Taking a slight detour from Knight Orc tonight - I haven’t had long enough this week to give it a good play. Hopefully next week! However tonight I had a go at a shorter game, a replay for me. So here are some thoughts. Beware there are spoilers.
All Roads by Jon Ingold (2001)
This relatively short parser game won IF Comp in 2001. It sees you as a character who can step mysteriously between scenes, while you play through a story of intrigue in Renaissance Venice.
There’s a lot to like about it. There are very few puzzles to tackle, and for its time it’s remarkably story based, an almost puzzle less style of parser game that became more prominent later on. It’s also very forgiving to the player, though there are no hints in game. There is a walkthrough available online from IFDB.
The best thing for me is the sense of place. While you jump frequently between scenes each place you find yourself is richly evoked. There is also repetition in places, as you revisit certain scenes in different ways. It builds a strong sense of immersion. Venice is a magical almost dreamlike place, especially if you go there when it’s not packed full of tourists (my husband and I usually go in the depths of winter). This captured that for me.
Less successful for me is the overarching story which is gradually revealed. I’m not going to detail this fully, but there are things that you uncover, especially later on, which I found more confusing than anything else. But I was happy leaving a sense of mystery.
So if you want a dreamlike puzzle less story set in a past Venice check this out. But if you want a mass of puzzles, or want to know exactly what is going on, you may be frustrated.
As a footnote this prompted me to look back at other entries in 2001 IFComp (IFComp 2001). What a mass of them! 51 entries that year, which given this was 22 years ago seems huge. IFComp has a marvellously deep and rich tradition of indie interactive fiction games that I have enjoyed since the very start. I really must add more old ones to my replay list.