2theleft

Review for Hitzai

This is the first game I've tried with an AI-based interface, so I'm giving it 5 because of wow!

I really like the freedom it gives you, the player. There's no more struggling to make yourself understood. The world fleshes itself out as you drill down to arbitrary depths of detail.

The Shadow Griffin (the thing I think you are meant to sort out) is quite an elusive bird, in the sense that it will be quite different from one run of the game to the next. Very little of what you learn can be carried forward to next time. This could make it an endless source of entertainment for some. Or it could undermine the reality of the challenge.

There is a strict cap on the number of turns you can take. I suspect this is to prevent the drift of the brief becoming apparent. LLMs doing this sort of thing tend to drift until they get caprtured in a tight pattern.

It will be very interesting to watch how this medium develops.

Review for The Zen Garden

Befitting its theme, this game is precisely and economically crafted. The scenes are rich with significance even though they are in fact quite sparsely decked with objects.

You think: how hard can this be with so few things to check?
Ten days hard! And four times completely stuck. I had to resort to the Comments on those occasions, but I didn't mind. It's very clever the way you are led to overlook things. As I said, scenes are quite sparse. It's not as if things are hidden by clutter - you just don't see them!

Be advised it can get quite intractable in places, so don't bang your head aginst the wall too much.

Review for Night House

Night House is the 4th game I've tried by bitterkarella. The others were Santa Carcossa Nights, All Visitors Welcome, and Poppet.
Once again, everything worked without glitches, and I finished the game under my own steam. I often got stuck, expecially when advancing to the next chapter, but always the challenge was a fair one. You have to wrack your brains for new ways of achieving something. Often, more than one way is indicated.

The writing and backgroung detail are in a league of their own, and judging by the reviews in here, people are getting really immersed. As with some of the other games I mentioned, this has two possible endings, which is where you get to choose what sort of a person you'd like to be.

Review for Poppet

Poppet is the 3rd one I've tried by bitterkarella (the others were Santa Carcossa Nights and All Visitors Welcome).
Everything worked without glitches, and I finished the game under my own steam.
I love the descriptions and period detail. Those kerosene fans used to be a thing, did they? Of course you can't leave them on if you go out!

This is really the opposite extreme from All Visitors Welcome. In Poppet none of the difficulty stems from the implementation. You are working on the puzzles themselves, and not on the infelicities of Quest. The difficulty level is such that you won't spend days being stuck.

I appreciate the way everything is rationalised, which must be quite difficult with such a fantastical premise. As with Carcossa, if you get through the challenges and reach the end, it will make you think.

Review for Galatea

Happened on this one because I was looking in the Mystery category and the cover art caught my eye.
I've had many goes at it, and sometimes Galatea has ended it out of frustration with me, and sometimes I have ended it out of frustration with her.

To get at the many hundreds of things she has to say, you will have to try many thousands of shots in the dark. The hit rate is very low, but if you have the patience a picture will start to emerge.
It seems to be key word based, but as Weizenbaum's ELIZA showed, that is sufficient for an immersive experience in some.

I can't say I have bottomed out the ontology here at all, so I can't accidentally commit a spoiler. Galatea may be magical or golem-like, or she may be a work of mechatronic art with an AI that thinks it's magical. Or she may be a killer. Likewise, her 'artist' may be a figment. Everything is up for grabs.

The quality of the writing stood out enough for me to give it this amount of stars.

Review for Santa Carcossa Nights

Just finished this very atmospheric game. It is about the 5th one I've tried since returning to textadventures.co.uk after a decade away. And the first one I've tried by bitterkarella. That Santa Carcossa Nights graphic caught my eye somehow.

I love games like this, where I get stuck and eventually get myself unstuck - it's a learning experience. More experienced players won't get held up for so long. For instance if you know this version of Quest has a "me" object, or if you already know the author's degree of forgivingness/unforgivingness.

The wording is rich - based on sharp social and period observation. This is not your mother's gothic purlpe. As for the horror (not my favourite genre), you quickly get used to it.
Is it all in the best possible taste? There is no surf and turf rule here - you can mix things that mummify and things that putrefy all you like.