Category Archives: Game Review

Game Review: You May Not Escape! (2022, Charm Cochran)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

You are trapped in a maze.  You’re not sure why you are walking through this maze or why it is so difficult to find a way out.  At the start of the maze, a man named John Everyman offers to help you out but if he doesn’t think you’re being properly appreciative, he’ll leave you to figure it out on your own.

Try to make your way through the maze without getting lost.  I’ve played this game a few times.  It’s not easy.  It’s even a little creepy.  Stop and relax on a park bench but don’t fall asleep.  Climb a tree and discover a homey place to rest but watch out for the rain and the lightning.  Then there’s the graveyard.  Three of the graves are filled.  The fourth is waiting for you.  Find some rocks.  Break the security cameras and the LED signs that flash messages at you.  It’ll make you feel better but it won’t get you out of the maze.  At one point, you’re even given the chance to accept that the game is over.  Will you accept or will you keep searching?

You May Not Escape! was designed using Inform and it’s a throwback to the classic text adventures that I used to play when I was a kid.  Even the puzzle feels like a throwback.  Can you navigate a maze?  How many times to Scott Adams go back to that well?  But You May Not Escape! is much more difficult and rewarding than the old games that it resmebles.  This game requires some thinking.  It requires some imagination.  It requires that the player pay attention to what they’re reading.  The game is well-written and I appreciated all the little details that made the maze so memorable.  I especially liked the LED tickers the spelled out messages that were either menacing or encouraging, depending on how you read them.  You May Not Escape! is challenging but rewarding.

Play You May Not Escape!

Game Review: Crash (2022, Phil Riley)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Here you are, a member of the Repair Corps.  When a spaceship docks at Space Station Omicron-5, your job is to repair the appliances and make sure that everything is in ship-shape condition while the crew relaxes and does whatever they have to do on the station.

It’s like they say in the song:

Just another face in a red jumpsuit.
He did a good job cleaning up the place,
But his bosses didn’t like him
So they shot him into space.

Except, in this case, it’s not your bosses who send you into space.  Instead, it’s the fact that the space station explodes while you’re getting ready to leave the ship!  Now, the ship is hurtling through space and you’re the only one who can figure out the proper way to stop it before it crashes.

Crash is a classic-style text adventure, programmed with my favorite Interactive Fiction development system, Inform.  What that means is that you pretty much have complete control over what the main character does on the ship.  Walk where you want to walk.  Examine what you want to examine.  Try what you want to try.  Just know that time is running out.  Crash is well-written but it’s also puzzle-heavy.  That won’t be a problem for most people but, for someone like me who sucks at puzzles, it can be daunting.  Fortunately, the game comes with a built-in hint system.  Also, when you’re usually terrible at puzzles, that means you feel even more triumphant when you actually manage to solve one of them.

(Even if you did have to ask for a lot of hints.)

Be sure to ask the computer a lot of questions.  This game has an in-depth backstory and it’s actually interesting to learn all of it.  You’re just a repairman but suddenly, you’re in the middle of a galactic conflict.  It’s the sort of set-up that has led to many classic sci-fi tales.

Play Crash.

Thanatophobia (2022, Robert Goodwin)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Maddie is a 20 year-old girl who suffers from Thanatophobia, a morbid fear of death.  You are the hypnotherapist who, after a chance meeting, helps her come to terms with her fears.  After you have put her under hypnosis, Maddie tells you that she is standing in a hallway and there is a hooded figure behind her.  No matter where she goes, the hooded figure is always there.  She needs you to figure out who the hooded figure represents and also how Maddie can get away from it.

Maddie is a chatbot.  You type in questions and she answers.  It’s like that old Eliza game except that some of the questions will lead to Maddue discussing her past and revealing her secrets.  It’s a challenging game but it does come with just enough hints that most players should eventually be able to figure out how to help Maddie.  The biggest hint that I can gives is that, just like with a real person, Maddie sometimes has to be asked the same question multiple times before she’ll open up.

Chatbot games are always hit-and-miss for me but Thantophobia does a pretty good job of simulating a real conversation and Maddie comes across as being a real person instead of a bot with several pre-programmed responses.  The game is challenging but the mystery can be solved and Maddie can be helped.  In fact, Maddie’s answers are so well-written that I actually felt really proud of myself when I finally helped her get out of the hallway.

Play Thanatophobia.

Game Review: Under the Bridge (2022, Samantha Kahn)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

You are a monster.

The humans have wiped out most of your species.  Your life in the forest has been upended by their intrusiveness and their violence.  But there is a bridge, one that leads into a nearby village.  The bridge looks like a good place to live and to feast.  Even monsters need to eat and with villagers constantly traveling from one side of the bridge to the other, the bridge is the perfect place for you to hunt.

This is a Twine game that tells the familiar story of the Troll Under The Bridge from the point of view of the troll.  You have many reasons for not trusting human.  You also need to eat.  When the humans try to cross your bridge, will you allow them to pass or will you confront and maybe even eat them?  The decision is yours but every decision comes with consequences,

I liked Under The Bridge.  It was well-written and it featured memorable but non-intrusive visuals and audio that truly made you feel as if you were hiding underneath that bridge and waiting for the sounds of possible prey.  There’s a number of different endings so this is a game that can be replayed several different times.  Considering that so many Twine games seem to lead to the same ending regardless of the choices you make, I appreciated that your choices actually meant something in Under The Bridge.

Play Under the Bridge.

Game Review: The Pool (2022, Jacob Reux)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

In The Pool, you are a socially awkward employee at a research facility that is investigating aquatic life.  You’re job is to keep the lights on.  As Dr. Chambers, the head of the facility, puts it, you “help to illuminate the world.”  But, at the end-of-the-month reception, you discover that there is something lurking in the facility’s pool and soon, the entire place is flooded with water and monsters.  You’ll have to figure out who you can trust as you try to escape the pool.

This is a choose-your-own-adventure Twine game.  One of my pet peeves when it comes to Interactive Fiction is that so many creators use Twine to create short stories where any choice you make inevitably leads to the same conclusion.  (Anyone who has played enough Twine game will experience the frustration of clicking on a choice, just to be told that your character has changed his mind and decided to go with the other option.)  That is why I am happy that the choices that you make in The Pool actually do make a difference.  Where you go during the reception and who you go with actually does effect the course of the game.  Because each decision also leads to different details about what is in the water, this is a game that rewards being replayed.  All in all, it’s a well-written slice of horror.

Play The Pool.

Game Review: Use Your Psychic Powers At Applebee’s (2022, Geoffrey Golden)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Because you have the power to read minds and implant suggestions, you have been hired to serve as Schtupmeister Beer’s first Psychic Brand Ambassador.  Your job is to go to restaurants and mentally suggest to customers that they try out Schtupmeister.  What better place to start than Applebee’s?

This is a short, choose your own adventure-style game.  You go to Applebee’s, you scan the customers and the waitresses, and you decide whether or not to read their minds.  Once you get into their heads, you have the option to either help them out with their problems or just suggest that they get drunk.  It’s simple but it’s well-written and all of the characters make a strong impression.  I managed to inspire one person to drink a beer and I think may have accidentally inspired someone else to burn down the restaurant.  It’s not easy being a psychic brand ambassador!  This is an entertaining and frequently funny game, one that wins major points just by combining psychic phenomena with Applebee’s.

Play Use Your Psychic Powers At Applebee’s.

Game Review: Ghost Town (1983, Scott Adams)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

You are in a deserted ghost town.  Why are you in the town?  Who knows?  What can you do in the town?  You can search it and try to find 13 hidden treasures without falling prey to ghosts, rattlesnakes, or the weather.  Good luck!  There are many puzzles to be solved.  Hopefully, you’re better at puzzles than I am.

Ghost Town was one of the many text adventures to be written by Scott Adams in the early 80s.  Every text adventure film that has come out since owes debt to Scott Adams but that doesn’t make his games any less frustrating to play.  Basically, with this game, you get bare-bone descriptions and a two-word parser.  Don’t try to have a conversation with anything in the town.  Don’t try to get too creative with your choice of verbs or with any of the things that you find in the town.  This is from the early days of PC gaming and it’s as basic as can be.

Once you make the adjustment, though, it’s not a bad game.  Even the minimal descriptions of each location encourage the player to imagine the place for himself.  (Basic games like Ghost Town actually encourage the imagination more than games that devote paragraphs to intricate descriptions.)  It’s also a timed game, which was a big deal in the early 80s.  The ghosts in the town keep their own schedule and one of the challenges of the game is to keep up with them.  Spending too much time on one puzzle or trying to guess the verb can lead to consequences.  The puzzles are complicated but there’s a walk-through so you can cheat if you need to.  Just don’t make the same mistake that I did.

Play Ghost Town!

Game Review: Ink (2022, Sangita V Nuli)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

In this work of Interactive Fiction, you take on the role of someone who has just lost their fiancé.  You are in mourning and trying to figure out how you can go on with your life even though you’ve lost your reason for living.  Staying at home doesn’t help.  Going to work doesn’t help.  Seeing a therapist doesn’t help.  Religion has failed.  Group therapy provides only momentary relief.

Then, you find an envelope, addressed to you and in her handwriting.  You find the envelope under a park bench that the two of you used to frequent.  Unable to open it, you leave it on the mantle next to the wedding invites that you’ll never get to send.  (Come on, that’s a powerful image.)  Sometimes, the ink on the envelope seems to move, as if the envelope itself is alive.  Will you find the courage to open the envelope and see what is inside?

Ink is an enigmatic but intriguing work of Interactive Fiction.  I would hesitate to call it a game.  It’s a short story that comes with a few options.  You can try to make different choices each time that you play but it seems like the story is fated to always reach the same conclusion, no matter how many detours you try to take.  The letter, much like mourning, cannot be escaped no matter how much you try.  The story is well-written and captures the feeling of being in deep mourning.  The inescapable ending carries enough of a kick to stick with you afterwards.

Play Ink

Game Review: Nose Bleed (2022, Stanwixbuster)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

You are an office drone, just trying to get your work done without causing any trouble or getting on the bad side of the co-worker who is always reprimanding you for doing something to embarrass everyone else.  You are at your desk, not bothering anyone, when suddenly you feel it running down your face.  It’s blood.  Your nose is bleeding.  And no matter how much you try, you cannot get it to stop.  Even though there’s an event that you simply cannot get out of attending, you cannot get your nose to stop bleeding.

Nose Bleed is a text-adventure game that is primarily about dealing with a bloody nose but it’s also a game about social anxiety, office politics, and the horror of knowing that there is nothing you can do to prevent further embarrassment.  There’s only so long that you can hide a nose bleed and when the people you work with discover what’s happening, their reaction leaves much to be desired.  Not only is the text well-written but the visuals also put you right in the story.  As the nose bleed continues, just moving the curser from one option to another causes a trail of blood to appear on the screen.  Towards the end of the game, my screen was almost totally red.  Just like the character in the game, I couldn’t stop the bleeding.  It sounds grotesque but this game is about more than just a nose bleed.  It’s about the experience of dealing with people who, when they see someone else in distress, can’t do anything but worry about how it’s going to effect them.  It’s about the guilt that comes with being told that everything is always your fault.  The horror is both visual and psychological and it’s not always easy to deal with the emotions that the game captures.  But the ending is very satisfying, making this one of the best recent horror games that I’ve played.

Play Nose Bleed

Game Review: Deathtrap (2021, Deathtrap Productions)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

A trip to the market turns into a fight for survival when you are abducted and knocked unconscious.  When you awaken, you find yourself in a dark cell.  Will you just check out the sealed door, with its keypad?  Will you try to figure out how to unlock the trap door or will you search the bookcase?  Will you make smart use of the stove or will you make the same mistake that I did?  And if you do figure out how to escape the first room, will you be able to find your way out of the abandoned theme park in which you’ve been imprisoned?

Deathtrap is an old school text adventure, one where it’s important to carefully read descriptions, search everything that you can possibly search, and not waste too much time while doing it.  It’s also a game that rewards those who are good at solving puzzles.  Puzzles, of course, are my main weakness when it comes to Interactive Fiction.  I’m terrible at puzzles.  I’m the player who dies in a dozen different ways before I finally figure out how to survive and usually, that’s just because I’ve exhausted every other option.  Usually, I can only solve puzzles by default.

My fear of puzzles aside, I enjoyed Deathtrap.  It’s a well-written game and it’s challenging without being impossible.  (I died several times but I imagine people who can actually solve puzzles might not have that problem.)  The vivid prose does good job of putting you in the reality of being trapped in a dark and dangerous place and it doesn’t shy away from the consequences of going down the wrong hallway or opening the wrong door.  It’s hard not to respect a game that will kill your character just because you randomly opened the wrong door or went the wrong direction or made the wrong decision when it came time to choose whether you wanted to walk or crawl down a hallway.  It’s challenging but it’s also very rewarding when you actually do succeed in surviving and escaping.  How long will it take you to find your way out?

Play Deathtrap!