Open Sorcery: Sea++

Excellent text adventure with great puzzles, a fascinating world, and a heartfelt story.

Absolutely delightful writing, though on occasion what I needed to do next was a bit abstruse. There are hints when you need them for the core things, but the game has a lot of depth and variation in outcome, and it doesn't necessarily care to hold your hand all the way to the perfect ending. I don't think there exists a text based game that doesn't expect you to make a leap or two, though, and it makes the wins feel earned when you get there. I deeply enjoyed the twists and turns along Pisces' journey, especially "Adorable Industrial Sabotage."

Open Sorcery: Sea++ rivals Zork 1 & Zork 2 in terms of gameplay depth & the need for mapping and note-taking. Highly recommended for all text adventure fans.

A wonderful text-based adventure game with a plethora of puzzles all set in Abigail's fascinating world of magic and computing. It's all wrapped up in the story of a fascinating protagonist that feels like a real person who has lived a very difficult and painful life. The writing and delivery of the material is excellent; there are moments of true sadness and joy mixed in with the magic and wonder as you piece together the protagonist's memories.

A truly excellent game, with a collection of moving stories and thoughtfully applied mechanics. I rarely play these sorts of games through more than once but I'll admit I am driven to replay this one to get the 'true' ending. I will say that if you are expecting something that feels *just* like Open Sourcery you will be disappointed. As well as having a different perspective, this is a larger, longer game with a much more focused puzzling element to it. It is a very good game! But it isn't quite the lightning in a bottle of Open Sourcery. I will *also* say that certain mechanics may be kind of tedious or frustrating to some people. An action-packed game this is not. Oddly the biggest of these for me was movement – trekking around larger maps using click-buttons is kind of frustrating.

I am not very well versed in the mechanics of what went into the game so I will focus on the story and my personal feelings. I deeply enjoy the matter and motive systems, there is something deeply moving to me that you can be a passionate love (fire & love) or a torrent of anxiety (water & fear as described by the game). Emotions are something that is so human, so vital to being and the idea that we are able to be deconstructed down to a motive or a matter is, emotional to say the least. I deeply enjoyed the emotional connections you were capable of forming in the first game, and the ability this creator gives you to be selfish or selfless with little to no reward at all , and allow you to decide what you consider to be a reward is really something I enjoy.

game is good