Fictorum
Note: I backed the game on Kickstarter, thus having played since the game’s alpha.
Fictorum is, in a word, wonderful. For me, it was the first experience I ever had with magic that actually feels really powerful. Magic that I can throw at a nearby house and watch it get blown to bits. But let’s start from the beginning.
In this game, you are a mage. The last mage of your order, the Fictorum. And you’re pretty mad at the ones responsible for the death of your order, and also pretty powerful. Logical conclusion, annihilate them all. And anyone that might be foolish enough to stand in your way. Or… just annihilate absolutely everything. You can, believe me.
– Real player with 49.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Choose Your Own Adventure Destruction Games.
First off, if you want a high production value game with a long indepth story, I would recommend Skyrim or The Witcher. That being said, this game has the best magic based combat I have ever seen.
Spellcasting:
Spells are customizable and modular. You have a spell tome that casts a type of spell and you have runes that you can add to the spell to vastly alter the spell’s properties. These runes can do anything from simply increasing the power of the spell to creating a familiar that casts the spell for you. For example, you can take a spell that calls one lightning ball and change it into a spell that fires 4 lightning balls that each seek out enemies while firing their own lightning bolts. You can also find or buy scrolls. Scrolls act as support spells that cannot be modified but can be applied to armor and accessories. By the way, all buildings are completely destructable and can be used to crush enemies.
– Real player with 40.3 hrs in game
Faerie’s Bargain: The Price of Business
Where to begin.
Ultimately, I wish I could give them a meh review, rather then a straight thumbs up or down. I really wanted to love and enjoy this title, being a fan of magic, folklore, fantasy, etc. But in the end, I’ve had more bad then good.
To begin with, the story at times is very dense with unfamiliar terms and strange convoluted choices. Halfway through the first chapter, it was so hard to really understand exactly what was going on and what my choice options would do that I resorted to reading the coding just to get a better idea. But even that became a convoluted mess, as the labeling for choice stats and their effects is so odd that even with the code guiding me, I never really knew what outcome I would get. A seemingly obvious devious decision (even using the term devious in its text) would fail despite my devious stat being higher then my forthright! And a choice you think would obviously boost a stat (like being compassionate), at times instead boosted ambition. Making it really hard to know what the heck result you could expect to get. Couple that with very convoluted writing at times, and by the end of the faerie merchant council, I was so tired of the story that I had to quit just to give my brain a break after realizing the story was STILL going.
– Real player with 13.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Choose Your Own Adventure Interactive Fiction Games.
Steam forces us to select a positive recommendation or a negative judgement : there is no option to be neutral, hesitant. Consequently, I do not wish to be a nuisance to a developer’s sales by selecting a thumb-down option. This game is an example of a product I am hesitant to recommend, but also, hesitant to reject. I may only give my very personal, subjective feedback – opinions not applicable to all types of players.
I am mostly an emotional role-player, so, to enjoy a game, I must feel immersed into my game persona – as soon as possible.
– Real player with 12.4 hrs in game
Witchcraft U
I loved the idea, the environment, the characters and so on and that’s why I will recomend it because it shows great promise and I had lots of fun.
However… it does seem very incomplete and in need of a big continuation. Also, it’s buggy. I tried many times to get a good grade in the second semester and succeed in another plot moment and both seemed impossible. Specially the first because the GPA is bugged by the second semester, which made impossible to keep it above 3.5 (important for the game). For now, I’ll only be happy that I managed to save the life of my in-game boyfriend.
– Real player with 14.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Choose Your Own Adventure Interactive Fiction Games.
我们有魔法，我们有社团，有一份充满神秘打工，有似乎是黑社会的家人，截然不同的同学，这些本来可以是讨人喜欢的元素， 可当他们集中在这个游戏里的时候，每一样都显得有些差强人意。 写作还是可以接受的，但是故事总感觉缺了点什么，可能是因为作者试图加入足够多的东西，反而使得每一样都不那么有趣了。
我必须诚实的说当我玩的时候，我对加入那个秘密社团不感兴趣， 而且整个游戏的内容似乎不是很完整，我不清楚作者是否有计划创作后续内容。嘿亲爱的作者，你也许应该集中注意力在其中某些内容上，而不是每样都来一点。另外我个人觉得故事里的恋爱部分并不吸引我， 试玩的时候我以为MC的室友是个有挑战的RO，可惜实际上并不是。
我不是很喜欢打差评，至少试玩对我来说感觉还不错，所以我会给推荐，但是我本希望我能读到更好的故事的。
以下是自动翻译的英文，因为很抱歉我英语很烂。
The following is the automatic translation of English, because I am sorry for my poor English.
We have magic, we have a club, we have a mysterious job, we have a Mafia family, we have different classmates, all of which could be endearing elements, but when they are concentrated in this game, all of them seem a little less desirable. The writing is acceptable, but the story always feels like something is missing, probably because the writer tries to add too many things that make everything less interesting.
– Real player with 9.8 hrs in game
Death Becomes You - Mystery Visual Novel
I am currently aiming for a complete playthrough with all endings before I write an extended review for another outlet. It’s an intriguing tale that dances in that moral grey area, at least that’s where I’m at right now.
– Real player with 12.4 hrs in game
A very great game! It got me more and more hooked as I progressed through the story.
It’s a murder mystery that focus on the relationship of the characters and you can keep discovering their depths and how different they are. The routes have distinct vibes allowing me to get attached to each character’s personalities while also showing the different sides of Lyra, and how strong her presence is for better of for worse.
It deals with magic in a interesting way, in a dark tone that shows the multiple possibilities and the dangers of magic in thsi world.
– Real player with 9.5 hrs in game
DnD Adventure: Wizard’s Choice
You play a wizard in this interactive novel set in a medieval fantasy world. Stay alive, manage your spell power, find treasure, and smite evil. Wizard’s Choice is a series of RPG interactive novels that will engross you in a story while allowing you to make the decisions that will determine your fate.
The game includes the complete story of Wizard’s Choice in 6 chapters. No additional purchase.
***** Features *****
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Zero learning curve. Read the story and make decisions.
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Manage your health, mana, gold, and morale.
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Outcomes are determined by decisions you make.
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Score and rank at the end.
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Comfort options: font, font size, screen luminosity.
A game by Delight Games & Cold Coffee Studio
Written by Sam Landstrom.
Sorcery! Parts 1 and 2
Let me tell you a story.
Back in 2016 then still glorious PC gaming website Rock Paper Shotgun awarded Sorcery! an RPG of the year title. Some didn’t understand why. It’s an interactive novel after all… It’s an adaptation of a choose-your-own-adventure books after all…
No. Sorcery! is what RPGs can be when the authors care about choices instead of spectacle. And it can be magical.
I never read the source material, nor do I care - digital Sorcery! stands up completely fine on its own. Each part has a huge map through which you traverse - and in each new game the traversal is different:
– Real player with 26.2 hrs in game
This game is excellent. The magic system is so creative thatI enjoy going back and seeing what else I can do.. or find unthinkable surprises which would seem unapplicable with this or that spell.
There are so many paths and choices that still weave to a central narrative, also allowing for outcomes that aren’t always the same.
Pro/Con ratings are 1-3 + or - signs. Based on how good or helpful they are, or reverse for the negative.
Pros:
+++Versatile magic system based on words. Some secrets here. Some require items and you will likely be able to find what you need later if you missed the earliest chance to gain the ability to cast whatever spell.
– Real player with 21.1 hrs in game
Blackstone Academy for the Magical Arts
I enjoyed this, but had to re-start a few times to get a consistent path through to the end. Just over 8 hours for 1 complete play including the re-starts. I DO understand where the negative reviews are coming from, but I think a lot has to do with how consistent you stick to your chosen path and faction. Personally I think the author did a decent job describing the choices so that you could identify which choice paired up with which faction. Remember, you are playing what amounts to an American freshman student in high school. Yes, the game gives you the OPTION to get involved with inter-faction politics, but how many young high-schoolers are involved with politics in any way? (Not many). THAT is a hint imo. Minor spoiler I chose to ignore faction politics except for a few actions on the fringes and ended up with the best ending (I think)
– Real player with 8.3 hrs in game
Out of all the choice of game games I’ve played this would be one of the least favourite ones. I was disappointed at how flat it sometimes felt, the rush in certain parts and lack of characters. I was hoping when I chose the opposite gender to play I’d get to have a different roommate instead of Jule’s just gender swapping. I don’t know, I perfered them as the girl. I get they can’t make the roommate different, that’d just be a heck of a lot more work on them but still. We had an array of other character’s that we didn’t really get to see more of. I also felt like the romance was kind of lacking in the game, being a gamer girl, I really like to have my character’s have some form of romance in games :P Good writing, just lack of anything.
– Real player with 6.3 hrs in game
Sorcerer’s Dream
found it boring, there is a guide that helps you get all endings buy this game is boring lame “good ending” and bland artwork. A pass on this one.
– Real player with 8.6 hrs in game
I actually played this a while back, but just now decided to review it. The concept is good, but I couldn’t finish it. Forget the fact that there’s mistakes with the grammar, I became bored with this game surprisingly quick. Might be because this game had pacing issues or that it tried to add in a lot on top of the premise that was already working fine, I don’t know.
– Real player with 2.5 hrs in game
Sorcery! Part 3
Quite simply if you liked Steve Jackson & Ian Livingstone FF books then this is a MUST BUY. Inkle has produced far and away the best game going. The entire Sorcery! series is an amazing production of Steve Jackson’s epic series and this third part is absolutely awesome.
Each game is progressively bigger and better, so that they are so much more than simply an on-screen copy of the gamebook. (Some fighting fantasy games are available from other developers, but are basically just the original book with the highly limited options that a 400 page book allowed.)
– Real player with 185.2 hrs in game
This review is for the full series (1-4)
Sorcery has been around for more than 30 years now, I remember playing around with the books as a kid with dice and pen at hand. Remastered digitally it hasn’t lost any of its charm. If you ever had a knack for complex choose-your-own-adventure games, this one will be everything you ever wished for. Just buy it whenever you want and start chipping away at it.
If you are an avid RPG fan with a knack for visual novels and are thinking about picking up this series, there’s a few things you should know and consider though. First and foremost, the difficulty of Sorcery contains a lot of trial and error. The source material wasn’t altered for the game, which means that decisions that theoretically are perfectly viable are going to fail every single time, just because the rule-set says so. It also means that in quite a few situations you will be railroaded into a particular turn of events because you aren’t meeting the item, stat or simply story decision criteria to take even the most obvious of alternate paths. This can be extremely frustrating, especially to gamers which aren’t used to frustrating game-design. Just imagine ‘Tomb of Horrors’ for D&D : Left path or right path? Left. … … … Rocks fall, everyone dies. No trap detection, no saving throws, no further decisions, just death, final death. Next time around, remember not to go left, ever. Sorcery by far isn’t as harsh as that, but it does remind of the golden age of total failure without any repeat option. So if you don’t want to be frustrated at all, don’t play Sorcery.
– Real player with 30.8 hrs in game
!“Time Lock VR-2”!
USE TIME MACHINE TO SOLVE THE PUZZLES
Time Agents may interact with the objects in different ways: slow down the object time, make time rewinds or even transport objects between timelines!
All quests are build with Time Travel mechanic in mind.
FIGHT ENEMIES AND BEAT MINIGAMES
Time Agents must be ready to fight different enemies and even bosses during the Time Travel.
Use special weapons and Time Control Tools to succeed every action moment!
FULLY INTERACTIVE VR ENVIRONMENT
TimeLock VR offers a fully functional environment with lots of interactions: you can throw objects, open every cabin, turn lighting on and off and much more.
Each room can be visited in different timelines.