weirdness with this in Safari (which I did fix, so click on this if you encounter an issue in Safari): as soon as the dollar amount starts racking up in the game, my saved credit card window kept popping up with every command and I had to disable it to finish playing. So, Chandler, my computer was trying to help me pay that money!

Play time about 3 hours.

Feel free to add reviews or commentary on this game (or to link to your review elsewhere) in this thread!

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I’ve only gotten up to putting on his clothes and glasses, but what I’m feeling right now is that even though he’s fairly horrible, there’s a certain level of … I don’t know how to say it without it sounding weird. Adorable? I don’t know. I certainly don’t hate him yet, weirdly

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He is exasperatingly, annoyingly, horribly adorable all the way through. Just wait until he achieves some elevation.

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I finished the game, and I have to say I’m really pleased! But you know exactly what I think of when I think of this game? Alias the Magpie! With a little Magical Makeover and a little more Superluminal Vagrant Twin. Either way, a game that I personally liked a lot. Though I have to say I wasn’t a fan of the ending. It didn’t feel right. Like, it matched perfectly, and yet it didn’t fit the mood. I think it’s a sort of me problem, though, because it is actually a good ending overall! Just not what I would have wanted…

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I wrote a review of the game here:

Interesting remark on the ending, I also thought that it worked perfectly as an ending (and also serving as a punchline for a joke, with QUIT being the command to stop using the compass) but I didn’t expect it and wouldn’t have thought of it. If there’s ever an updated version I’d love to see a ‘where are they now’ as a ending menu option for the whole cast (unless there was one and I missed it!)

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cross-posting my separate review

As I discuss in there, I’m a bit with @someone2 – I could have liked the ending more. It didn’t fit with how I had been characterizing the PC in my head (and if there’s a specific other characterization we’re supposed to have for the PC, the game doesn’t provide it).

A very fun romp though!

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I liked The Bat! But having just wrapped it up, I can’t help wishing there was more of that trademark Chandler Groover flavour.

The second room in Down, the Serpent and the Sun:

You can see nothing, but the air is fetid, hot. Warm dribblings drizzle from above. The ground is spongy underneath your feet.

The second room in Eat Me:

Blue flambeaux undulate, and in their flames gleam devices galore constructed to pry screams and more from prisoners. Don’t sit down on that judas chair. Steer clear the rack. Give wide berth to the breaking wheel. They’re occupied already by corpses.

And the second room in The Bat:

To the west, you could enter the study; to the east, the master’s bedroom; and the grand staircase leads down to the first floor.

The humour is there, and the increasingly careful attention to craft, and there is of course a good reason for the descriptions to be – restrained. But I do wish there was more description in the description… it’s so much of what these games are made of, and Groover is so frequently exceptional at it.

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