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Version 1.1
Requires a Z-Code interpreter. Visit IFWiki for download links.
Zip archive of the ORC2007 entries
Contains suvehnux.z5
Requires a Z-Code 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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Backstory
The backstory for Suveh Nux (read only after finishing the game)
Last 5%
Hints for getting the last 5%
Walkthrough
Verbose walkthrough (and one-room map) by David Welbourn.

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Suveh Nux

by David Fisher profile

Fantasy
2007

Web Site

(based on 225 ratings)
21 reviews

About the Story

An entry in the 2007 One Room Game Competition. You play a magician's servant who gets trapped in your master's vault; you'll need to learn some of his tricks if you want to get out.


Game Details


Awards

Nominee, Best Game; Nominee, Best Setting; Winner, Best Puzzles; Nominee, Best Individual Puzzle - 2007 XYZZY Awards

34th Place - Interactive Fiction Top 50 of All Time (2011 edition)

46th Place - Interactive Fiction Top 50 of All Time (2019 edition)

15th Place - Interactive Fiction Top 50 of All Time (2023 edition)

1st Place - One Room Game Competition 2007

Editorial Reviews

Gaming Enthusiast
Overall, Suveh nux is a short, but extremely enjoyable experience that plays smoothly, even if you’re new to the genre of IF.
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Jay Is Games
"Suveh Nux" is a short, puzzle-oriented piece of interactive fiction by David Fisher, with a neat premise: the player is trapped in a vault (that's not the neat part) and can escape only if he learns the magical language that controls his environment.
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SPAG
The puzzle design here is very strong. Solving the game mostly involves acquiring, understanding, and finally casting appropriately magic spells made of sequences of magic words, each of which has its own unique effect. The game's magic system thus has an oddly lingusitic flavor to it that adds an extra dimension to the typical IF magic schemes found in games as old as Enchanter. In keeping with the game's fun-first approach, you are provided with always accessible notes about the various magical words as you acquire them, eliminating any need for memorization or notetaking and allowing you to focus on what you really want to be doing -- stringing the words together in various sequences to see what they do. It's this process that gives the game much of its charm. Sometimes getting it wrong here is more fun than getting it right, due to the game's impressive level of simulation. Suveh Nux's magic system is very "juicy," to use a term Emily Short recently employed in her blog to refer to games which offer a lot of unexpected, playful responses to their players.
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Member Reviews

5 star:
(92)
4 star:
(104)
3 star:
(23)
2 star:
(6)
1 star:
(0)
Average Rating:
Number of Reviews: 21
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Most Helpful Member Reviews


22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
Small, elegant puzzle game, December 23, 2007

A brief, charming game with puzzles centered on a neat magical grammar. The system is well-designed and internally consistent, the puzzles are fun to solve, and there are lots of rewards for experimenting. For the most part the solutions are not too difficult, either, but there's a hint system, just in case.

Not long on story or characterization, but excellent for what it sets out to do.

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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent Puzzle, December 8, 2009
by tggdan3 (Michigan)

You are locked in a vault while putting something in it for your wizard master, and you must find a way to escape.

Now I'm not the biggest fan of "escape the room" games, with so many on flash, I'd hate to see IF dedicated to it also, but this game more than makes up for it.

First of all, the game includes easter eggs to find, adding to replay value.

Second, the entire game is about figuring out magic words, and the syntax in which to use them, which is a great puzzle in itself. The puzzles are fair, they make sense, and they're great fun to play with.

That leads to number three. Once you figure out what's going on, there is plenty of fun screwing with everything, and anything you can see can be messed with. On top of that, the game understands so many nonsense commands with funny responses. This game will keep you entertained long after you actually completed it. (And FYI, completing the game does not give you the best score. Playing beforehand does!)

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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
Don't be put off by the "magic language" aspect...., February 3, 2011

I must say, I was initially put off by this game when I read in reviews that in this game you interact with your environment by learning to communicate in a language it understands. As a semi-relative-newcomer to IF, all I could think was, AGH!! ISN'T THAT ALREADY THE PROBLEM WITH INTERACTIVE FICTION?! DO WE REALLY NEED TO MAKE IT HARDER?!?! However, I found myself continually drawn back to this game with its strange title, and eventually I just had to try it. Casting aside my misgivings, I downloaded the game and began to play. And, I must say, it was well worth it. I was immediately drawn into the story and my fears about the "magic language" were completely dispelled (no pun intended). There were NO endless "guess the verb" sessions as I had feared. Rather, everything needed to solve the puzzle was provided within the game. What a relief not to have to read the author's mind, as seems to be the case with so many other games. All in all, Suveh Nux was a beautifully simple and enjoyable game. I now laugh at my initial hesitation to try it. After completing the game, my only disappointment was that it was over!

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Polls

The following polls include votes for Suveh Nux:

Games with amusing deaths by Andrew Schultz
Lots of games have one amusing death, but what games best take the concept and run with it? These deaths could be nudges on messing something up, or even better, or even a nice reward for a reader who is playing attention and notices a...

magic systems / accurate time travel by Cygnus
I recently played Never Gives Up Her Dead by Mathbrush, and I loved it a lot. I especially loved the magic part in a certain part, and I've previously played The Wand and loved that to pieces. I also love researching time travel and I...

Games w/ cool mechanics by Cygnus
Lookin' for stuff like Colortura, What Heart Heard of Ghost Guessed, Delightful Wallpaper, etc. Just... anything that has a very unconventional and scrumptious mechanic system. Thanky!

See all polls with votes for this game




This is version 25 of this page, edited by DFisher on 24 October 2023 at 2:28am. - View Update History - Edit This Page - Add a News Item - Delete This Page