Escape the Pale by Novy Pnin
Flavor: by wordcount, 90% barebones trading simulator, 10% persecution
Playtime: 40 minutes
This game was pretty successful in what I take to be its goal of setting up a contrast between the two main elements. On the one hand, a dry, pared-down interface for a buying and selling layer. On the other hand, the immediate and unpredictable terribleness of injustice experienced by the PC. (The structure of the latter reminded me of RPG-style “encounters” during travel.) I found this structure was effective in emphasizing the lack of logic attached to the persecution, and the lack of control experienced be people who were subject to that persecution. It definitely had the feeling of a unpleasant gut punch when my first travel “encounter” was trusty cousin Ephraim getting killed by a corrupt border guard.
The trading interface was fairly clunky (perhaps intentionally?). I can see the case for wanting the player to discover through exploration (1) whether the reported prices are accurate (ish), (2) where to buy long-distance tickets and how much, and (3) which areas are most perilous. I’m not sure I see a gameplay case for (1) not showing the rail destinations in advance or (2) not stating the actual sale price when you sell goods. I was mildly interested to note that, not only do the prices seem to be randomly determined in each game, but they change throughout play (possibly in accordance with the laws of supply and demand? i.e., it seemed that if you ran a loop between two cities, you would flood the market and the sale price would fall).
FYI, particularly for those who might be better at this game than me, the end-of-game text seems to vary based on the ending, and I only saw the longest / most interesting author’s note on the “die in prison” ending.
Selected quote:
Gameplay tips / typos
A partial list of the rail connections available from each city:
- from Chelm, options of Bialystok, Lublin, or Kiev
- from Kiev, options of Minsk, Lublin, Chelm, or Odessa
- from Lublin, options of Kiev, Chelm, Kielce, or Warsaw
- from Minsk, options of Grodno, Kiev, Pinsk, Vilno, or Smolensk
- from Grodno, options of Minsk, Bialystok, or Vilno
- from Vilno, options of Grodno, Minsk, Pinsk, or Smolensk
- from Smolensk, options of Minsk or Vilno
- from Odessa, options of Kiev or Bucharest
- from Warsaw, options of Bialystok, Lublin, or Kielce,
- from Bialystok, options of Grodno, Warsaw, or Chelm
- from Kielce, options of Warsaw or Lublin