Cut the Sky by SV Linwood
Playtime: 48 minutes
This made me want to talk about:
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This game is in the classic tradition of media where the main character is a wandering outsider compelled by a personal code of honor. (Think Clint Eastwood’s man with no name, Kurosawa’s movies about ronin, hey, did you know the chinese were writing about the archetype of the “vagabond hero” [俠 xia] in BC?). I’m a big fan already!
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The use of the “wander” command to go between encounters really helps set the mood, as does the cover art, the initial rejection of the player character having a name, etc. The writing is also confident and effective in maintaining a tone.
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Having the game, not the player, direct travel creates a highly cinematic feeling, allowing the player to drop in on predetermined scenes at precisely the correct dramatic moment.
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The game did a good job foreshadowing the ending, including through the encounter with the thief, who is relieved when her artifact is destroyed
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I have a soft spot for games where the title is also a key command. I’m just like, what a fun place to sneak in what the player is supposed to be doing!
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The game ships with a complete walkthrough, which I appreciate (I looked re: the thief). Overall the difficulty of the puzzles is not too high, although I think that makes sense with the cinematic feeling (one does not get bogged down and unable to watch the next scene in a movie).
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The mage scene and the tower scene with the sentinel, the gem, and the symbol, reminded me of some puzzles in A Very Strong Gland, which could easily be either inspiration or the convergent evolution of the limited parser
Notable line:
My one fervent wish:
My path felt . . . a bit smooth? I’m speaking here narratively, not about the difficulty of the puzzles. But I never felt that the player character was in peril or doubted they would complete their quest. Nor was I forced to seriously reckon with whether this was a good quest (the game is careful to specifically tell us that we’re not destroying the world and may in fact be saving it). Ymmv, but I wouldn’t have minded more of a dark-night-of-the-soul moment where we we confront despair etc about at least one of these.
Overall, a stylish limited parser executed confidently and competently
wolfbiter transcript cut the sky - Copy.txt (82.2 KB)
Gameplay tips / typos
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under verbs “If you are unsure, you may think about what to to next.” should be “to do next”
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if you cut the tower at the end, “Finally, after en eternity, the world stills. Whatever was waiting for you inside the Black Tower is now out of your reach.” should be “an eternity”