Highly polished gameplay

Recommendations by Emily Short

Games that are exceptionally well-tested and smooth to play. They may not always be the most original works, but the implementation is strong, offering minimal frustration with guess-the-verb and other common flaws.

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1. Risorgimento Represso
by Michael J. Coyne
(2003)
Average member rating: (44 ratings)

Emily Short says:

A silly fantasy puzzle-romp.

2. Return to Ditch Day
by M.J. Roberts
(2004)
Average member rating: (30 ratings)

Emily Short says:

Makes excellent use of TADS 3 features to automate actions and provide a smooth playing experience.

3. Earth and Sky 2: Another Earth, Another Sky
by Paul O'Brian
(2002)
Average member rating: (52 ratings)

Emily Short says:

A small, confined puzzle world, very tightly constructed. It's the middle game of a trilogy, but worth playing even on its own.

4. Friendly Foe, by Mike Sousa (2003)
Average member rating: (2 ratings)
Emily Short says:

A small exploratory piece but one in which there is always lots to do.

5. Aisle
by Sam Barlow
(1999)
Average member rating: (321 ratings)

Emily Short says:

Considering that it's a one-move game, it perhaps has an unfair advantage in the implementation department, but even so, Aisle is astonishingly complete in its implementation.

6. She's Got a Thing for a Spring, by Brent VanFossen (1997)
Average member rating: (30 ratings)
Emily Short says:

A pleasant walk outdoors, but one with an extensively-implemented non-player character.

7. Worlds Apart
by Suzanne Britton
(1999)
Average member rating: (88 ratings)

Emily Short says:

Huge, ambitious, and showing intense amounts of work: the game experience has been customized with lots and lots of careful tweaks to the parser and other modifications.

8. Lost Pig
by Admiral Jota
(2007)
Average member rating: (485 ratings)

Emily Short says:

A remarkably solid and charming short game about the adventures of an orc named Grunk.

9. Suveh Nux
by David Fisher
(2007)
Average member rating: (225 ratings)

Emily Short says:

A one-room game, but with lots of attention to detail: puzzles have multiple solutions, hints are built in, the magic system is clever and systematic, and there are a variety of amusing easter eggs.

10. Nightfall
by Eric Eve
(2008)
Average member rating: (59 ratings)

Emily Short says:

Ambitiously sized but with lots and lots of help to make the large map manageable; very smooth.

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