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muse.z5
Requires a Z-Code interpreter. Visit IFWiki for download links.
muse.z5
original competition entry
Requires a Z-Code interpreter. Visit IFWiki for download links.
Muse.Solve
solution
muse.jpg
Author's drawing of a character in the game

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Muse: An Autumn Romance

by Christopher Huang

Religious, Romance, Historical
1998

About the Story

Early September, 1886. Autumn. The Victorian Era. The Rev. Dawson, 59, is off to the Continent and an unexpected Romance...
[--blurb from The Z-Files Catalogue]


Game Details

Off-Site Reviews

SPAG

In virtually all respects, it's a thorough, well-thought-out, effective story. The inherent limitations of IF puzzles put a crimp in the NPC interaction and make you less a character than a player pushing through to the end of the story, which is unfortunate because you really do inhabit much of the story as a character.
-- Duncan Stevens a.k.a. Second April
See the full review

SPAG
The Calliope effect
I'm used to getting frustrated struggling with the parser; in Muse, I found myself in a similar struggle, not with the parser, but with Victorian protocol. That seemed to me to be an evocative association: I wondered how not being able to act naturally even to the extent we can today, having to fit everything you did or said into the strict bounds of a rigid code of propriety, resembled struggling with a sort of "parser" every waking moment of your life.
-- Adam Cadre
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SPAG
The game is written in the first-person past tense - a risky decision, but in this case it is extremely effective. The emotions 'felt' by the central character would simply not work in the traditional second-person perspective. It also makes the considerable restrictions placed on your actions seem natural and convincing.
-- Brian Blackwell
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>INVENTORY - Paul O'Brian writes about interactive fiction

Muse is the most gorgeously written piece of IF in the competition -- I've still got several games left to play, but I would be very surprised if any of them even equaled Muse's marvelous skill with words, let alone surpassed it. The game is like the IF version of a Merchant-Ivory movie: quiet setting, stellar production values, highly character-oriented, and deeply, deeply felt. It's been a long time since I've been as moved by a piece of IF as I was by the "optimal" ending of Muse -- even some of the less satisfying endings are crafted so well that in themselves they can be quite emotional.
See the full review

Page Update History

  v.7: 06-May-2022 01:02 - Paul O'Brian (Current Version) - Edit Page - Normal View
Changed external review links
v.6: 17-Jan-2021 16:48 - Zape
Changed download links
v.5: 29-Jun-2013 07:35 - Edward Lacey
Changed genre, external review links
v.4: 09-May-2008 11:24 - Paul O'Brian
Changed external review links
v.3: 11-Mar-2008 18:00 - David Welbourn
Changed description
v.2: 18-Feb-2008 20:53 - Emily Short
Changed cover art
v.1: 16-Oct-2007 01:48 - IFDB
Created page