Gothic Steam Phantastic

Slouching towards Bedlam

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Slouching towards Bedlam
Text adventure by Star C. Foster and Daniel Ravipinto, 2003

Well now, maybe some of you can remember the good old days when computers had only ascii for output. And there were no rodents attached to the machines, nor were there myriads of colours in the windows - what windows? The screen was pitch black with amber or olive text on it; modern machines sometimes had white text.
It must have been in these days that the text adventure was invented. But even the good old text adventures developed in their use and programming. Now, there are many nifty games out there. However, Slouching towards Bedlam might be a real pearl among the marbles. And best of of, it’s a steampunk game.

Text adventures are also called interactive fiction. That is exactly what StB is about. You get a well written story to read and you can make your own decisions on how to read further. The atmospheric texts are a big pro in this game, they really set the mood all over. Besides the literary quality the game really has an exiting story, that keeps you playing.
For beginners, the game-play might be a bit weird, and advanced players might find the game not difficult enough. I do think both disadvantages are easily forgotten in the beauty of the story and the way the game proceeds.

StB is a mystery game that eventually recalls the “Mythos” works of Lovecraft and the stories of Order of the Illuminati. To give away more of it would spoil the game play. However, there is a “walk through” available and the game is constructed in such a way that even with the spoilers the game is fun to play. There are more things to discover than are necessary to play the game to an end. An end, yes, because the game has multiple endings and thus can be played several times. This structure has directly to to with the theme of the game... I say no more. Go play and see for yourself.

The player is faced to operate more than one technical device that gives real steampunk feeling to the game, pushing buttons, turning dials, switching on the machines and getting them to work. Apart from that, the more the game advances and the riddles are being solved, there is a strong sense of paranoia in it; a psychological turn it takes, where the games goes messing with your mind.
Most of the mysteries are solved by just reaching out and examining things like a real explorer. Read things, get information use your logical skills to put the puzzles together.

This game really is a joy to play! *turns on the game engine again*

© Yaghish 2005
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