Without a Clue

This was a fun game in a style different than that which I usually play. It's an ADRIFT game that is pretty long, with more than 8 'acts' and 43 rooms, but with puzzles that are locally self-contained and generally well-clued (with a couple of exceptions).

You show up to Sherlock Holmes' apartment determined to prove he is a fraud, only to discover it full of bullet holes and menacing notes. You have to track down Shakespeare and foil a plot by the evil Moriarty!

Much of the game can be completed by examining everything and showing things to people. The game is fortunately almost completely devoid of having to 'look behind' and 'under' everything (although looking under is useful in obvious cases).

I did use the hints a couple of times, and every time was for a window or door. The second to last puzzle (a grill) wasn't hinted and I struggled for a long time. I eventually opened up the game in the ADRIFT 4 coding app and found out that I had the right idea but the wrong direction (full spoiler: (Spoiler - click to show)I was trying to LOCK it but had to CLOSE it.).

Overall, I didn't encounter many bugs (a couple of times the screen just printed a single letter when I doubt that was what was desired; most likely because I was playing online). I had a good time with this game.

"Without a clue" is definitely one of the better games I've played.
The setup is quite funny and the remarks as you play made me laugh more than once.
Some of the puzzles are hard, but then again isn't that what adventure games is all about?
None of them are "obscure" or unsolvable if you take your time and think about them.
The atmosphere is good and I felt that there was a flow in the game that made it easy to follow.
Not a game to be recommended to first time players, but definitely a great game to battle on a dark and cold winter night.

Uses the exact same idea as Infocom's 80's Sherlock game - you play as Watson instead of Sherlock. Even starts the same way, with you outside 221B Baker Street about to enter. The writing is a decent stab at apeing the Conan Doyle style, the puzzles are too obscure and unclued though. I knew pretty quickly the location I wanted to visit, but even after exploring all the other locations allowed first, it still wouldn't open up that area. Highly frustrating. The ADRIFT language used to write this game didnt help much either, not the author's fault but some annoying limitations in its parsing became evident.