IFComp 2021 – Page 2 – An Exercise for the Reader

Kidney Kwest

For a while now I’ve been interested in using interactive fiction for educational purposes, and so when I saw Kidney Kwest‘s blurb I wanted to give it a try. The game states that it was designed to help a kidney researcher reinforce, for the researcher’s child patients, a couple of messages about medicines to takeContinue reading “Kidney Kwest”

Brave Bear

(Some spoilers.) Brave Bear is a short and sweet parser game in Inform 6 about a stuffed bear saving its owner. It has some elements that reminded me of the first Toy Story, but tonally the game is a lot closer to Stuffed Fables. There’s the core of a good snack-sized game here, but unfortunatelyContinue reading “Brave Bear”

4×4 Archipelago

Two hours into 4×4 Archipelago, and my barbarian PC had only completed three of the five major tasks in his quest to gather an ancient queen’s relics and restore them to her hidden tomb. He had, however, tamed a wolf, traded with mermen, joined the Hunters’ Guild, mined for silver, fetched potion ingredients for aContinue reading “4×4 Archipelago”

AardVarK Versus the Hype

(Some spoilers. You have been warned.) AardVark Versus the Hype is a parser-based, science fiction comedy about a teenage alt-rock band fighting off a mind-control/zombielike apocalypse. It’s over-the-top enough to make for an enjoyable story. The game also gets in some good jabs at teenage angst, corporate sloganeering, and zombie fiction. Unfortunately, the game’s hintsContinue reading “AardVarK Versus the Hype”

The Best Man

One of the most original IF games I’ve played is Stephen Bond’s Rameses. In it, you take on the role of an alienated teenage boy at an Irish boarding school. There are no puzzles in the game; instead, the game uses interactivity (or, rather, the lack thereof) in the service of a finely-tuned character study.Continue reading “The Best Man”

Smart Theory

Smart Theory is a short, choice-based, satirical game made in Ink. You play as a college student who attends a crash course in a new philosophy that’s suddenly become popular on campus. Nearly the entirety of the game is a conversation between you and the speaker. As such, it’s a game that’s explicitly about ideasContinue reading “Smart Theory”

The Song of the Mockingbird

After IFComp last year I had a curious realization: In each of the four IFComps in which I’d participated up to that point, my absolute favorite game from each year had not made the top ten. I’ve enjoyed lots of the games in the competition, but my personal #1 game in 2017, 2018, 2019, andContinue reading “The Song of the Mockingbird”

Grandma Bethlinda’s Remarkable Egg

Arthur DiBianca’s games tend to be minimalist, puzzly, and whimsical. Most of the last several games of his I’ve played lean heavily into the puzzly aspect. Grandma Bethlinda’s Remarkable Egg leans much more into the whimsical — more so, in fact, than any game of his I’ve played — including even the original Grandma Bethlinda’sContinue reading “Grandma Bethlinda’s Remarkable Egg”