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Release 1

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Outsided

by Chad Elliott

Espionage
1999

(based on 1 rating)
1 review

About the Story

"You are about to have the worst day of your life..." [--blurb from Competition '99]


Game Details


Awards

34th Place - 5th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition (1999)

Editorial Reviews

Baf's Guide


An attempt at a spy thriller, ruined by bad writing, bad game design, and bugs. Particularly notable is the opening scene, in which you have to figure out how to convince your character not to kill himself. The plot, to the extent it's understandable, involves a PC whose mind keeps getting transferred to different bodies, but the game doesn't do much with the premise.

-- Duncan Stevens

>INVENTORY - Paul O'Brian writes about interactive fiction

Aw, here I am being all harsh and I didn't even mention one of the game's main redeeming features: its author apologizes for it right up front. Before the first prompt of the game even arrives, we see this:

A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:
Hi, first I would like to say 'sorry.' Good! Now that I have gotten
that out of the way, Please 'enjoy' the game.

I laughed when I saw that, especially following as it did on the heels of the error-riddled opening paragraphs. And I appreciated it too, I really did. But I have to say it confused me a little as well. Obviously the author knows that the game isn't up to par. So instead of releasing it with an apology, why not instead fix it, then release a good version that he wouldn't have to apologize for? I would have appreciated that a lot more.
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Member Reviews

Average Rating:
Number of Reviews: 1
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
A buggy, rough spy game with a fun concept, April 18, 2016

This game has grammar and spelling trouble, illogical puzzles and a tendency to switch colors randomly while playing in parchment (including to all back).

This is a shame, because the story concept and writing are a lot of fun. After a brief opening scene or two, the game picks up and changes direction.

You might as well use the walkthrough, as the games puzzles don't make much sense without it. This is yet another early game that shows the need for tools like Twine that let people write interactive stories without worrying about implementing a lot of background or freedom.

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Outsided on IFDB

Recommended Lists

Outsided appears in the following Recommended Lists:

Spy games by MathBrush
Games involving espionage, whether military or industrial. I've tried to put a few especially good games first, but the rest are in no particular order. This list includes games of excellent quality as well as games of lower quality.




This is version 4 of this page, edited by Paul O'Brian on 6 May 2022 at 3:14pm. - View Update History - Edit This Page - Add a News Item - Delete This Page