Forbidden Lore by Alex Crossley
The ideal player of Forbidden Lore is more patient and meticulous than I am. Let me give you an example. Early on, I was given to understand that there would be interesting books in the third bookcase. So I checked out the third bookcase and read the books that were in there. But I should have also tried the first, and second, and fourth, and fifth, and sixth, and seventh bookcase. That’s not natural for me. I’m reading the texts on the screen and identify specific elements that jump out as the loci of interactivity… and that’s the wrong way to approach Forbidden Lore. Every single thing and phrase in the game should be treated as important.
If a ritual is mentioned, even if only in a list of other things and even though nothing in the game has suggested that you might need to perform this ritual, you need to try and perform the ritual. If there are two people in the room you can converse with, you should speak with them about every topic that comes up. That takes time, patience, and meticulosity – come on, this is an objectively better word than the supposedly ‘correct’ meticulousness – and I think it’s a totally legitimate kind of gameplay. I know there are people who like it. I’m just not really one of them, unless the game has drawn me in with some amazing premise, or amazing writing, or something else that makes me sit down and crack my knuckles. That’s not what Forbidden Lore does. Even finding out about the basic goals you should have is a matter of research. This game really does not want to hold your hand. I’m imagining Alex Crossley as someone who despises quest markers and automatic journals in AAA video games.
I still managed to do quite a bit in this game; for instance, I learned an ancient alphabet, summoned a demon, and amassed enough power to cast sick spells. (Although, to be honest, I had no inkling how to actually cast any spells.) But after a certain point, I lost confidence and patience, and started following the in-game hints.
On the one hand, I’m impressed by the wildness of the scenario: you start just reading some books, and things escalate really fast and really far. On the other hand, I wonder how one is supposed to solve the game without the hints. The shooting of fire seems underclued. And some of the central puzzle solutions are very fussy when it comes to their exact formulation:
I’m not saying that the story can’t be solved. Jason Dyer of Renga in Blue would probably be able to crack it; compared to some of the old adventures he has managed to solve, this one is positively helpful. And I also respect Alex Crossley’s wish to not hold the player’s hand and to instead just throw them into this jumble of researchable material. But I think that smoothing out some of the guess the command problems, and perhaps giving slightly more direction, might make the piece quite a bit more accessible.