IFReviewed by
Reiko Yukawa on 2006-08-30 12:55
Very interesting, with an exceptionally detailed backstory. It is fascinating, finding out what exactly happened, with good use of the REMEMBER command.
There is some amnesia, but with a nice twist: the player is not the one with the amnesia, but doesn't know anything about what happened either.
There is also some gender-switching, which is an odd effect, but works well within the story. NPC responses are well-written except that there were too many questions that resulted in a default response, or only triggered a unique response once something related to the question had happened. Some more interactivity with the NPCs would have been nice.
The player has to figure out what's going on mostly by wandering around and REMEMBERing things rather than being able to ask the NPCs very much. Having multiple solutions for the puzzles is very well-done though, as is the ability to use or not use almost any of the items.
This game is refreshing to play after so many games where the player is required to pick up everything in sight to solve the puzzles.
A suggested challenge mode for those who have played through it once normally: use as few of the items as possible, and none of the peddler's items, and try to collect as many seeds as possible. I saw one or two spelling errors, but they did not detract much from the overall very good writing. Even after two playthroughs, I did not feel like I found everything, certainly not all of the possible solutions to the puzzles.
There are also a couple ways that the game can be made unwinnable without notice, but this is a minor quibble in an otherwise well-constructed game.
