Review scoopings 2/5 · Dec 19, 2021
Exciting for Mystery Game Fans -- But Not Much for Me
Play: 6/10 As early as this is, and different from the Colossal Cave paradigm, it got very dry real quick. I had plenty of evidence but the way it is structured, and the long-winded nature of the intro, just make it not that enjoyable to play. The writing is great, and when you get evidence right, it feels nice. But …
Play: 6/10 As early as this is, and different from the Colossal Cave paradigm, it got very dry real quick. I had plenty of evidence but the way it is structured, and the long-winded nature of the intro, just make it not that enjoyable to play. The writing is great, and when you get evidence right, it feels nice. But it's kinda silly, like: the culprit is easy enough, it's managing to circumvent the programming to get the proper evidence before committing to the accusation that's "difficult." It never becomes difficult--simply frustrating. For people who like mysteries, it can be fun to identify a few pieces of evidence. But no point in pushing through to perfection, it's not really worth it.
Feel: 7/10 As I mentioned, the writing is great. And it does feel nice when you get pieces of evidence to be accepted. But I think I'd rather read, and play mystery games, instead. Play this if you're in the mood to basically read a mystery novel, and commit to winning only if you're in the mood to navigate very specific phrasings (mind you, due to the limitations of the time).
Attachment: 6/10 I will replay this if I have the time, but I'm not a big interactive mystery guy. I have been adding the genre to my Backlog, just to give it another proper try during my chronology project, but so far meh. Definitely play this game if you are into mystery solving games and want one of the earliest examples.