The Moonlit Tower

by Yoon Ha Lee

Eastern
2002

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Reviews and Ratings

5 star:
(15)
4 star:
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3 star:
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Number of Ratings: 59
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- Kastel, September 28, 2023

- Greg Frost (Seattle, Washington), August 20, 2023

- aluminumoxynitride, April 17, 2023

- Cerfeuil (*Teleports Behind You* Nothing Personnel, Kid), October 15, 2022

>INVENTORY - Paul O'Brian writes about interactive fiction

The Moonlit Tower is a rich and gorgeous piece of work, and a very strong debut from an excellent new author. Easily the most striking thing about this game is its writing, burnished and evocative prose that sets a very elevated tone.

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- Edo, June 16, 2020

- Sammel, April 5, 2020

- AKheon (Finland), August 24, 2019

- Denk, August 21, 2019

- Sobol (Russia), February 14, 2019

- lkdc, December 2, 2017

- Wanderlust, August 3, 2017

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Exploration in a lush, beautiful East Asian-influenced setting, July 16, 2017
by verityvirtue (London)
Related reviews: phlegmatic

The Moonlit Tower is a small, self-contained game, set in a lush, unusual setting. Who you are is not immediately clear; finding out is its own experience.

Again, the player's goal is not clear at first. While this would usually be considered less than desirable, in this case this encourages exploration, and what a world there is to explore! The setting here draws on East Asian influences, and various features give the impression of gilt and intricate detail, such as you might find in a palace in ancient China or during the Joseon dynasty, and it is this detail in the crevices of the text which encourages replay.

This is a small game whose sparse puzzles are enriched by the enjoyable writing. The game boasts gentle, evocative, lush descriptions galore, rich with odd turns of phrase. Story is revealed in vignettes, flashes of memory; nothing is concrete.

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- Audiart (Davis, CA), February 14, 2017

- mousetail (India), August 28, 2016

- eyeballkidable, July 18, 2016

- Ryan Veeder (Australia), May 4, 2016

- leanbh, March 15, 2016

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
A short Asian-themed "atmosphere" game like Dreamhold, February 3, 2016
by MathBrush
Related reviews: about 2 hours

In the Moonlit Tower, you explore a small 3-story tower to help remember who you are and your past. Like Dreamhold, the key to your memory seems to be masks, but much of the game, you don't know what to do with the mask.

The setting is dreamlike and very poetic. It is the game most likely to find its way into a book of poems or an art gallery. The author borrowed its imagery and story from several cultures, including Mongolia and China.

The puzzles are mostly the examine/pick-up-object type until you progress very far, and then they get a bit more difficult. There are multiple endings, some of which are hard to find.

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- Aryore, December 13, 2015

- paranormal-potato, June 5, 2015

- Thrax, March 11, 2015

- hoopla, March 8, 2015

- Christina Nordlander, February 18, 2015

- CMG (NYC), November 7, 2014


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