Rematch

by Andrew D. Pontious

Slice of life
2000

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Reviews and Ratings

5 star:
(24)
4 star:
(42)
3 star:
(21)
2 star:
(1)
1 star:
(1)
Average Rating:
Number of Ratings: 89
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- Maerman, March 6, 2024

- Hugginnn, February 26, 2024

- fidwell (Ohio), September 20, 2023

- Andrew Schultz (Chicago), September 9, 2023

- Edo, August 17, 2023

- sw3dish, June 22, 2023

- Jubal, March 16, 2023

- Cerfeuil (*Teleports Behind You* Nothing Personnel, Kid), October 12, 2022

- Zape, May 28, 2022

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
A one-move game with only a single puzzle, but ..., February 24, 2022
by cgasquid (west of house)

everyone is, i think, familiar with the genre of "one move" games, originated by Aisle and followed up on by titles such as Pick Up the Phone Booth and Aisle and 50 Shades of Jilting.

unlike most such games, this one has a puzzle. you have one move to act. that action, all by itself, a single command, has to completely solve the puzzle.

the puzzle.

that damnable puzzle.

the evil, insidious, dastardly, cruel, vicious, mean, demonic ... incredibly interactive, deeply implemented puzzle.

i mean, i found my experience with this game to be one of incredible frustration, but it was the kind of frustration where the parser is being perfectly responsive and the reactions to your actions make perfect sense and you always feel like you're this close to the solution when in fact you're still another fifty iterations away.

five stars for That Damnable Puzzle. one star deducted because something important isn't made sufficiently clear: (Spoiler - click to show)the event isn't always exactly the same, and the differences are of paramount importance.

absolutely not recommended for beginners or inexperienced players. for all that there's only a single command required, i rank this with some of the hardest IF i've ever played.

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- Titania Lowe, January 24, 2022

- Jonathan Verso, January 15, 2022

- Karlok (Netherlands), April 16, 2021

- Chin Kee Yong (Singapore), April 11, 2021

- C4rd1n4l, September 24, 2020

- Rainbow Fire , August 28, 2020

- Virix, May 17, 2020

- ZAD-Man, January 9, 2020

- beecadee, September 19, 2019

- IanAllenBird, May 1, 2019

- Joey Jones (UK), March 31, 2019

- Steffan LW Sitka (Los Angeles), February 28, 2019

- davidar, November 10, 2018

- AKheon (Finland), September 21, 2018

- yaronra, July 16, 2018

- Danielle (The Wild West), June 14, 2018

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
Totally brilliant., June 12, 2018

I'm the person who wrote the true and proper walkthrough. I solved it on my own, though it took a couple hours.

Some people have mentioned that the puzzle seems to fight against the story. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The game is very good at making you, the player, go through what the character would be feeling, if this event was real for them. The horror at the accident, the despair that there seems to be no way to save you, Nick and Ines. The frustration at the trap you have found yourself in, the eventual detachment required to actually work out the solution, and the great satisfaction when you finally manage to break the cycle.

If you haven't played it, do so. I highly recommend not reading the walkthrough. The puzzle is 100% solvable with observation and exploration. (Spoiler - click to show)First you must escape the trap of thinking all you need to know is visible before you type your first command. Having done that, you may then escape the actual trap in the game.

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- Spike, June 8, 2018

- DustyCypress (Hong Kong), May 19, 2018

- Jan Strach, April 19, 2018

- jakomo, September 21, 2017

- sushabye, September 2, 2017

- doodlelogic, July 17, 2017

- Kyriakos Sgarbas (Hellas (Greece)), May 25, 2017

- lkdc, January 31, 2017

- jeffhos, October 13, 2016

- NinaS, July 3, 2016

- Brendan Patrick Hennessy (Toronto, Ontario), May 16, 2016

- PVince81 (Germany), May 8, 2016

- Rollersnake (Rogers, AR), May 1, 2016

- E. W. B., February 23, 2016

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
A one-room, one-action game with more than meets the eye, February 3, 2016

I had heard of this game years before I played it. I didn't have a TADS interpreter, and I was only using mobile, so I just read the walkthrough and felt I understood the game.

So when I finally got an interpreter and played the game, I was in the odd position of having known the solution for years but not knowing the game.

The game is much more than its solution.

The variety in the game comes from two sources: the players choice of actions, and a surprising variety of random "reshuffling" of the environment with every restart.

The environmental cues make the games complicated parser much easier to understand. The NPC's will say "so and so said ....", which tells you things you can say, and so on. You discover new characters as you try different directions and options. There is a lot to discover, if you don't focus on just playing the game. There is also a large "amusing" list at the end.

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- Thrax, March 11, 2015

- Matthew Darby (London, United Kingdom), September 21, 2014

- shornet (Bucharest), March 23, 2014

- Katrisa (Houston), October 25, 2013

- Zeofar, August 30, 2013

- kala (Finland), April 27, 2013

- Floating Info, April 26, 2013

- Stier, March 27, 2013

- E.K., February 20, 2013

- Edward Lacey (Oxford, England), November 17, 2012

- AADA7A, September 21, 2012

- Lubulos, September 9, 2012

- Inarcadia Jones, August 2, 2012

- Relle Veyér, March 1, 2012

- MKrone (Harsleben), February 18, 2012

- deathbytroggles (Minneapolis, MN), January 30, 2012

- Shchekotiki, June 23, 2011

- Jonathan Blask (Milwaukee, WI, USA), April 4, 2011

- Mr. Patient (Saint Paul, Minn.), March 2, 2011

- The Year Is Yesterday (California), December 7, 2010

- Dude (Clarksville, Kentucky), November 13, 2010

- Sorrel, July 6, 2010

- Patrick M. McCormick (United States), May 4, 2010

- Sam Kabo Ashwell (Seattle), February 15, 2010

- four1475 (Manhattan, KS), January 4, 2010

- loungeman (Bilbao, Spain), January 4, 2010

- Alessan, August 23, 2009

- Ghalev (Northern Appalachia, United States), June 18, 2009

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
Snapshot of some characters, June 18, 2009
by Brian Conn (Eureka, California)

As the reviews above say: one turn, one monster puzzle, and so you have to keep replaying, exploring, and dying in order to gradually construct the single complex move that will leave you with a happy(ish) ending.

My favorite feature is the way the relationships among the three main characters (player character and two friends) become clear as you keep playing. There's a history behind the moment you find yourself in, and you can use your turn to explore that history as well as your physical environment. I end up being more interested in the way the solution (as well as certain unsuccessful attempts) affects the interpersonal dynamics of the characters than in the technical details of how it saves everyone's life.

I like it. I like Aisle too. (Aisle is another one-turn game, also very good, and so an obvious comparison. But if you haven't played it, then this paragraph won't do much for you.) There's something about about the idea of approaching one key moment from a hundred different angles that appeals to me. Rematch is different from Aisle in that you have a clear and difficult goal, and the fictional world and characters are consistent from run to run -- so it's maybe more reality-bound than Aisle, less whimsical, more a problem to solve than an identity to explore.

As for the puzzle, it's difficult, but certainly solvable with patience.

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- alblazek (Cleveland, Ohio), May 26, 2009

- Zharradan, March 10, 2009

- Rose (New Zealand), February 3, 2009

- Adam Biltcliffe (Cambridge, UK), December 28, 2008

- lobespear, October 25, 2008

- Maze (Rome, Italy), September 9, 2008

- burtcolk, September 3, 2008

- Genjar (Finland), August 31, 2008

- Sarah Mitty (Ypsilanti, Michigan), June 3, 2008

- Moses Templeton, May 3, 2008

- Squidi, April 5, 2008

- jfpbookworm (Hamburg, New York), February 25, 2008

- J. Robinson Wheeler (Austin, TX), February 22, 2008

- Cendare, January 9, 2008

- Stephen Bond (Leuven, Belgium), December 7, 2007

- Sami Preuninger (New York City), November 30, 2007

- PSilk (London, UK), November 26, 2007

- ErWenn (Bloomington, IN), November 18, 2007

Baf's Guide


Like Aisle, this is a game that only lasts one move; you're expected to repeat that move many, many times. Unlike Aisle, though, this is a puzzle game--there's a problem you're trying to solve in that one move. It's a pretty complex problem, moreover, and the parser is accordingly expanded--in some syntaxes, up to five nouns, well beyond the norm. Not only is the puzzle difficult, but there are some red herrings that make the puzzle even harder--but it's also very satisfying when you finally do solve it. Both funny and grim--lots of amusing stuff around the edges, but the puzzle itself isn't particularly funny. A few nudges are included in the game, but no explicit spoilers.

-- Duncan Stevens

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