The Richard Mines

It's a pretty old-fashioned, old-school, minimalist parser adventure. We're not really told who or where we are, or why we're here, though hints of that emerge over the course of the game. The puzzles are fairly basic. The setting seems initially generic but quickly resolves into an abandoned WW2 installation built into a mine, and the German labels on various objects tells us which side of the conflict this installation belonged to. There is, in fact, a certain coherence to the setting that goes beyond the minimalist, (apparently) generic presentation.

The game manages to convey more than is expected using very little, and that sort of economy is appreciated. At the same time, though, the rather sparse structure means the game doesn't actually weigh very much, nor should it weigh very much more. There isn't a lot of explicitly-told story; the light touch here suits the work very well, but probably couldn't support anything longer or more involved.

(It turns out, if you read the design notes, that this is a real place. The rather odd name, which I was all set to criticise as being a bit dull, is the actual name of it. I guess there's no arguing with reality, is there?)

Breakfast is a few strips of corned beef on pumpernickel bread, and a tin cup of strong coffee. Not too much of it: it's a relatively light meal, and seems easily constructred. But then you bite into a peppercorn and BOOM, flavour.