Xen: The Contest

Baf's Guide

The game has one of the strongest plots in IF-Competition 2005. However, the impact of the game is to a no small degree diminished by a not thorough enough implementation, as well as by repeated driving the player through lengthy sequences of mundane and obvious actions (for instance, in the early stages of the game, the PC has to go to the cafeteria every day, stand there in line, order his food, and pay for it at the cash desk). Still, it has plenty of atmosphere, and the characters are sketched out nicely, although they are - well, underimplemented. I'd like to repeat it - personally for me, the story of Xen: The Contest made up for most game design flaws; still, I'm aware it might be not to everyone's taste.

-- Valentine Kopteltsev