The Lonely Troll

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5 star: (8) 4 star: (6) 3 star: (2) 2 star: (0) 1 star: (0)

Average Rating: Number of Reviews: 3 Write a review

Clear, Bite-Sized, and Satisfying Adventure, July 30, 2022

This is likely formatted for kids, but can absolutely be enjoyed as an adult, too; the game never talks down to you. I feel like it is also a very excellent introduction to parser-based interactive fiction; definitely better than what I had for an introduction many years ago.

The world layout easily maps in your head, even if you're as terrible about navigation as I am, and the interactions between the puzzles is engaging, but not too complex.

You can read the verbs, easily remember them, and identify where to use them. Honestly, I might have over-thought something at the beginning, but the game was able to hint me in the right direction.

It was a lot shorter than I thought it was going to be, but I feel like this is the perfect size for an introduction.

Small but dense fairytale adventure with great writing and fun NPCs, May 25, 2022

Absolutely nails the objective of the Text Adventure Literacy Jam: to make an enjoyable easy game for text adventure first-timers. This would be the Day One exercise in Text Adventures 101 if such a thing existed. You're a troll in a world of fairy-tale mythological creatures, trying to raise a dragon (literally) by the book. The set-up could have been cloying and twee, but the author has lots of sly fun inverting expectations: the cyclops is friendly, the fairy is angry, the unicorn is unruly. The ASCII art images are pleasant (the troll's house looks like cross-stitched embroidery). It's a kids game at heart but still requires some thought and lateral thinking to get through, even for adults. Everything just works!

A cute smallish game about a troll helping magical creatures, May 13, 2022

I think this game does exactly what its creator seems to have wanted to do: make a light parser game with intuitive commands in a fun environment with lovely ascii art pictures.

You play as a troll who is lonely. All around you are magical creatures (one per region, each depicted with ASCII art). They all have desires found in a book, and essentially give you a bunch of fetch quests you have to accomplish.

Overall:
+Polish: The game is very smooth and polished.
+Descriptiveness: The characters are vibrant and unique.
+Interactivity: The game is simple, but has enough resistance (through multiple sources of info and several possible targets) to make it fun.
+Emotional impact: I enjoyed the game and art.
+Would I play again?: Yes, and may recommend it to others.

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