Spooktoberfest Day 3

by StickHead on 27/10/2010

Now this is how you make horror interactive fiction. Ooze was a setback, but a small hairy fellow suggested I give Infocom’s 1987 text adventure The Lurking Horror a try.

Dave Lebling shows a deft touch in the opening minutes of The Lurking Horror; subtle humour that pokes fun at computer technicians rubs up against tense prose that hints at the supernatural horrors to come. This juxtaposition of science and supernatural, humour and horror is a real winning formula that had me hooked within the first few commands – rare indeed for a text adventure.

I don’t feel I can do the lurking horror credit with a full review after one hour’s worth of play – it would be like reviewing War and Peace after the first chapter – but I can confidently say that I will be back for more once Spooktoberfest is over. Lebling’s lovecraftian imaginings are genuinely frightening thanks to masterful manipulation of tension, suspense and expectation.

This elegant approach to interactive fiction is matched by the efficiency of Infocom’s parser. Although I’m a relative newcomer to interactive fiction, it didn’t take me long to get to grips with the commands available and what it was possible to achieve using them. One scene right at the beginning of the game sees you conversing with a hacker in a conversation that rewards exploration and experimentation and it was the first time I’ve ever felt that an interactive fiction game’s parser was opening up opportunities for me, rather than restricting them.

It’s difficult to explain without popping off spoilers left, right and centre, but I felt that the game (whether it was the writer, programmer, or the engine itself) was pre-empting what I was likely to do next, and skilfully steering me towards the next part of the story, minimising the flailing around in the dark I often partake in during a text adventure’s more clunky moments, and instead allowing me to just enjoy a good story well told.

I have finally found the interactive fiction I can recommend to those new to the genre.

(Thanks to Mobygames for the box scan)

There are 5 comments in this article:

  1. 28/10/2010gnome says:

    Lovely. Now I feel like playing the Lurking Horror again. This time to the end. Oh, and it’s not as easy as it sounds really, but as you correctly understood it is quite excellent.

  2. 28/10/2010StickHead says:

    What’s your platform of choice for these old text adventures, gnome? Do you emulate an old system, play the online Java versions, or use an interpreter? I came across Fizmo, which runs zcode nicely in a Linux console, but I kind of preferred playing it through an emulated ST – I just had to get rid of the annoying key click. I had Frotz for iPod Touch a while back, but a couple of bugs made it unusable.

  3. 28/10/2010gnome says:

    Well, I just use WinFrotz and play the old PC versions. After all they all are quite the same and my Infocom originals are all for the PC and the Amiga. I’d love to try them on a Kindle though, provided of course I actually buy one which would require either untold riches or socialism. So, PC emulation it is. Mind you, you should really google for the torrent of the Infocom Universe Bootleg. A very good compilation, though I still immensely enjoy the actual Infocom boxes.

  4. 28/10/2010StickHead says:

    Thanks for the heads-up re: the Infocom Universe Bootleg, that will save a lot of googling for manual/feelie scans further on down the line. I didn’t realise the Kindle would be able to do interactive fiction; that makes them a lot more desirable. Expensive way to get your adventuring kicks, though!

  5. 29/10/2010RetroKingSimon says:

    Haha, I like the writing style in this one :)

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