Reviews by GhostGabriel
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Umm... Okay, October 27, 2020How can I sum up what I just played in the last 10 minutes? Hmm. Well, I clicked on a bunch of blue hyper-links in the text of a parser IF piece. I followed a protagonist I didn't know much about (Spoiler - click to show) quickly turning into a monster.
Putting myself in the author's shoes, it feels like some short stories I've pumped out just to keep the creative juices flowing. But ones that I ultimately never published or shared. It feels like it was done more for the creator than for the audience.
The biggest flaw is that the reader is supposed to instantly care about what happens to the main character, but I found no reason to. There was nothing to make me care about anyone in this story.
If this was the ending of a story where we had spent time building relationships with these characters it could have had a massive impact. That's my biggest issue with this game. Given more time and attention, this idea could have made a great finale, but instead it feels like it's over before it starts.
Would prefer more Interactive in my IF, October 26, 2020(Very minor spoilers ahead)
Let me start off by saying, I love atmospheric horror. Running through post-disaster settings unlocking doors and solving puzzles brings me unreasonable amount of enjoyment. So based on the beginning of my playthrough, I was ready to LOVE this game.
However, as one review pointed out where this game falls flat as Interactive Fiction is the lack of interactivity with anything relating to the story. This game takes places in a pretty sterile environment. By that I mean, there are no enemies or other characters of any kind to interact with.
The puzzles are logical, but the only thing enticing the player to keep going throughout this backtracking fetch-quest are the chunks of story that play out like cutscenes any time you touch a glowing object. Which was fine at first, but the player never gets to meet or interact with any of the characters. Plus, I would wager anyone intelligent enough to make it through this game (or even Google a walkthrough) will see the big plot twist coming a mile away. There are no red herrings or tricks here, it's a pretty straightforward story about scientists pursuing science to their own demise.
On the positive side- the writing was solid, the parser understood me nine out of ten times, and I liked the atmosphere- even if it didn't feel "alive."
On the negative side- the ending left me feeling a bit bummed out. Without saying too much, it's a downer and there's nothing I could have done as a player to change it. I didn't feel like there was any revelation here, just marching my way tediously to the finish line.
I'd say Babel is worth a playthrough, just know what you're getting into.
Fun!, May 22, 2020I had a fun time with Divis Mortis. I should probably start by saying I'm new to IF, especially parser IF. I first fell in love with video games playing old school Resident Evil (1-3) and that introduced me to the concept of solving mostly item-based puzzles while running around a zombie infested area. I was looking for an IF horror game to scratch that same itch. And for the most part, Divis Mortis does.
I enjoyed the descriptions of rooms and items. The writer gives enough description to show you the world with enough ambiguity to paint your own mental picture. I felt that the puzzles were mostly intuitive, but there is one way to get stuck and have to start over (or restore a pretty early save slot). (Spoiler - click to show) It has to do with the outside. You have the option to barricade the doors to the outside. After a time (maybe a certain number of moves) the game says basically, "the zombies are coming. better shore up your defenses." So I barricaded the door with the bench. BUT! You have to get a toolkit from your car outside before barricading the door. Once you barricade it, the noise attracts zombies and you can't go out again. If you barricade the door before you get the toolkit from your car, you have to start over. This game is about 25 rooms so its not THAT hard to play back to the point you need to, but I would still rather have gotten some kind of prompt, such as "I'd better check the outside first before I barricade myself in here." It would have saved a lot of frustration. I know I went on a bit of a rant, but that dead end completely broke my immersion in an otherwise great experience.
Like other reviewers said, I also wish this game were longer. It's a world and play style that I would love to spend more time in and explore.
And my only other complaint is the ending. Without spoiling it, it took a drastic shift in tone. It felt like the author was up against a deadline and rushed the ending.
BUT, even with those issues I still loved this game. I would encourage any IF survival horror fans to check it out!
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