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Chancellor

by Kevin Venzke

Fantasy, Surreal
2005

(based on 15 ratings)
3 reviews

About the Story

Maturity attained, the daughter is unfurled upon the world, embarked upon a mysterious quest by her father.


Game Details


Awards

9th Place - 11th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition (2005)

Nominee, Best Game; Nominee, Best Writing; Nominee, Best Story; Nominee, Best Setting; Nominee, Best Individual Puzzle - 2005 XYZZY Awards

Editorial Reviews

SPAG

Chancellor does better than just mixing up ingredients of other games, and introduces a device personally I quite rarely (if at all) encountered in IF: it lets the two game worlds melt together. [...] It's been a thrilling experience indeed, which has been enhanced even more by the magnificent writing and the very comprehensive setting that implemented every object mentioned in the descriptions, and responded adequately to every action I could think of.

Unfortunately, the game isn't crowned with a worthy end; rather, it shakes off all the mysterious stuff the player has encountered using a quite battered excuse.

-- Valentine Kopteltsev
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Member Reviews

5 star:
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Average Rating:
Number of Reviews: 3
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Featured on Radio K: Ask/Tell #10, July 24, 2017
by Adam Cadre (Albany, California)

Laura Hubbard and I discuss Chancellor at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tERrTj4VCK8#t=27m39s

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Forgotten gem about two realities and facing fear, February 3, 2016
by MathBrush
Related reviews: 2-10 hours

Chancellor is a game that got a bit overlooked in the IFcomp for being long, of moderately hard difficulty, and not having a walkthrough. Later, it got more attention, being nominated for Best Game, Best Story, Best Writing, and Best Individual Puzzle in the XYZZY awards.

You play in two different worlds. The first is a fantasy world, where you must leave your father to undertake a quest. The second is (Spoiler - click to show)the real world, where you are a chancellor (like a resident aide) in an abandoned dormitory.

Both have a grim and brooding atmosphere, but also one of wonder at the world around you. The two worlds are interconnected.

The writing is excellent. The game is excellent. The author has a hints guide up somewhere that got me through a few tricky points, although the guide is very very minimal.

Strongly recommended.

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0 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
Weak, November 13, 2007
by James Hall (UK)

Unlike Kurusu City, Chancellor was relatively free from bugs, which is a good thing. Unfortunately, unlike Kurusu City, the story is pretty nonsensical and I didn't feel compelled to play it for very long.

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Chancellor on IFDB

Recommended Lists

Chancellor appears in the following Recommended Lists:

Games that I couldn't put down by MathBrush
These are games that for some reason or over I just couldn't stop playing and thinking about. There are no specific reasons given. These aren't necessarily my favorite games; one reason they are pageturner is that the pacing is good and...

Surreal/trippy/metaphor/mind's journey, with two worlds by MathBrush
There is a big genre of games where you explore a metaphorical region of dreams or symbolism, and which has meaning in the 'real world'. I love this genre, and these are my favorite examples of the genre. I only include games where there...

Forgotten Treasures of IFDB by MathBrush
These are games that are great, either in my opinion or in many others, but which have been forgotten. By forgotten, I mean it satisfies the following: 1. Not an IfComp or XYZZY Best Game winner, 2. Not in Best 50 Interactive Fiction...

Polls

The following polls include votes for Chancellor:

Low-rated games worth playing by diddlescatter
Looking for games that may have gotten poor reviews but are still memorable and worth playing for the story.

Lost Treasures of the IF Comp by Molly
It seems that for every Comp game that's still talked about today (e.g., Slouching Towards Bedlam, Shade, Photopia, etc.), there's ten or so that have been almost completely forgotten; some of them even placed in the top ten or higher....

Games That Reward Sticking With Them by Ghalev
Here's a dangerously subjective poll. I can be a bit impatient with text adventures on most days, sadly, and if a game doesn't grab me, shake me, French-kiss me and hump my leg in the first 2,000 words (those long intros count toward the...




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