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Game Details
Language: English (en)
Current Version: 1 License: Freeware Development System: Inform 6 Baf's Guide ID: 1925 IFID: ZCODE-1-020927-18FC TUID: 10387w68qlwehbyq |
Awards
Winner, Best Writing; Nominee, Best Story; Nominee, Best Setting - 2002 XYZZY Awards
4th Place - 8th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition (2002)
Editorial Reviews
Baf's Guide

-- Emily Short
>VERBOSE -- Paul O'Brian's Interactive Fiction Page
The Moonlit Tower is a rich and gorgeous piece of work, and a very strong debut from an excellent new author. Easily the most striking thing about this game is its writing, burnished and evocative prose that sets a very elevated tone.
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Member Reviews
| Average Rating: ![]() Number of Reviews: 4 Write a review |
Most Helpful Member Reviews
Haunting and Unique, August 12, 2008My one complaint is that such a stunning story, more than capable of carrying itself entirely on the strength of its surreal and deeply implemented setting, is at heart a puzzle game. The mid-part, where you must figure out how to use the sundry gorgeously described items you find, was for me the weakest, the flow of the prose being constantly interrupted by the need to wonder what on Earth (or elsewhere) I actually had to do to make the story continue, or by trips to the terse and occasionally frustrating hint menu.
But even if you are, like me, puzzle-averse, this is some of the most affecting writing I can call to mind, and the chance to explore this exquisite world should not be turned down.
Beautiful writing, July 26, 2010The writing, as other reviews have said, is stunning. Even the error messages ("you can't go that way", etc.) are beautifully in-world and you have to examine every element of the setting to piece together the back story. I really wish this had been the final chapter of a longer game -- it felt like getting a glimpse into a wonderful elaborate world that I desperately wanted to see more of.
The puzzles are where this game breaks down a little. It's possible to win without solving one of the central challenges, yet the end-text assumes the puzzle was completed, making me wonder if I did something in an order that the game hadn't expected. The puzzles themselves vary from interesting but not at all challenging to combining elements in ways that I never would have figured out without the hint system. This would have been a more effective game in my opinion if the writer had played more to her strength in writing and left the more complicated puzzles for a second run.
Spellbinding, July 15, 2009See All 4 Member Reviews
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Recommended Lists
The Moonlit Tower appears in the following Recommended Lists:Plot-Driven IF by Andromache
Some of my absolute favorite games.
Memorable Settings by Emily Boegheim
Games with memorable settings or landscapes - not necessarily deeply implemented, but vividly described or intriguing in concept.
Enduring Games by AmberShards
These are games with memorable stories, whose characters live long after the window has closed, and in which the puzzles are an integral part of the game.
Polls
The following polls include votes for The Moonlit Tower:Best Short Games (5-60 minutes) by Sasha Davidovna
I'm pretty new to IF and am having a lot of fun, but in between a toddler and a job and other real life stuff, I'm having trouble finding time to finish many of the longer games I want to play. Can you please recommend me some fun and/or...
Vivid games by Jeff Sonas
I'm looking for games that evoked strong feelings or strong mental images that stayed with you long after you finished the games.
Artistic Games by WriterBob
I'm interested in games that take the fiction of IF to new levels. These are not straightforward, plot driven games. Think instead of games that play like poetry, or games that focus on a character's revelation.
This is version 3 of this page, edited by Dave Chapeskie on 29 April 2009 at 6:14pm. - View Update History - Edit This Page - Add a News Item
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