Desolation is a parser-based horror entry from Earth Traveler.
I had a difficult time engaging with this story, and I'm not convinced that a parser was the best format for delivering it. The author wants to provide information at a very specific pace, which means that sometimes your commands are ignored so that the next chunk of story can be revealed. In other places, you know where you will end up, but you can't get there until you figure out what the author expects you to do.
Item management was a huge stumbling block for me. When I'm in a parser game, I will pick up anything that isn't nailed down. Desolation was not prepared for this behavior.
Some items showed up in a location description even after they were in my inventory. Some item descriptions did not reflect that they had been removed from their starting point. One object could not be picked up until I figured out the right verb for inspecting my surroundings.
The map was another challenge. If the author wanted to cultivate a creepy feeling of pursuit, it might have been more effective to offer several connected locations with a handful of choke points — unavoidable locations could reveal more of the story and question whether the player had taken the right path.
Unfortunately, Desolation feels like you are fleeing on rails, moving through a series of locations with only one path forward.
This author does have potential: I enjoyed an early scene that gave me some freedom to explore while steering me towards the next confrontation. I think this work could be improved either by using more of the parser's capabilities to provide more options for the player, or by switching to a different format so that the player expects their choices to be limited.
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