Losing Your Grip

Download

	grip.gam For all systems. To play, you'll need a TADS 2 Interpreter - visit tads.org for interpreter downloads.
	gripfeelies.zip * additional PDF documents (including registration key for hints)
	gripsrc.zip * Source code to version 5.0
	Losing_Your_Grip_Solution.zip * solution
	grip.sol Walkthrough

* Compressed with ZIP. Free Unzip tools are available for most systems at www.info-zip.org.

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Losing Your Grip
by Stephen Granade profile

Surreal
1998

(based on 19 ratings)
1 member review

Game Details

Language: English (en)
Current Version: Release 5
License: Freeware
Development System: TADS 2
Forgiveness Rating: Cruel
Baf's Guide ID: 1243
IFID: TADS2-A49F4441B26E44344F76C82A3361101E
TUID: folz7olvvczasp88

Awards

Nominee, Best Story; Nominee, Best Setting; Nominee, Best Puzzles; Nominee, Best Individual Puzzle - 1998 XYZZY Awards

Editorial Reviews

Baf's Guide

Large, highly complex and introspective game. You're a fellow named Terry, in rehab for nicotine addiction, and the drug you're put on sets you on an internal journey of sorts. Nearly everything in the game functions on a symbolic level, and trying to unravel everything is challenging--there's been no little debate on the rec.*.int-fiction newsgroups about what everything means. Thematically rich, but also plenty of fun as a game--the puzzles are challenging but fair, on the whole. What's notable about this is that, for the most part, the puzzles serve the purposes of the story rather than getting in the way of the story--the author manages to weave the plot into the obstacles to be overcome. The central relationship in the game is a puzzle in itself--much as the protagonist doesn't fully understand the relationship, you the player spend most of the game trying to figure out the dynamics. At two points in the game, the plot branches (in a sufficiently subtle way that you may not realize there was another choice), such that two lengthy sections of the game have two entirely separate paths through them (after which the paths rejoin). Complex, but thoroughly rewarding. Originally shareware, but the author has now released it as freeware.

-- Duncan Stevens

An exceedingly well-crafted game, and a pleasure to play. Originally released as freeware with an optional registration (to get "feelies" and hints), but now the feelies are free too. Features multiple paths and a surreal atmosphere.

-- Mark Musante

Gaming Enthusiast
As for the puzzles, they are rather difficult. Still, they are also really well integrated into the game, so fighting against them proves to be very rewarding.
See the full review

IF-Review
Getting a Grip on LYG
Very many things in this game are allegorical, and most do not reveal their deeper meaning until a later Fit, if at all. Stephen deliberately does not explain his own designs; he fears that players will see his words as authoritative (which makes sense, him being the author and all) when he is much more interested in what players think.
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SPAG

I certainly don't claim to understand everything that the author was driving at in Grip; there are many parts of the game whose significance isn't clear to me, and may well remain that way. But I enjoyed the parts of it that I thought I understood, and it kept me interested enough to play through and think about in order to make sense of the rest, no small feat for a full-length game. As both game and story by symbolism, Losing Your Grip deserves praise.
See the full review

Member Reviews

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

Average Rating:

Number of Reviews: 1
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One of the best trippy journey-through the soul games, now forgotten, February 3, 2016

by MathBrush
Related reviews: 2-10 hours

Like So Far, All Hope Abandon, and a large number of other games, Losing Your Grip is a trip through the subconscious.

The game is filled with beautiful and crazy imagery. For instance, the opening scene consists of (Spoiler - click to show)you standing in the mud next to someone buried up to their neck who resignedly chides you.

I tried this game without hints, and it was very hard. I explored every room in the first main area, tried everything I could think of, and I only got 2 points out of 100.

The game was previously shareware (i.e. you got a limited version, then pay for more), but now the author has released it for free (well, over a decade ago). It comes with well-written feelies, and ifdb has a walkthrough or two.

I cannot say how much I enjoyed playing through this game.

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Polls

The following polls include votes for Losing Your Grip:

Hallucinogenic games by jakomo
What games best evoke the psychedelic/hallucinogenic feelings of using DMT/Mescaline/LSD/Ayahuasca etc ?

Once More, With Feelies by Ghalev
I'm polling to learn of modern (post-commercial-era) IF that revels in the tradition of providing additional documentation & related materials which are evocative and deepen your enjoyment of the game. What games have gone that extra...

Father-Son Relationships by matt w (Matt Weiner)
Going along with the Mother-Daughter poll, any games that touch on father-son relationships? Again, not necessarily the center of the work.

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