Your recommendations for my next game to play

Playing
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Hello all… some of you have seen me on here talking about working on my TADS game for awhile. I’ve spent so much time lately game-making that I’m getting an itch to actually play a game again.
What do you suggest for a game that’s:

  1. parser-based
  2. neither a breeze nor excessively difficult
  3. on the short side: in my limited text-adventuring experience I seem to have always found (or sought) the long, drawn-out adventures. Those remain my favorite type, but with all that’s going on in my life right now, I don’t feel the leisure for a big immersion/crack-at-it-for-weeks-till-triumphing experience.
    So, I don’t know, 2-6 hours of playing time if you take time to read all of the descriptions and tinker with things?
  4. Any combination of well-written, well-implemented, ingenious concepts, or just high fun factor or charm factor.
    Thanks!
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To Hell in a Hamper, Oppositely Opal, Violet, and Enlightenment are some of my favorites. They are contained one-room games each with a clever interlocking master-puzzle and moderate length.

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There are so many possibilities, even with the criteria you provided. But here are three general suggestions:

  1. Violet is a comedic one-room game with an unusual narrative voice.
  2. Lost Pig, also a short comedic adventure game with an unusual narrative voice.
  3. Alias ‘The Magpie’ is a short comedic (is there a pattern here?) game with great NPCs.

If you give us specific examples of games and/or genres you love it might be easier to give you more specific suggestions as well.

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Agreed on To Hell in a Hamper. I was going to say that but I already had a J.J. Guest game in my list :). I haven’t played Enlightenment but the rest of those suggestions are great as well.

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5

I think Renegade Brainwave fits your criteria and hasn’t received enough love on IFDB. Be sure to turn on the background music if you try it.

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  • Brain Guzzlers From Beyond
  • Foo Foo
  • Robin & Orchid
  • Ollie Ollie Oxen Free
  • Taco Fiction
  • Make It Good
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Thanks everyone for the suggestions! As I getting around to trying any of these, I’ll get back with you and let you know how it was! Looking forward to it…

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I recommend checking out Ryan Veeder’s The Ascent of the Gothic Tower.

It’s charming, parser-based, short, and there’s some clever programming in it that surprised me.

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