Behind the Door

It's a trap!

Well, it's also a short little thing in which we poke around a Magic Place and risk having to stay there forever. It could be menacing, but the tone seems to be much more relaxed and convivial ... more like a brief stroll into an idyllic Edwardian children's book.

I think the nature of the place could stand to be fleshed out more. Not in superlatives, of course, because this isn't a place that does superlatives, but perhaps in terms of ... things to do and places to explore. One puzzle has us hunting for a chessboard and a single chess piece; I can easily see this expanding into a search for more chess pieces, with appropriately ingenious puzzles that bring us into contact with more of the garden. But as it is, we only really see the garden as a single location. I feel like we're not really given much of a reason to want to stay or leave, and the story of why/how this situation came to be is unexplored.

The story is presented in a modified Quest engine, eliminating the command parser altogether. Everything is done by clicking objects or hyperlinks, and choosing appropriate actions from dropdown menus where applicable. I think this is the first time I've seen this happen; most Quest games seem to eschew the point-and-click interface in favour of the command parser. The text is rendered in a typewriter font ... the overall impression is quite attractive.

As a breakfast, this could be a single, crisp butter croissant and a cup of Earl Grey tea. Classy and light ... but perhaps too light. A little more substance could go a long way.