Temple of Spades

My former Genshin self is struggling with the companion character being Dvalinn… Disclaimer! To the author, I’m not exactly the best reviewer, so don’t take anything I say too hard.

The Good:
Although the world building in most RPG type games tend to deeply follow D&D or mythology, I felt this story did a decent job of establishing its own lore without deriving from other things too much. The writing was decent and the characters were consistent.

The Meh:
Pet peeve of mine, but I strongly dislike it when a story starts with a false choice. The riddles aren’t particularly difficult or even remotely challenging.

The Bad:
…It’s practically just D&D. There isn’t much of a difference between this and say, Baldur’s Gate with less graphics. Even the tile measurements are the same. Though the story was sort of different, I suppose, the actual mechanics were seemingly the same as some of BerkaZerka’s games. Oh, and of course, you instantly know how to work the magic sword.

Personal Notes:
The story started off fairly promising, but it deteriorated as it went along. The highest I can give it is a 4/8, because as a first storygame it was decent and fun to read.

Fun little game. The riddles are just difficult enough and can be deduced with reason and logic, even in regards to magical effects. Certainly worth a read.

Well I haven't touched D&D for ever so long so this was a trip down memory lane, in a way.
The puzzles & riddles were good, and I didn't spot any typos. The ending was a little unsatisfying somehow, but I like the twist that finally the cautious dwarf takes a risk.

It was pretty cool. Some ofthe puzzles felt a little random but other that that everything was good. Didn't see any grammatical mistakes while playing.

This is very good for a first storygame. The writing was entertaining, and the characters, as well as the interactions between them, were amusing to read. The puzzles weren't particularly difficult, but they were still fresh, well-written, and fun to solve. Overall, I liked it!

This story felt like a cross between Tower of Riddles and The Riddles of the Guardian, two other stories on this site, with the dwarven sidekick and shorter length of The Riddles of the Guardian and the better and more numerous puzzles/riddles of Tower of Riddles.

Good:

1. The writing was enjoyable, in particular in its descriptiveness. There was enough flavor and description for me to picture each individual chamber and appreciate the camaraderie between the protagonists. I also wasn't distracted from the plot by any technical errors.

2. The puzzles and riddles were original and satisfying. The solutions made logical sense for the most part. The difficulty levels were also appropriate, being potentially challenging but not impossible.

3. I really liked how well the clues for each puzzle/riddle were embedded in the story. They walked the fine line between being noticeable enough for people to remember but not so obvious that they come off as awkward. The skillfully embedded clues enabled the outcome of this story to be based on reader deductive reasoning skill rather than luck, making the story that much more rewarding.

Bad:

1. For the old man riddle, I had been expecting the old man to be the Shadow Demon as soon as the scene unfolded, and expected one of the choices at the bottom to be the option to cut off the old man's neck (after all, that's what the books had hinted at earlier, especially since it was also hinted at that I should take the initiative in killing the Shadow Demon before it had the chance to attack me, and this was the perfect moment). So when I saw the two given choices, I was expecting the Stab him option to then give me a choice of where to stab him (in the head, in the neck, in the stomach, in the leg, etc.) and the earlier hinted-at target to be the correct choice for this puzzle. Obviously, I was disappointed that that choice ended in immediate death and that telling him a joke somehow was the logical resolution of that puzzle (I don't see how telling a Shadow Demon a joke makes sense based on earlier hints).

Ugly:

1. Some story elements didn't seem to fit with the rest of the story. The room maps, while detailed, didn't seem to provide any information that wasn't already mentioned in the text, while their graphic style broke the immersion of the story for me a little bit. Finally, for someone so deliberate and rational, as he would be if he could make it to the end of the game without dying, Faldor sure seems needlessly reckless, in actions such as drinking strange vials of liquid without knowing what they were (at least one of which surely led to another adventurer's recent death, while the parchment just said to brew a potion green, not even drink any of the liquids).

Overall, a good puzzle/riddle story that made me want to read more writing from this author.

I really liked the puzzles, and that's saying something because I'm really not good at puzzles. I also liked the descriptions of the characters and what they had to offer. I really liked the whole environment because I felt like I was really their, and the joke with the old man reminded me of other story games where the characters had to sacrifice something to get something; I think the way this was done on a smaller scale in which even though offending your friend might not seem like a big problem, it can be was well done.

This is game is rather interesting, well-executed, but most of all, rather fun. What's here is a story-game that I would want to play again to see all that is has to offer.


Not a bad job at all, JessieJump.

I enjoyed this story, the puzzles were also very creative and engaging so good job!