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What Once Was

by Luke A. Jones profile

2017

Web Site

(based on 5 ratings)
2 reviews

About the Story

You are in the final year of your PhD, your research topic is theoretical temporal mechanics (Time-Travel to the layman), your thesis conclusion is that it is possible in theory but impossible in practice.

You are in your office when you receive an urgent email from your supervisor Professor Weck asking for you to meet him in the laboratory.

Travel through time, navigate the perils of academia and solve the mystery of your missing supervisor.


Game Details


Awards

50th Place - 23rd Annual Interactive Fiction Competition (2017)

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Number of Reviews: 2
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
An expansive time travel quest game, November 16, 2017
by MathBrush
Related reviews: about 2 hours

This game is by Luke Jones, who also wrote the interesting Bony King of Nowhere for Spring Thing in 2017.

This game is a treasure hunt puzzle fest type game, but it's kind of spare and with some hard-to-guess puzzles. The puzzles mostly revolve around finding the item or items that will induce NPCs to do things for you.

The game has a large cast of characters, many of which have multiple versions of themselves over 3 time periods. It has also has many rooms over the same time period. But much of it is under implemented. A porter is present in each time period, but has very little description or conversation in any, except for one short paragraph once. However, the author was explicitly inspired by Robin Johnson's minimalist games, so it is likely intentional.

The game has good bones, though, with a pleasant run through campus history and future. If the author switched to Inform 7, like Steph Cherrywell did, and budgeted more time for beta testing and polishing, they could build on the success they already have.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
A pun-filled romp through time, October 11, 2017

"What Once Was..."

(Oh, just you wait until you get to that line during play! It's so GOOD!)

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What Once Was is what INFOCOM games would have been, if they weren't too busy frustrating the player.

It is pun-filled Sci-Fi/Comedy at its finest!

So, grab your ID, make sure you've got your requisition form at the ready, and don't forget to bring some cheese!

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What Once Was on IFDB

Polls

The following polls include votes for What Once Was:

Games about Time Travel by Estrong157
more specifically, games with time travel as a gameplay element.




This is version 5 of this page, edited by Zape on 4 May 2021 at 11:59pm. - View Update History - Edit This Page - Add a News Item - Delete This Page