Number of Reviews: 10
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Enjoyable and Almost Excellent, March 28, 2010Marika the Offering presents a situation where every moment counts, and unlike most IF games that strive to achieve this with multiple exclamation points, Marika does this through a believable plot, a creative setting, and sharp characterization. The back story can be read by typing "STORY" instead of dumping the information on the player; while it is useful reading and it adds to the atmosphere, the back story is simply too long-winded and in need of a good edit.
The setting is the inside of a tower, although your goal is not to escape, but to prevent the Count from entering. It's a refreshing twist on the customary one-room theme that hasn't been equalled (or even attempted) since. As you might expect, the atmosphere is one of gothic desperation, which proved quite enjoyable.
The gameplay is where Marika unravels, unfortunately. Initial descriptions of items are useful, but succeeding descriptions are threadbare. Most puzzles are hinted well, but a critical puzzle is not, and furthermore, its solution is not at all obvious. Yet it's apparent that the author spent time on the gameplay, given the clever use of Marika's situation to govern her responses to unknown words and the utility of the death scenes.
On the whole, Marika is an enjoyable although frustrating game. The lack of clueing for an important puzzle, the lack of descriptions, and the threadbare responses all drag down what could have been an excellent effort, leaving it stranded as simply good and promising. Marika is one of the few games that cries out for the author to give the game one last go, not only for the sake of tantilizingly-close excellence, but also, because you've come to care about the well-sketched character.