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Story File
Contains AFDFR.taf
Require e.​g. Adrift 4 Runner or Gargoyle or Parchment
Requires an ADRIFT version 4 interpreter. Visit IFWiki for download links. (Compressed with ZIP. Free Unzip tools are available for most systems at www.info-zip.org.)

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A Fine Day for Reaping

by James Webb (aka revgiblet) profile

Humor
2007

(based on 25 ratings)
3 reviews

About the Story

Step into the bare feet of the Grim Reaper for a day and make sure that five pesky souls keep their appointment with the afterlife.


Game Details


Awards

7th Place - 13th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition (2007)

Winner, Best Story; Nominee, Best Individual PC - 2007 XYZZY Awards

1st Place - InsideADRIFT Game of the Year Comp 2007

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Member Reviews

5 star:
(2)
4 star:
(12)
3 star:
(10)
2 star:
(1)
1 star:
(0)
Average Rating:
Number of Reviews: 3
Write a review


9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
Death a la Pratchett, July 11, 2011

A Fine Day for Reaping presents the player as a semi-competent Death. The game's puzzles turn on the idea that Death doesn't really have particularly supernatural abilities: your challenge is to make sure that the people who are supposed to die do so on time. This is a somewhat embarrassing predicament for Death to be in, and the game makes the most of it; the required actions are occasionally a bit goofy and undignified. Most of the puzzles have multiple solutions, however, which keeps the game reasonably playable.

What stands out about the piece is the humor and the flashes of excellence in the writing. Sometimes reminiscent of Pratchett, the text works in a number of fine jokes, especially on the topic of what it's like to be a very tall thin skeletal man.

Parsing issues were the most common problem when I played (and these may have been addressed in post-competition releases). Nonetheless, the game as a whole is entertaining light comedy of a flavor that's not terribly common in IF. Worth a try.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Humorous game about grim reaper; nonlinear with multiple solutions, February 3, 2016
by MathBrush
Related reviews: about 2 hours

This is an entertaining ADRIFT game which I played on Gargoyle on Windows. You play as the grim reaper, getting your daily list of souls to reap. You can complete your tasks in any order, and every puzzle has multiple solutions.

As you complete your tasks, you get page-long textdumps of truly entertaining material about your targets. There is a timer, but it is very generous. I usually use walkthroughs extensively, but I only required one hint in this game.

The humor is similar to Terry Pratchett or even Douglas Adams, just dry situational comedy more than slapstick. Some unusual settings for English-language IF (Himalayas, France, etc.).

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Fun so far, but with an unplayable bug: you can't go west, May 15, 2022

I wish I could give this a proper review. It really is a cool premise. Unfortunately, trying to enter "w" or "west" or otherwise only gets me "You try the handle but the door is locked. You need a keycard to get in. People are so suspicious these days."

This applies everywhere, even Death's own house. I checked a few different places. This bug is not mentioned anywhere, but it is a result of typing in a game-specific command, more or less, so I assume it's a game issue and not a me issue.

I will check back at some point to see if it gets fixed, and update the review. Really want to complete this one, I like the idea of (Spoiler - click to show)needing items from one location to solve puzzles in another.

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A Fine Day for Reaping on IFDB

Recommended Lists

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