This is a review of The Ngah Angah School of Forbidden Wisdom, by Anssi Raisanen (whose real name contains characters I don’t know how to type, and c/p is cheating), an ALAN game of all things, entered in the 2008 Interactive Fiction Competition. Spoilers after the cut.

Here are some other reviews of this game:

Emily Short
Gemma Bristow
Michael Martin
Another Mr. Lizard
Wesley Osam
Nitku
Merk
Carl Muckenhoupt
Imrihamun
Lucy (includes other reviews)
Dan Shiovitz (includes other reviews)
Jacqueline A. Lott Ashwell
Jake Wildstrom (includes other reviews)

…

This game didn’t have a walkthrough or hints, and I am happy to say I actually solved it! I am pretty bad at puzzle games. And that’s what this one is, regardless of the token love story (“YOUR GIRLFRIEND IS HERE. YOU LOVE HER VERY MUCH.”) The puzzles aren’t the greatest, I think… once I figured it out, I kind of thought: “Ooh, okay.” (that was #1), “Finally! Cool.” (#2), and “Uh, okay.” (#3). I got really confused about the symbols at first – it looks like a ‘fish spear’? A ‘weed’? Seriously? Do you know how many letters could be interpreted as weeds? It’s like saying that ‘it’s the one that looks like a chicken scratch.’ I died numerous times in the second room from the murderous butterflies – or as I like to call them, MURDERFLIES – and I think it would have helped to have implemented the other mens’ cloaks – that’s what finally made the solution click, but the fact that the cloaks aren’t implemented seems to discourage it.

The last puzzle was kind of silly. Couldn’t the statue just kind of… move? Like the game says, the trinket is really tiny. Perhaps the statue was described as completely still except for her arms (that is, unable to dodge while being able to block) and I missed it. That’s definitely possible.

The environment is kind of neat, though sometimes stilted. It’s not meant to be interacted with. Like the love story, it’s basically just filler while you figure out the puzzles.

Technical: Usually good. Once I understood the puzzles, it was surprisingly smooth. Points for that. Towards the end, I headed towards the school, only to be told my girlfriend is here and there’s no reason. What? I look around, and she appeared in the room without saying anything – only after replaying do I realize the game never showed the cutscene that’s supposed to appear when you arrive in the room.

Writing: As far as the puzzles went, the writing seemed effective. Overall the ‘school’ succeeded at that timeless architectural beauty as a nice backdrop. The fact that conversation is implemented is odd, given you can’t get anyone to talk about anything.

Fun: I did beat the game, and I guess I had fun. But it’s never a good sign when the reunion scene arrives and I laugh because oh shit, did I sneak into the wrong theater of a Bollywood multiplex? Oh well. There’s worse filler material.

Do I hope that the author writes more IF? Well, this was pretty competent. While it’s not really my thing, I wouldn’t mind more games like this in future comps. I really think it would have been worth it to do something with NPCs, especially considering that it’s trying (I think?) to be a love story.