Hadean Lands 9+

I have been playing this type of game since the early 80’s. If memory serves I think I began with ‘Bored of the Rings’ on the ZX Spectrum. So I am very happy to see quality games like this arriving for iOS.

Immersive, innovative, inductive, and packed with subtle wordplay, Hadean Lands is one of the landmarks of interactive fiction. (It might also be a wry exploration of the search for truth via the scientific method, but I might be overthinking this.) Over the course of this novel-sized game, the protagonist learns new information about the world. This shifts gameplay from simple tutorial puzzles (find and combine the right things to open doors) to an intriguing question of the best order to perform actions with scarce resources. The game engine uses previously acquired knowledge intelligently, so in the endgame saying two words may lead to the game computing and performing dozens of prerequisites in the right sequence. After this, much other interactive fiction seems like an exercise in masochism. Gripping and addictive, this kept me busy for dozens of hours.

This is a wonderful and atmospheric piece of interactive fiction that I would love to play through.

However... The early tasks feel like *work*. Yes, there are shortcuts, but these are not easy to access nor flexible enough to solve obvious puzzles efficiently. There is a significant need for repetition with only minor variation.

Although the parser is excellent, the iPhone is not the ideal device for this. The largest font size is too small to read comfortably, with non-dictionary words the auto correct spoils my carefully crafted phrase around 50% of the time, requiring a rewrite.

I award this 3 stars for the scope and writing, but I fear the genre does not work on this platform with this interface.