Challenge Me!

Challenge Post

Killed them all!

ABC List 27 games

Also, by complete coincidence, all three of the games in this post are on my ABC list (after not finishing one of those in months).

ABC Post

• Rhiannon: Curse of the Four Branches
  

  19 hours playtime

  0 of 0 achievements

• Year Walk
  

  6.5 hours playtime

  10 of 10 achievements

• Hacknet
  

  12.2 hours playtime

  11 of 11 achievements

Rhiannon: Curse of the Four Branches

ABC List At Least Somewhat Historic Detectives! Mystery! Murder! Favorites Folklore & Mythology Ghosts Halloween and Horror Literary Ties Wales

Monthly Challenge & ABC list game. I have a long history with this, even though this is the first time I beat it or played a legitimate copy. I pirated it probably a decade ago when it came out when I was a kid. I'm always enchanted by the beginning: arriving at the grounds of an old manor house in Wales, which your character is to house sit. Shortly into the game is probably where I first read anything about Welsh folklore and literature. In fact, the game's plot revolves around the Mabinogion, a collection of stories from Wales that are mythological in nature. On the other hand, I think I played Nancy Drew games in the 90s that looked better than this.

*swoons over British Isles road*

While I have read this game described as being non-linear (on Wikipedia, maybe), it really kind of is more linear than a lot of games like this. You can only take items you have seen an immediate use for. On top of that, the game is divided between chapters, further boxing everything up into a set order. The chapters go along with the chapters of the Mabinogion, and this introduces a gameplay circuit that I found to get repetitive. To end each chapter besides the first, you need to find items that symbolize events from that chapter of the Mabinogion. It's not a big drawback, but going through a similar ritual for every chapter sucked a bit of the mystery out. (Again, it's no Nancy Drew adventure).

You learn most of the story by reading various diaries, emails, records, and other things. There is no one to actually talk to. There were a lot of emails about doing research in libraries/archives that has a similar process to what I do for work and for fun (which I wouldn't have understood or connected to the first time I played this). I hope I don't sound too harsh, because I actually enjoyed this more than most adventure games.

This is how marriage certificates in England and Wales really look (they're apparently adding the mother's name -- not sure if they've started -- after recent recognition that it is too patriarchal for modern Britain to only take the father's name).

Year Walk

ABC List At Least Somewhat Historic Cool-looking Educational Folklore & Mythology Halloween and Horror Quirky Scandinavia

Another Monthly & ABC game. I didn't love the gameplay here, but as usual with me, it was interesting learning about and pretending to experience the near-forgotten Swedish tradition of the Årsgång, or Year Walk. You pretty much go through a maze of paths that allow you to go forwards and backwards to different areas. There are puzzles to solve to pass the supernatural creatures, but what you're supposed to do isn't clear about half the time.

Hacknet

ABC List Educational Favorites Make Believe - Simulated Lives Pirates & the High Seas

A Challenge Me! & ABC game. Well, this was a different one. Usually hacking and programming games are just puzzles with no story, but this felt like an RPG in some respects. I really liked it, even though I ran into a bad design decision that blocks you out of two quest lines if you turn in a mission too soon. So I had to start a second game to finish everything. Fortunately it went really fast doing it again. I found myself really getting into it, snooping around people's files.