A Hunted and Haunted Halloween

This story is still one of my favorites on the site, and deserves a more in-depth review. Here goes!

So first off, I enjoy the fact that Ethan is honestly not supposed to be there. The fact that he is surrounded by people all more qualified than him in a game where only one person can survive puts the pressure on from the beginning.

So! The first day. Interviewing the suspects was a little frustrating, obviously, since you're questioning people who do not want to work with you. Made me extremely suspicious when the traveler was acting so nice. It was enjoyable meeting such a diverse cast, however, and I did feel a bit of a sense of accomplishment when I'd get these suspects to slip up.
A bit of a criticism though, the dialogue would have Ethan ask a question that is not a link but that should have counted towards his three questions limit, yet he isn't called on it. There were also some typos throughout the interviews.

Then, that night. Reeder trying to kill that girl, Klare? It was an immediate and excellently excited thrust into a dramatic confrontation. The days events of solving the mystery had been so engaging, I completely forgot we were in a death match. I chose to save her, of course. Seeing Ethan's remorse and shock at killing Reeder made sense, and added dimension to his character that the story later builds on. A lot of stories, even well written ones, don't focus on the mental state that killing somebody would inflict on a moral protagonist. This one excelled.

Then, we go to day two. Searching the rooms.
Most of the puzzles were enjoyable, especially the Traveler's suitcase, but if I'm being honest, the safe puzzle was extremely complicated, to the extent that I ended up having to use your walkthrough for it. Very ingenious. The death of Klare was unexpected, considering how she went out. The story did a fantastic job of imparting a sense of loss. This is also a point where I began to feel hopeless. After all, what's the point in saving people if it comes down to them or me, a point that the Skeleton makes often.

Third day, I did enjoy the bathroom trick, and an appearance by everyone's favorite gardener. What impacted me the most though, was the song that all three of the surviving contestants sung together. It was an emotional moment that tugged on my heart even as my brain screamed "DON'T TRUST THEM!"

My brain turned out to be correct, when those two ended up choosing to have me killed. To be honest here, the films of the contestants loved ones mourning made me cry a little bit. I did have sympathy for all of the contestants, and hatred towards the skeleton. This story did a fantastic job of turning that a full 180 when the two contestants wanted me dead, and the skeleton rebuked them and let me choose one to kill. That was a perfect instance of dramatic irony I loved.

Day four was kinda meh for me, until I got to the interview with the princess. That woman scares me, and it's honestly at this moment I realized she was the killer (the accomplice surprised me, though).

Day five took me some effort, as I kept running out of time. Picking the head butler and screwing over the traveler did also make combat more difficult, but I muddled through. Once it was all said and done, the revelations I saw shocked me, although I did get the Whodunnit correct. I ended with the Twas the week of Halloween ending, where everyone wakes up.

One more thing: the character of the Skeleton was amazingly done. While she starts off as your typical megalomaniac villain, her interest in humanity, her attempts to help you, ripping into Whispor and Tess for putting a child on the chopping block, and the revelation of her son makes her a multilayered character. Then, as soon as you start to sympathize with her, she pulls her most evil revelation yet, proving that she was always your enemy, and everyone else was just distractions.

The murder mystery plot has been done many, many times before, and for good reason. It's a great way to construct a well-developed cast and make the reader think if they wish to win and bring the villain to justice. The downside is that since it's been done so many times before, some approaches to it are far less memorable than others and ultimately just look like dull, uninspired versions of the ones that people do remember. Additionally, since in most cases there's only one correct solution, I can see how this sub-genre could struggle to have meaningful choices and routes as a storygame.

A Hunted and Haunted Halloween is one that definitely stands out from the majority. The added stakes and dangers you'll find while reading play a role in keeping things interesting, giving you a consistent incentive to press on and not lose interest in the case... and for a piece of writing this size, that can be important.

Assuming you pay attention to the clues and information you're given, this storygame is tough but fair. Multiple attempts and backtracking could be necessary to obtain the resources you need, depending on your choices, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The reading is enjoyable enough that it doesn't just end up feeling tedious after a while, so exploring the different options and dialogue is worth your time.

Of course, it's not without its flaws. It can be difficult to catch every single error when writing, especially in a storygame of this size. This one has its fair share of minor errors and awkward sentences, even on the first page. This one would have benefitted from an extra round of proofreading, but even so, I don't think it's enough to really hurt the reader's immersion.

Overall, this is a quality piece of writing that I think deserves more attention. I'd personally recommend this to a friend or someone who wants to try their hand at writing a mystery storygame. You took a popular theme and made it your own, and that's impressive. Well done, and congratulations on the feature!

A Hunted and Haunted Halloween is a rather incredible mystery. The cast of characters stand out from one another in distinctive ways, making each one of them memorable, as well as suspicious at the end of the day.

In this story-game, it really pays off to drink in every clue and leave not a single stone unturned. This isn’t just a mystery of the truth of someone's demise to be found out, but also a game of survival with mortal and fatal stakes. You have to solve the mystery, no if ands or buts on the matter.

The writing is pretty good for the most part. I like how things are structured into days, and that even the other competitors are people that are out to get you, not to mention the beings in the castle. There's some clever and witty dialogue to be sure, but I often times found it somewhat annoying at times when certain characters seemed to be two steps ahead of me.

However, even there's a degree of fairness to that as well. It pays off to make allies, but one must also be careful that the ally or allies that are making will be able to pull through for them when it counts. That's all I can say about that one on that front.

Another thing, I seriously found this story-game to be quite difficult! Maybe it's because I'm somewhat partial to the mystery and puzzle game genres on the site. If there's a situation of sink or swim when it comes to things like this, I seem to sink like I'm wearing bricks.

Something I must praise was that none of my playthroughs ended up being similar to the other. There were times in which I received different clues, or the day played out differently due to the actions I may have taken the night before. That's always a positive in my book. This story-game has replayablity.

However when it comes to a mystery, the twist and conclusion for me must have a solid overall pay-off. A Hunted and Haunted Halloween had that.

No, I didn’t totally whine to the author for all of the answers and even a walkthrough.

Never, never.

In any case, this story-game is worthy of much praise. No doubt plenty of work went into the advanced editor to make this run as smoothly as possible, and it does that with flying colors.

Kudos, Mystic_Warrior.

THIS WAS THE MOST HORRIBLE STORY I HAVE EVER FOUND EVER IT DIDN"T WORK AND WAS TERRIBLE YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF YOU #$%*#(#

WHO KILLED THE KING AND WITH WHAT???

this has to be the best story I have ever read. the spelling and just... the way it was written; just amazing.

it was awesome

Very good!

This story isn't just a story: it is an engaging and delightful challenge from beginning to end. I have nothing but praise for the ingenuity of the author!

~SPOILERS~

tough and long game but so worth it! it was super exciting figuring out everyone's secrets and truly our mom is a life saver < 3 Love it!