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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.
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| 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, 2018This 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. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | 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, 2016by Something Moving Under The Bed Related reviews: poignant, surreal, mystery, love, aging, symbolism 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. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | 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, 2016Blue 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. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | 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, 2014by 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. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | 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, 2011by 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. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | 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, 2010Average 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 | 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, 2009by Andreas Teufel (Poland) Blue Chairs is the Donnie Darko of interactive fiction. In other words pretentious meaningless crap! Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | 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, 2008by 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. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | 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, 2008by 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. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | Add a comment
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16 people found the following review helpful:
Needs an Author's Cut, June 12, 2008by Marsh (Oxfordshire, UK) The game deserves 4 stars. A good edit would get it 5 stars. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | Add a comment
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8 people found the following review helpful:
worthy of favorites, June 11, 2008by 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. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | 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, 2007by 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 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 | 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 GuideMy 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
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