A Change in the Weather

by Andrew Plotkin profile

Fantasy, Slice of life
1995

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Reviews and Ratings

5 star:
(8)
4 star:
(28)
3 star:
(20)
2 star:
(8)
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Average Rating:
Number of Ratings: 66
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- Max Fog, February 28, 2024

- Egas, December 2, 2023

- Edo, August 17, 2023

- Denk, February 8, 2023

- bkirwi, May 27, 2022

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
An uphill fight, May 22, 2022
by deathbytroggles (Minneapolis, MN)

>hint
That's now how life works.


And so sets the mood for A Change in the Weather: dark, dreary, and unforgiving.

I tried this a couple of times in my youth and could not get into it. I think knowing going in that you could lock the game out victory near constantly kept me from immersing myself in the world. I just gave it another shot and I'm glad I did.

The atmosphere really is lovely. Despite the prose being fairly terse, Plotkin does an excellent job heightening the senses. Even the faintest change in the weather is felt and gives the player a sense of urgency I think is necessary for this game to work. And despite given no goal other than exploring, I was plenty motivated to solve each puzzle simply by the nature of rushing against the weather. The fox serves to amplify the setting while also giving the player an extrinsic motivation to keep going.

Losing to the weather and the frequent restarts and restores didn't negatively impact my experience at all. There are only six locations and a limited number of things to interact with, so it never felt like a chore to try things over again. The game's downfall, sadly, is that some of the puzzle solutions don't feel intuitive or logical. While mapping the hill is fairly simple, it's still difficult to get a sense of how exactly the landscape is formed. This ultimately kept me stuck for a long time in the second half. Specifically, (Spoiler - click to show)I never thought to use the boulder to slow down the torrent of water. For one, there is no indication that the boulder can be pushed in a direction, as the default way to push it is the wrong way for no apparent reason. Secondly, I just couldn't picture in my head where the boulder would land and somehow help me. On the other hand, using the sandbags was intuitive. Unfortunately, if you drop even one of the sandbags by the wildflowers (despite the fact that it works just as well there to slow down the torrent), this will prevent the fox from guiding you to where to dig to divert the water. Ultimately, while I was able to essentially reach the finale on my own, I was forced to succumb to a walkthrough to fix some of the details.

So I will offer an unusual recommendation. Play A Change in the Weather to experience the setting and have a walkthrough handy. But only use the walkthrough once the game has you exhausted. The struggle is what makes it beautiful. That's how life works.

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- Zape, February 1, 2022

- Jonathan Verso, November 19, 2021

- civilstat (Maine, USA), October 21, 2021

- mifga (Brooklyn, NY), October 14, 2020

- Rainbow Fire , August 30, 2020

- kierlani, June 3, 2020

- Panawe, May 28, 2020

- Stian, January 10, 2020

- Vigorish (Bradenton, Florida ), November 15, 2018

- TheAncientOne, July 12, 2017

- Sobol (Russia), February 8, 2017

- Pegbiter (Malmö, Sweden), January 4, 2017

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
A notoriously difficult short game with a real-life setting, February 3, 2016
by MathBrush
Related reviews: about 2 hours

This game was one of the two winners of the very first IF Comp. It is well known for being one of Plotkin's most difficult games, and one of the most difficult well-known games in general.

You play a loner who leaves a picnic/party to look around a secluded woodland area. Puzzles are hard due to:

1. Not knowing what your goal is;

2. Being able to put the game in an unwinnable state without knowing it;

3. Fast-paced timing.

Despite, or possibly because of the difficulty, this has remained a very popular game. Perhaps this is because the game has an inspirational feel. It is easy to identify with the protagonist, and the games understated writing gives you a sense of wonder.

The game was intended to be completed in 2 hours. You will certainly reach an ending within two hours.

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- jmmelko, September 28, 2015

- Thrax, March 12, 2015

- Snave, March 7, 2014

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
Frustrating, well worth playing anyway, February 3, 2014
by Brian Conn (Eureka, California)

For me the main obstacle was that certain puzzles require you to have a good idea of the 3-D topography of the game world. I'm not very good at constructing that kind of thing in my head, and the game, although decently clear, was not very good at helping me, and so there were several key actions that I never would have guessed without a walkthrough.

The parser is also limited, but that didn't really give me trouble.

What the game does do exceptionally well is build a sense of isolation and real dread out of what would seem to be an innocent scenario. The writing is excellent, not just in the sense of describing sunsets (though it does that too), but in that it maintains a subtle and seamless emotional tone throughout. Your friends are just across the river, but you nevertheless get the feeling that there is something serious at stake -- much more so than in most games where you are jumping off buildings and saving the world and so on.

My advice is to go in committed, spend some time, and try your best, but look at a walkthrough before you start to hate the thing. The solutions to the puzzles are satisfying but not worth banging your head against the wall for.

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- John Simon (London), February 2, 2014

- KidRisky (Connecticut, USA), December 20, 2013


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