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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

-- 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.
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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.
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Member Reviews
| Average Rating: ![]() Number of Reviews: 1 Write a review |

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.
If you enjoyed Losing Your Grip...
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Recommended Lists
Losing Your Grip appears in the following Recommended Lists:Forgotten Treasures of IFDB by MathBrush
These are games that are great, either in my opinion or in many others, but which have been forgotten. By forgotten, I mean it satisfies the following: 1. Not an IfComp or XYZZY Best Game winner, 2. Not in Best 50 Interactive Fiction...
Surreal/trippy/metaphor/mind's journey, with two worlds by MathBrush
There is a big genre of games where you explore a metaphorical region of dreams or symbolism, and which has meaning in the 'real world'. I love this genre, and these are my favorite examples of the genre. I only include games where there...
Commercial Shouldabeens by GameDesigner
Games that most likely should have been commercial rather than free.
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.
This is version 7 of this page, edited by Brian Kwak on 27 September 2016 at 7:50pm. - View Update History - Edit This Page - Add a News Item