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August

by Matt Fendahleen

Romance
2001

(based on 23 ratings)
2 reviews

Game Details

Editorial Reviews

Baf's Guide


This may have been an entry in the SmoochieComp, but it's not particularly snuggly--lots of bloodshed and hatred and dreary castles and such. Lots of backstory, enough that this feels more like a preview to a game than a game in itself, as the thing ends just as you begin to figure out what's going on. There are some intriguing relationships and some gestures toward development of interesting characters. Plenty of implementation problems, but still reasonably enjoyable.

-- Duncan Stevens

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Member Reviews

5 star:
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Number of Reviews: 2
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
Lost Potential, July 19, 2012
by Katrisa (Houston)

*All the following spoilers are tagged as such but are very minor.

I should probably rate this four stars. Maybe three. Truly, this game was put together in a week and the mechanics show that. However, I just can't make myself change my rating because the game was beautiful overall, glitches be damned. If you like IF pieces for their plot, play this. If you play for puzzles, however, you'll be sorely disappointed.
Throughout all the IF pieces I've played through, from the emotional manipulation that is Photopia to the deep dark themes of De Baron, none gripped me like August. From the very first paragraph, I was emotionally involved. Matt Fendahleen's writing style is just that brilliant. (Spoiler - click to show)My thoughts while reading the first paragraph quickly went to "Wait, what? No, Manfred, come back to me!". I was impressed by all the characters except, perhaps, (and unfortunately) the main NPC. Indeed, even the "good" ending was (Spoiler - click to show) sad because I felt it would hurt a character that never even appears in the game. If you want a good plot, this doesn't take long and I am completely enamored with it.
HOWEVER, the glitches are pretty bad. From the first room, the directions are backwards, leading to a confusing first few moves. At one point, a major NPC is mentioned in a room's description as something to interact with, but seems to have been forgotten about in implementation. After replaying a few times for different endings, I managed to make the game confusingly unwinnable. The ASK/TELL conversation is rough- though you can get a lot of information, it's easy to have your meaning misunderstood. Even a change as slight as "Ask him about his underwear." instead of "Ask him about underwear." will give you nothing.
For all it's faults, however, I thoroughly enjoyed the game. Enough for me to sit down and write a review, which is big.(;

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
A story-heavy short conversation/romance fantasy game, February 4, 2016

In this game, you play a knight who has defeated a powerful evil. You are attending a boring party, hoping to see the love of your life there.

The world is one of magic and mystery and intrigue. Many have commented on the powerful draw of the story, and I felt it too. You have scars and a history.

The game primarily depends on ask/tell. I won mostly by asking people about other people's names, plus a few topics that came up in conversation.

The game lasted about 15-20 minutes.

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August on IFDB

Recommended Lists

August appears in the following Recommended Lists:

Best fantasy games by MathBrush
These are my favorite games that include some sort of magical or fantastical element. Games with mostly horror or sci-fi elements are on other lists, as are surreal games, fairy tale/nursery games, and religious/mythological games. I've...

Puzzle-light games with a strong narrative component by schifter

IF Romances by Emily Short
IF in the romance genre is rare; here are a few I thought worked well.

Polls

The following polls include votes for August:

High fantasy interactive fiction by strivenword
My favorite genre of fiction, interactive or otherwise, is high fantasy -- the genre of such epic series of novels as The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien and The Wheel of Time by Jordan. I'm especially interested in games with an alternate...

Vivid games by Jeff Sonas
I'm looking for games that evoked strong feelings or strong mental images that stayed with you long after you finished the games.

Romance Games by Molly
In honor of Valentine's Day, I'm looking for games that deal with romance and relationships.

See all polls with votes for this game




This is version 2 of this page, edited by David Welbourn on 19 January 2008 at 9:20pm. - View Update History - Edit This Page - Add a News Item - Delete This Page