Blue Chairs

by Chris Klimas

Surreal
2004

Return to the game's main page

Reviews and Ratings

5 star:
(35)
4 star:
(22)
3 star:
(22)
2 star:
(9)
1 star:
(4)
Average Rating:
Number of Ratings: 93
Write a review


Showing All | Show by Page


- gattociao, August 18, 2023

- Edo, August 17, 2023

- rabbitking, June 22, 2023

- Cerfeuil (*Teleports Behind You* Nothing Personnel, Kid), October 21, 2022

>INVENTORY - Paul O'Brian writes about interactive fiction

Klimas has a hold of something very powerful -- interactive fiction steeped in surrealism and symbolism. This sort of thing has been tried before, but Blue Chairs is the best realization of it that I've seen.

You wrote this review - Revise it | Direct link | Add a comment

- BlueAskew, February 10, 2022

- smrq, September 27, 2020

- Ry (Philippines), June 10, 2020

- o0pyromancer0o, April 29, 2020

- kierlani, April 18, 2020

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
A classic of Story IF, July 1, 2018
by osfameron
Related reviews: If Comp 2004

This was my favourite game of IFComp 2004, and I always felt that "it wuz robbed" with its (admittedly pretty creditable) 2nd place: it had the most 9s and 10s of any of the games, by some distance, but also divided opinion.

Essentially it's Story IF, and many people much preferred the (incomprehensible to me) All Things Devours which took 3rd place. In any case, it's no surprise that Klimas went on to invent the Twine system for hyperfiction. But how does Blue Chairs -- a parser game, implemented in Inform rather than hypertext -- stack up, more than a decade later?

The implementation is pretty strong. Most of the things you want to do have well-written responses that push the game forward, and the scenes that span multiple turns are well handled. I did find myself jumping to the hints more often than perhaps I should for a story-centric game, perhaps a more modern version of this would hint things better, or have alternative solutions presented automatically?

(On a side note, it says something about these times that the desert scene made me oddly nostalgic.)

I don't know if Klimas found Parser IF limiting, or just harder to write (this was Inform 6, written in an OO-style, as it predated Inform 7's rule-based, "natural language" style.)

In any case, Blue Chairs is a classic of Story IF. It has its flaws, but it's well worth a read.

Was this review helpful to you?   Yes   No   Remove vote  
More Options

 | Add a comment 

- Guenni (At home), February 15, 2018

- Sobol (Russia), June 5, 2016

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Beautiful story, much left ambiguous, March 16, 2016

I loved it - it develops into something not at all what you'd expect from the beginning, becoming a beautifully poignant tale with great writing- it gets a bit flabby in the middle (Spoiler - click to show)around the maze section as the story doesn't really develop there, and some might not even realise how far it goes, with some of the early possible endings.
I agonised over whether it was a 4/5 star piece- there are a couple of puzzles you'll need to use the hint system for-
But it has some really wonderful insightful and affecting writing- was surprised how young the author was when he wrote this, from the supporting documentation! Really beautiful, although much is still left very ambiguous.

Was this review helpful to you?   Yes   No   Remove vote  
More Options

 | Add a comment 

- E. W. B., March 2, 2016

- Mergath, February 26, 2016

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Long, trippy journey through a surreal landscape, February 3, 2016
by MathBrush
Related reviews: about 2 hours

Blue Chairs is (literally) trippy. After an interesting transaction at a college party, you take a surreal journey through this world and variants of it. Something like an adaptation of Dante's Inferno by James Joyce.

The game contains drug references and strong profanity.

The puzzles are mostly reasonable, although I needed a walkthrough in the convenience store.

As a literary work, it is well written and well done. As a game, the puzzles are interesting and well-connected with the story.

However, I don't really recommend the game. I didn't like the atmosphere and feeling of the game. Everyone's tastes are different, and many people will enjoy this game, but I felt uncomfortable with parts of it.

Was this review helpful to you?   Yes   No   Remove vote  
More Options

 | Add a comment 

- Aryore, December 13, 2015

- ibelongia, June 5, 2015

- chux, May 20, 2015

- Thrax, March 11, 2015

- Katrisa (Houston), January 1, 2015

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
One heck of a Ride!, December 31, 2014
by Chai Hai (Kansas City KS)

I enjoyed this immensely. Several different settings, and a nice plot too. A lot of thought was put into this, it's extremely well written.

My biggest concern was the store maze. That certainly got repetitive ( had to look at the walkthrough to figure the end of that out) but I loved the people you met in the supermarket. The rooms you went into were unique enough to keep me satiated, and I wasn't too annoyed by the maze.

I loved this game's theme of life changes, it was really poignant and definitely gave you a lot to think about. Bravo!

Was this review helpful to you?   Yes   No   Remove vote  
More Options

 | Add a comment 

- glasslioness, November 2, 2014

- Joshua Houk, October 18, 2014

- kala (Finland), August 9, 2014

- IFforL2 (Chiayi, Taiwan), July 17, 2014

- Herah, June 18, 2014

- boxesoffoxes, April 22, 2014

- Simon Deimel (Germany), January 2, 2014

- Cloud-Of-Judgement (Eastern Europe), December 12, 2013

- Egas, August 4, 2013

- verityvirtue (London), March 31, 2013

- Fluffy_Cakes, March 11, 2013

- Beable, January 19, 2013

- Rotonoto (Albuquerque, New Mexico), December 19, 2012

- Puddin Tame (Queens, NY), October 27, 2012

- E.K., September 30, 2012

- AADA7A, September 19, 2012

- Leland Paul (Swarthmore, PA), June 29, 2012

- Audiart (Davis, CA), February 27, 2012

- deathbytroggles (Minneapolis, MN), January 30, 2012

- Mike Ciul (Philadelphia), May 17, 2011

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
Mysterious green liquids, May 6, 2011
by Aintelligence (Canada)

Don't do drugs.  I think that just about sums up this whole piece.  Of course the moral could be don't step inside freezers if you stop at a gas station, or for that matter it could be promoting the game Carcassonne.  Yes, it was that type of game; the type where I ask myself what the heck i'm doing inside playing this game.  I can't really see what the charm really is with it.  A guy does drugs, goes slightly delusional, and tries to get to his friend.  There that's the main storyline.

Now it isn't really that the implementation was bad at all.  It was very good.  I didn't find any kinks in in the puzzles (most of them fairly straightforward), I wasn't verb guessing, and there were multiple endings (which was nice).  However, the plot itself absolutely was incredibly confusing.  Instead of sticking with a straightforward line, the plot dives off either side into simply extraneous and pointless puzzles.  It felt almost like the author wasn't sure where to take the story and decided to confuse the issue.  It goes from trying to get a drive to your friend's to walking in an endless maze.

I think that the most frustrating thing about it was that the author expects the readers to understand a whole bunch of in-game allegories.  Many of the puzzles hinted that what you saw was referring to "the bigger picture".  (Spoiler - click to show) for example, In the freezer maze, the people that we see (Carcassonne girls, old man, monsters etc. Are surely supposed to mean something, but it made absolutely no sense and felt like I was doing busy work   there were so many questions which the story threw at me that in the end, the story made no sense, and left fifty pieces which made no sense.  Yes I know the main character is under the influence of drugs, but it just doesn't work giving readers a bunch of pointless dead ends.

I know many people are going to be annoyed at this saying that I've missed it altogether, and please leave a comment, but I really felt like this was trying to look way more deep than it really is.  I didn't like it, but due to the mixed reviews it's a detonate must play.

Was this review helpful to you?   Yes   No   Remove vote  
More Options

 | View comments (1) - Add comment 

- frocutio (Irvine, CA), February 22, 2011

- snickerdoddle, January 28, 2011

- Ben Cressey (Seattle, WA), January 25, 2011

- katz (Altadena, California), January 12, 2011

- Anthony Mueller, November 26, 2010

- Markoff23, November 22, 2010

- Mr. Patient (Saint Paul, Minn.), November 10, 2010

- Clemency Jones (England), August 26, 2010

- pyrocow, August 18, 2010

- Alder (San Francisco), August 15, 2010

- Mark Jones (Los Angeles, California), July 6, 2010

4 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
Extremely overrated, June 5, 2010
by Nusco (Bologna, Italy)
Related reviews: IF Competition 2004

Average geek takes drugs and dreams his way through a confusing game. Pretentious, condescending tone, as if the author is trying to teach you something very profound. The competent implementation and writing is not enough to make this game less irritating.

I have to make use of the standard disclaimer here: although I didn't like it (and arguably I didn't get it), most players consider Blue Chairs a modern classic, and this game got close to winning the 2004 IF Comp. So it's a game that deserves to played. At the very worst, you'll be as disappointed as I was.

Was this review helpful to you?   Yes   No   Remove vote  
More Options

 | Add a comment 

- omenofdoom, March 6, 2010

- Aina Grey, December 29, 2009

- Grey (Italy), December 25, 2009

2 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
The Donnie Darko of interactive fiction, December 17, 2009
by Andreas Teufel (Poland)

Blue Chairs is the Donnie Darko of interactive fiction. In other words pretentious meaningless crap!

Surrealism for the sake of it and nothing to back it up. Nothing in the dream sequences has any relation to the main story, nothing in the dream sequences has any internal tie. Blue chairs?! They mean nothing. Surrealism always comes hand in hand with symbolism, but there is none whatsoever in this utter waste of time. I really feel cheated of my time, that's why I won't mention any of the postitive aspects of this "game". None of the NPCs, some of which could have been very interesting if more developed, has any more function than being a placeholder or MacGuffin. And don't get me started about the end!

I would have given a 2 if it were not for the fucking MAZE. (the author uses "fuck" a lot so I do it as well) This is also where the hint system fails.

How can this win any award, let alone best game?!

For a similar, much better, game try Narcolepsy, it's not perfect either but at least it doesn't have a maze!

Was this review helpful to you?   Yes   No   Remove vote  
More Options

 | View comments (4) - Add comment 

- tadjinar, October 9, 2009

- rainbow_fish_953 (Kansas), July 28, 2009

- Stephen Gilbert (Canada), July 11, 2009

- Mark V. (Madrid, Spain), June 2, 2009

- Michael R. Bacon (New Mexico), April 28, 2009

- Mastodon, March 26, 2009

- googoogjoob, February 24, 2009

- Shigosei, February 8, 2009

10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
Technically great, full of symbolistic smugness, December 28, 2008
by kba (berlin)

I played Blue Chairs because I looked specifically for games with a surreal setting and surreal is what I got. The opening scene is really great, both technically and as a plot device, and it seems like the start of some psychedelic fun. But it isn't really psychedelic, it felt more like the stoned ramblings of a preachy zen-buddhist who read too much wikipedia on Freudian pychoanalysis. Then again, I don't know what kind of drug I, the player that is, is on.

I have no problem with games with a message, but either I didn't really get it or I'm not interested in it.

But mine is a very subjective point of view: The game is flawles technically, has various endings and if you are into psychology of the sub-consiciousness, symbolism and new-age-isms or just more tolerant than me, you will love it.

Even though I didn't like it I advise you to play it, it deserves it!

Was this review helpful to you?   Yes   No   Remove vote  
More Options

 | Add a comment 

- cadenza, November 11, 2008

- Nathan (Utah), October 25, 2008

- George Shannon (Pittsburgh), September 17, 2008

- madducks (Indianapolis, Indiana), September 5, 2008

- Mukeja, August 20, 2008

- alice-meynell, July 20, 2008

- Timo Saarinen (Finland), July 13, 2008

- Steve Blanding (Redmond, WA), June 27, 2008

2 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
Surrealism at its best, June 18, 2008
by probabilityZero (Folsom, CA)

From the moment I saw the title page, I was hooked. I've played through this game numerous times, and I've yet to tire of it.

The dream-like feeling of it all is pulled off perfectly. With the sort of style it is easy to come across sounding pretentious and overly-complicated, but the author here manages to make it all feel natural.

Overall, it's a well constructed, interesting, and artistic game. I highly recommend it to anyone, even those who don't like IF.

Was this review helpful to you?   Yes   No   Remove vote  
More Options

 | Add a comment 

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
Needs an Author's Cut, June 12, 2008
by Marsh (Oxfordshire, UK)

The game deserves 4 stars. A good edit would get it 5 stars.

The implementation is utterly sound and the prose is consistent and error-free. And that alone is enough to set this apart from 80% of that year's offerings.

It's a beautiful game, and I got really immersed. However, there's a dream section that goes beyond the nightime otherworldly and into pure surrealism for the sake of getting some exposition done. It's not needed, and shakes the mood.

What I'm saying (non-spoilery) is that the conversation with the reporter could as easily have been done by a conversation with Chris, while flying through the dark in the car.

Was this review helpful to you?   Yes   No   Remove vote  
More Options

 | Add a comment 

2 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
worthy of favorites, June 11, 2008
by cunningjames (Greensboro, NC)

The surreal qualities of this game hide, I think, that it is an exploration of (Spoiler - click to show)grief -- and an artful one. I should hope that this resonates with anyone similarly affected.

(Spoiler - click to show)
And so must Beauty bow her imperfect head
Because a dream has joined the wistful dead!


Marred by a few frustrating puzzles and (IMO) uninterpretable scenes, it's still one of the finest examples of the form.

Was this review helpful to you?   Yes   No   Remove vote  
More Options

 | Add a comment 

- lobespear, April 24, 2008

- yandexx (Saint-Petersburg, Russia), April 16, 2008

- bolucpap, March 19, 2008

- brattish (Canada), February 26, 2008

- jfpbookworm (Hamburg, New York), February 25, 2008

- Michel Nizette (Brussels, Belgium), January 18, 2008

- tfbk, January 10, 2008

- VK, November 26, 2007

8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
One of my favorites, November 22, 2007
by Benjamin Sokal (Elysium pod planting enclosure on Mars)

One of my favorite games, Blue Chairs is surreal at its best. It's not surreal for its own sake, but to underpin the emotional state of the protagonist. You are Dante Hicks (no, not the one from Clerks), and you begin the game by drinking a bottle of unknown liquid from a strange man. From there you drift from reality to dream to nightmare to who-knows-what state you're in and back again, but it is all amazingly cohesive.

Dancing in the Dance
You can go anywhere you want. You can see anything you want. Where are you? There are five hundred people crammed into this room -- it's a miracle of genetic instinct and secular humanism that no one's bumping into anyone else, except when they want to, which is always... Why don't you touch people more? You never hug people except when they hug you first. Your grandmother leaving for a trip to New Orleans, to see where her body will reside once she's gone up to wherever it is that grandmothers belong after they die...

Like an interactive fiction version of a David Lynch movie, Blue Chairs manages to be confusing, provocative, beautiful, and in the end packs a surprising emotional punch.

Was this review helpful to you?   Yes   No   Remove vote  
More Options

 | Add a comment 

- Brian Slesinsky (California), October 27, 2007

- Stephen Bond (Leuven, Belgium), October 26, 2007

- Pseudo_Intellectual (Vancouver, Canada), October 25, 2007

- Quintin Stone (NC), October 23, 2007

- Emily Short, October 22, 2007

Baf's Guide


My favourite game in IF-Competition 2004, Blue Chairs almost immediately won me over by a wonderfully surreal (or, more precise, dream-like) atmosphere and setting. As it turned out later, they were combined with one of the strongest stories I'd ever encountered in interactive fiction. On the other hand, it has been (deservedly, it seems) criticized for somewhat obscure puzzles, so that someone could find enough reasons to take away a star off its rating; someone - but not me.

-- Valentine Kopteltsev

You wrote this review - Revise it | Direct link | Add a comment


Showing All | Show by Page | Return to game's main page