Player Comments on A Hunted and Haunted Halloween

<<<SPOILERS BELOW. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.>>>

A Hunted And Haunted Halloween is one impressive piece of Interactive Fiction; if you're a massive murder mystery fan, you'll feel right at home, here. The premise is classic, but fun and contains some nice little twists on it.

The supernatural elements are well-thought out and smoothly woven into the overall narrative. In the end, this is a delightfully spooky whodunnit with some surprising depth. The interviews are equally interesting and entertaining, and the three-question system encourages scouring through each and every answer for maximum sleuthing but also enjoyment. There's a very respectable amount of variety and effort in this spooky, fun tale.

The horror is not heavy but boy, is it present. Wondering who's going to be killed next and trying desperately to get every clue correct feeds the looming doom and shrinking cast of misfits all stuck inside this fantasy Clue hellscape with you. The straightforward yet self-aware writing coupled with the polished dialogue and well-executed plot tie everything together in a neat little package that serves as both a fun, thought-provoking romp but also a solid story with elements of great genres neatly interwoven.

Overall, this is a good piece. Its not great, but it accomplishes everything it is clearly setting out to do, and anyone who plays your first piece and then this one can see just how much your writing has improved, Mystic.

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 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!

Well written and very complex mystery. I'm pretty sure I figured the thing out, yet it was frustrating to simply run out of time at the very end without any way of really speeding up what I was doing.

Great story overall, and worth the time investment.

A great deal of effort here, for a premise that doesn't really grab the reader. "I am about to begin my halloween experiment - 5 amateurs would try to earn a spot in my glorious new team" just didn't work for me.

IT SUCKS U WILL ALWAYS DIE

The story was a book that took me days to solve the puzzles, to get the true ending, and to finish it. This book is a book that anyone who's a fan of mysteries, puzzles, and descriptive plots should enjoy greatly. Who killed the king and the plan that was created was shocking. 12/10.

Pretty good, though I'm still confused what the tea table has to do with the riddle's answer? I couldn't really find a connection between the two, but I'm definitely grateful there were other clues to help me find that riddle's answer.

Also, the ending was satisfying :D Skeleton deserved to be pushed through that portal.

“Around her, the dying world flickered, ready to fade into obscenity.“

I think a world fading into obscenity would be fucking hilarious.

Ugggghhhhhh I swear if I could only have figured out that Chicken Chop or whatever it was I could have won. Overall great game, though!

Before you play, a quick warning: this game has so many twists and turns that by the time you're finished, you won't know down from up. Don't let this discourage you, however. This is a really good story, and I highly recommend everyone play until they get the true ending, like I did. My only regret was that I wasn't able to figure out the princess' safe, but I'll get that soon enough. Overall, a really good game. Nice job!

8

Really nice game, though I failed to unlock the ending since I always ran out of time during the final battle. I can't imagine all the work that has gone into this.