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Game Details
Language: English (en)
Current Version: 1 License: Freeware Development System: Inform 6 Forgiveness Rating: Polite Baf's Guide ID: 3023 IFID: GLULX-1-070501-9892525E TUID: snk6qx8hfn3xpm0a |
Editorial Reviews
IF-Review
Adventurer's Consumer Guide's Guide
As for the puzzles, they're generally fair, and many are quite ingenious: the objects you've been given at the beginning of the game can be used in a satisfying variety of ways. There are very few filler puzzles with obvious solutions, few re-capitulations of old standards: no passwords, no lock-and-key puzzles, and no light source problems — and certainly no mazes, inventory juggling, or hunger puzzles. There are one or two timed passages, but the timing is generous and needs no tedious optimization once you know what you need to do. Almost every solution requires that you not only find the right props but that you apply them with some degree of imagination... Thorsby keeps the challenges novel and inventive and seldom seems to have stuck in a mediocre puzzle merely because he needed to block an area and didn't have any better ideas. The result is a game that often feels old-fashioned in spirit but offers fresh and novel game-play.
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Member Reviews
| Average Rating: ![]() Number of Reviews: 4 Write a review |
Most Helpful Member Reviews

The attention to detail is also excellent. There are a number of easter eggs and special endings -- while there's only one way to really win, the alternate semi-loss conclusions are great fun to read.
One thing that many players are likely to find surprising is the absence of response to EXAMINE: Thorsby eschews object descriptions entirely. Everything you need to know about a thing will be evident from its room description and inventory listing. (On the other hand, this makes for some very long inventory lists...)

The game has a light-hearted tone, poking fun at dungeon-crawling cliches. I did notice a small number of typos in some room descriptions and occasionally I was unable to locate objects I had dropped. This may be due to the fact that the author eschews the verbs "examine" and "search", which results in the "look" command dumping an enormous amount of information in certain instances and makes the "inventory" command a bit unwieldy at times. Although I did miss the ability to examine objects more closely, the lack of this ability didn't detract from my enjoyment of the game. And I must give the author significant credit for creating a puzzle game without using the standard "search" and "examine" verbs.

The only reason this game came to my attention is because Emily Short mentioned it in a blog (or maybe forum?) post as a game that doesn't support EXAMINE. And it's true, all of the details you need are right there in the room descriptions or inventory listings, so you never have to worry about missing clues because you didn't poke the right noun or look under the bed. On the one hand, this contributes to the game's strong sense of fairness in the puzzles. The pieces are always there in front of you, you just have to be clever about putting them together. On the other hand, exploration is a big part of adventure games, and this approach cuts into that. It's a bit like highlighting all the clickable hotspots in a graphical game--you lose the investigative step. It works in this game, with its narrow focus and medium size (I did not have to draw a map), but it's not a method I would want to see used everywhere.
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Polls
The following polls include votes for Adventurer's Consumer Guide:Games with "logical" puzzles by Victor Gijsbers
Some puzzles--like chess problems or sudokus--can be difficult even though you know all the rules. I'm looking for IF games with this kind of puzzle: you can get to know the rules by simple exploration, and then you still have to solve...
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There are some games which are ubiquitous. A poll for funny, happy games? Lost Pig will be there. A poll for beautiful, dramatic games? Photopia always makes it. Conversational games? Galatea. Artsy games? Pretty much anything by Zarf....
forgotten gems by Marius Müller
I'm looking for games that don't show up in the IF histories or recommended lists, for what reason whatsover. Old games that maybe weren't boundary-pushing or noteworthy, but still give you a fun play experience. If you ever thought...
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