In this uncertain and often chaotic world, the temptation to hide, to lie low in a secret shelter away from dangers both real and imagined, can be awfully strong. Doesn't it sound nice? A place all your own, a safe room with layer upon layer of protection between you and the outside. A haven. What happens, however, when your refuge becomes your prison? Boxed Inn: Panic Room, the first escape game from wonderfully promising American designer and Flash author Samgine, explores that troubling scenario.

Boxed Inn: Panic Room is, in many ways, a really superlative escape game. Lengthy, clever and involved, you'll have to use all of the room's many resources (often in the form of modern technology) to escape. Along with the usual "use object A with code B to solve puzzle C" room escape fare, the game serves in part to showcase some of the types of puzzles (both classic and original) that fill Samgine's website; one in particular, a puzzle called PaintBox that involves manipulating the colors of boxes using various buttons, is especially interesting. While on the whole the game's puzzles are great, there are, unfortunately, a few instances of questionable leaps of "logic" being needed to progress. One puzzle in particular I found nearly inexplicable, but finally was able to crack with a bit of trial-and-error. Also, being able to hear the game is nice but not vital. At one point you'll need to program a remote, and hearing the "beep" of the buttons will help you do so; however, as long as you follow the directions carefully, you should be fine.

The graphics go beyond mere excellence; they are literally photo-realistic. This gives the game an added edge of realism, making it all the more immersive and entertaining. The interface is mainly user-friendly (No pixel-hunting! Automatic save feature!), though the inventory system can be initially confusing. Clicking a collected item will bring up a larger picture of it, allowing you to manipulate the object and sometimes discover new information or clues; it is not, however, necessary to click on an item in order to use it within the room itself. For example, at some point during the game you will collect a CD. Clicking on the disk drive of the room's laptop will automatically place the CD in the drive, without you needing to select it from the inventory. It's a little perplexing, and I'm not sure why the game's developers chose to configure the interface in this way, but once you get the hang of the system it ceases to be an inconvenience.

Boxed Inn: Panic Room is an enormously impressive escape game, particularly considering that it is Samgine's first venture into the genre. While the game does have room for improvement, particularly in regards to the inventory interface and handful of imperfectly logical moments, it bodes extremely well for the developer's future creations. Hopefully this is just the first in a very long line of games to come! Enjoy.

Play Boxed Inn: Panic Room

Solitude, the new point-and-click adventure/escape game from Japanese designer 58 Works, begins with a brief animation of a plane, one wing trailing smoke, plummeting from the sky into the ocean. A young man pulls himself out of the water and collapses onto a beach, exhausted by the ordeal—little does he know that his trials have barely begun. Playing as the sole survivor of the accident, can you solve puzzles, collect objects and unlock the secrets of this mysterious island? Most important of all, will you find a way to escape your paradisal prison?

Solitude is, at its core, a game of exploration. The game's puzzles are essentially pragmatic and realistic, mainly of the "collect item A to resolve obstacle B" variety (I simplify, but you understand what I mean). While the setting may be a bit fantastical, the ways in which you must use objects and manipulate the environment are completely reasonable, given the protagonist's situation. This means that Solitude is (hooray!) refreshingly logical. Every action makes sense, every solution is comprehensible. At the same time, those looking for raw intellectual challenge may not be entirely satisfied; while I would definitely not call the game easy, it isn't close to the most mentally taxing game you'll find in the genre.

Solitude's neat, colorful and professional-looking graphics create a very pleasant environment, one that is a pleasure to view and interact with. The interface is clean and user-friendly, and will be familiar to anyone accustomed to playing escape games. There's no pixel-hunting, per se (that is, no painstaking searches to find barely existent hotspots), but a number of important items are either hiding in plain sight or concealed in the environment, so make sure to run your cursor over everything in each scene. It's a little bit disappointing that Solitude does not contain a save feature; in my opinion, such an absence is inexcusable, particularly in a game created by such an excellent designer. Still, as Solitude is based more upon finding and then using items rather than solving complex puzzles, half-finishing and then restarting the game shouldn't cost you too much time.

All in all, Solitude is another superlative, highly entertaining effort from a consistently excellent designer. So, slip away from your busy week to bask for a little while in tropical isolation—while you may be trying to escape, you may be sorry to leave! Enjoy.

Play Solitude

Loom Custody is the latest escape game from uber-talented Japanese designer Place of Light. In it you wake to find yourself ensconced in a grimy, nearly-bare cell. The blue sky glimpsed through a high window grate is the sole spot of cheer in your bleak prison; with a bit of exploration, however, you will find that the room is far more intriguing and complex than it first appears. To have any chance of escape, you must discover clues, solve puzzles and use all of the limited resources at your disposal. A classic scenario, but one that Place of Light does very well.

Analysis: While I enjoyed playing Loom Custody, I was ultimately left feeling underwhelmed. While still very good, it does not entirely live up to the standards set by the rest of the developer's body of work.

However, Loom Custody is in no way mediocre. It contains all of the important elements of a high-quality escape game: the puzzles are thought-provoking yet refreshingly logical, the interface clean and professional, the graphics nicely evocative of your predicament. There are even a few fun surprises! It's just that after the releases of so many superlative games by Place of Light, Loom Custody does not quite live up to my expectations of what the developer is capable of. The game is simply too short and relatively easy to stand up next to the likes of the extraordinary Room Marine (my personal Place of Light favorite, and one of the best room escapes I've ever played). I also felt that while its puzzles are interesting, Loom Custody lacks the element of innovation that is present in the designer's other creations; there is nothing in the game that I haven't seen before in some shape or form. On the other hand, Place of Light produces games considerably more quickly than many other top-notch escape game developers. Maybe it's just an issue of quantity winning out over quality.

Even if Loom Custody is not Place of Light's magnum opus, it is arguably one of the better room escapes out there. While I hope that the developer's next release will be a return to longer, more difficult games, I can't deny this one is pretty darn good; well-crafted, good-looking and entertaining, it's more than worth your time. Have fun!

Play Loom Custody

Not-quite-new from always excellent Japanese designer 58 Works, (#07 ML, Cottage) Escapers #05 Space is a wonderful, uncomplicated shot of pure escape game goodness. Substantive and entertaining yet not too tough, Escapers #05 Space could be the perfect oasis in the middle of your hectic week.

With no explanation, you find yourself aboard what appears to be, judging from the vast starry skies glimpsed through the portholes, a space station. You are locked in a storage room, but getting out of there shouldn't be too difficult; the real challenge comes after you stumble across the very handy but frustratingly underfueled spaceship that offers your only chance of escape. Can you muster your wits to solve the puzzles, fix the ship and find a way back home?

The answer to that question, for those with even a modicum of escape game experience, is probably "yes." Escapers #05 Space is not very difficult; the game only has a handful of puzzles, and the ones it does have can be solved with a minimum of fuss. "Easy", however, does not necessarily imply "not clever." In fact, Escapers #05 Space is an extremely satisfying little game. Everything just fits together so well; each puzzle's clues flow perfectly into its solution, nothing is too esoteric or difficult to understand, and your efforts leads to a satisfying conclusion. What the game lacks in intellectual challenge is more than made up for by the strength of its construction and gratifying sense of logic.

Visually, the game is quite nice, with uncluttered graphics eminently suitable to the environment. Like other games by 58 Works, Escapers #05 Space lacks any sort of soundtrack (which, considering that the game takes place in outer space, is just fine). There's no save feature, which generally I would find deeply annoying, but in a game this short it isn't really a big deal. The inventory is simple and clean, navigating is easy to do and pixel-hunting is near-nonexistent: excellent all around!

Escapers #05 Space is wonderfully refreshing. True, it may not be hugely ambitious either technically or in terms of its puzzles, and it's not quite as sophisticated nor as developed as 58 Works' later creations. Nevertheless, the game is well-constructed, entertaining and breathtakingly logical; the latter quality, in particular, can be very difficult to find in an escape game. If you've been ever been confounded by an escape game's seemingly inexplicable "logic" or spent hours clicking everywhere except a room's one-millimeter-wide hotspot, you're going to relish playing this one. Enjoy!

Play Escapers #05 Space

Waiting Room, by Japanese designer Ikutama, is without doubt the newest member of the elite "so sweet it'll make your teeth ache" escape game club. Melodic, tinkly soundtrack? Check. Cute, colorful graphics? Check. Sentimental and slightly sad story involving lost love? Double check. Don't let the game's charming trappings deceive you, however; Waiting Room has real substance and some formidable puzzles. The extent of the efforts needed to complete the game, which includes searching the internet, might turn off some casual gamers; those who persevere, however, will surely be delighted by this quirky and clever escape game confection.

Waiting Room begins with your arrival at a train station in the middle of the Japanese countryside. As the game's slightly confusing introduction explains, things seem a little odd—a little old, to be more specific. It's as if you have stepped back 20 years! Perplexed, you enter the station's waiting room, and are confronted by a beautiful but downcast young woman. She is searching for a ring, and asks for your assistance. Seeing as you are mysteriously unable to leave the room anyways, why not give her a helping hand?

There's more to the story, of course, but in order to find out the details you'll need to make your way through some pretty tricky puzzles. Oh, those puzzles... I have some mixed feelings concerning them, actually. On the one hand, the majority are really quite good, and they do follow a certain logic. At times, though, some of the connections between clues seemed somewhat abstract; that is, I sometimes felt that the necessary links to connect document X with code Y, or whatever the case was, were not terribly obvious. This could, of course, just be a failing of my own intellect. However, if you're like me, you might find yourself engaging in more than a little bit of trial-and-error. Furthermore, one of the puzzles does (unless you randomly have the specialized knowledge required) necessitate searching the internet. Some players hate this, some aren't bothered by it in the least; in this case, I did find it to be mildly disruptive to the flow of the game. Still, despite these potential flaws, Waiting Room on the whole delivers well-crafted and entertaining puzzles (and two different endings!). Be patient, don't be afraid to try everything with everything else, and you'll make it through.

Waiting Room's neat, detailed graphics are very appealing, colorful but not cartoonish. The sweet, slightly melancholy soundtrack nicely enhances the game's ambience without excessively distracting from the gameplay. While the game has a multitude of hotspots, some of which are not immediately apparent, the cursor changes when mousing over a clickable area. This, happily, eliminates most pixel-hunting. The inventory system is clean and user-friendly, and navigating around the room is simple. The game's main technical weakness is the lack of a save feature, which is a serious no-no; Ikutama does, however, get points for including a volume control feature. Not perfect, but all in all a good job.

A damsel in distress, a missing ring, a room full of secrets and a sad tale to set right: the perfect recipe for your mid-week escape game indulgence. It's not easy—but really, what fun would it be if it were? Enjoy!

Play Waiting Room

I don't think I could describe Smile For Me, the sweet new escape game by Japanese designer Robamimi, any better than the game does itself: "This is escape game, but have not to escape. Sorry, you die please. You become a departed, and change to the smile the sorrowing bereaved." Says it all, don't you think?

Okay, okay, maybe not. To translate: in Smile For Me, you are a recently deceased person who, seeing the tears of a grieving loved one, seeks to bring joy to that individual. But how, exactly, are you going to accomplish that? In your new home, a silvery room high in the sky, you'll have to solve puzzles and use the heavenly tools at your disposal to bring a moment of happiness to your bereaved beloved. Awww.

I liked Smile For Me a lot. It's earnestly and unabashedly sentimental—which, in a world that at times seems to look down upon genuine emotion, is actually really refreshing. The puzzles are for the most part challenging without becoming overwhelming, though I did come across a few "seriously? you expected me to do that?" moments of eyebrow-raising "logic." Happily, a hint system is in place to bring you through those occasional bumps in the road. You'll also need to do a little math, so be prepared to pull out your calculator. Your reward for completing Smile For Me is a one of the nicest endings I've seen in an escape-the-room game, sweet and a little sad. You might find yourself genuinely moved.

The game is very well-crafted, with the excellent graphics we've come to expect from Robamimi as well as a mellow, melodic soundtrack. A save feature is provided, and a square mute button can be located above the inventory. Although the game is not heavy on pixel-hunting, be sure to check each and every clickable location (there are quite a few of them); if at some point you seem to be missing an important item from your inventory, rechecking previously visited areas will probably help. Also, on the game's title screen (after it has loaded), be sure to click "English" before you press "Play."

If you're in the mood to kill monsters and blow things up with comically oversized weaponry, this is not the game for you. If, however, you feel like you might like a breath of fresh air, a few minutes of unadorned sincerity to cleanse your palate (and a darn good escape game to boot), then click on the link below. It'll definitely make you smile.

Play Smile For Me

Hooray! Japanese escape game designer Robamimi has made the excellent decision to remake one of its early, nice-but-flawed games into a much higher quality piece of work. Even if you've played the original, Who Am I? Remake has been given a thorough enough makeover to justify another look.

Though the original Who Am I? was good-looking and contained some clever puzzles, it suffered from a lack of polish and occasionally crossed over into illogical territory. Robamimi has ameliorated these problems by reformulating (and, in numerous cases, entirely changing) the game's puzzles, cleaning up the interface and adding a save feature as well as a twinkly soundtrack. While all of the game's puzzles are well-designed, I found one in particular to be quite sly; if at some point during the game you feel as if you cannot proceed without knowledge of another language, take a step back and reconsider the information. By thinking "out of the box," as it were, you might find your answer. Oh, also, if at any point the game's super-sweet soundtrack becomes irritating, you can turn it off by clicking the square button above the inventory.

While Remake: Who Am I? still doesn't quite approach the brilliance of the very best escape games, it's nonetheless smart and skillfully executed, an enormous step up from its antecedent. If you're a fan of the genre, you'll surely be grateful for Robamimi's overachieving ways. Enjoy!

Play Who Am I? Remake

So, just what is the mystery inside the Mystery House in Japan? I guess we could ask Japanese designer Bianco Bianco to let us in on the secret of its newest escape game. Or, conversely, we could just go ahead and play. Yeah, that's probably the better option.

You begin the game in darkness. After fumbling around long enough to locate a source of light, you'll find yourself in a small room appealingly decorated in a traditional Japanese fashion. But wait...with closer scrutiny, you might notice something strange. The pattern spreading like a Rorschach blot across the double doors of the room's exit looks disconcertingly like a face, and not a human face, either. And are those handles on the doors, or are they eyes? What on earth is going on? It looks like escaping this mystery house may involve more than just finding the right key...

All mysteries aside, MHIJ's handful of puzzles are well-designed but fairly standard room escape fare, mainly involving combining items and solving codes. Nothing fancy here, but nothing illogical either. One puzzle uses Japanese characters, but another item will help you to easily decipher them and come to a solution; the other Japanese text in the room (which can be found on various objects you collect) is not crucial to completing the game. I do wish that the game was a bit longer and more substantive; veteran escapers will probably be able to finish MHIJ in 10 minutes or less. Still, what is there is quite well made (and with a fun ending!), and in my opinion a short, well-executed piece is highly preferable to a longer, mediocre game. Quality over quantity, right?

MHIJ's graphics, while hardly photorealistic, are nonetheless quite nice and professional-looking. The game doesn't have any sort of soundtrack, but in this particular case the silence meshes well with the room's spare decor and general ambience. There's no save feature, which is always a little bit irritating, but for a game this short it's not such a big deal. Navigating around the room is easy, and I only counted one instance of moderately annoying pixel-hunting (hooray!).

While not the magnum opus of the escape game genre, Mystery House in Japan is fun, quick, and indisputably well-designed, perfect for a brief break in your day. While Bianco Bianco may not be the most stunningly original designer out there, it can always be counted upon to provide a solidly constructed and entertaining experience. Enjoy!

Play Mystery House in Japan

A lighter. Some flour. A stick, a rock, a knife and a towel. How, using only these handful of items, can you escape a room? Six different ways, apparently, at least in Room Escape SIX, a new escape-the-room game from Japanese designer Kotaro. You are the latest challenger to enter a strange, hexagon-shaped building that exists solely to be escaped from; how you do so depends upon the way in which you use the room's odd furnishings.

This game is a bit unusual in that the meat of its challenge takes place on the inventory screen. After the room's objects have been collected (which will take, even the first time you play, a total of about 30 seconds) you can begin the entertaining, experimental process of combining them. Each method of escape requires certain combinations of objects (and/or actions to be performed upon those items); as you might imagine, this involves a good bit of trial-and-error. To a limited extent, it is possible to reverse the combining process; with the push of a button, you can separate an object into its original component parts. This only works, however, if the separation process is realistically feasible. For example, if you've tied the towel to the stick, you can separate the two; if you've cut the towel into pieces and realized it was a mistake, however, tough luck. In the latter situation, the "Reset" button is your only option.

You'll probably be using that button a lot. The constant resetting can become a little bit tedious, but the short setup time needed to get back to where you were pre-mistake keeps it from being too much of a bother. It's a lot of fun to explore the different ways you can use and combine the objects; the game has a great sense of fun and whimsy, and an undeniable but not cloying cuteness. My one complaint is that one of the six endings (the simplest, ironically) is, in my opinion, really unintuitive. The other five, however, are all reasonably logical, and you'll probably stumble upon the last one by mistake anyways.

The game's graphics are simple and colorful, not extraordinary but certainly pleasant enough to look at. A soundtrack would have been nice, but the game's lack of one isn't a huge detriment. There is no pixel hunting, and navigating around the room is easy. The inventory system, by far the game's most important feature, is set up in a straightforward, user-friendly manner. Also, while there's no save button, the game will remember what methods of escape you've already discovered. You can play, find an ending, leave, come back and escape two more times, and so on--the game is basically a series of little escape vignettes. This makes it the perfect two-minute diversion, ideal for slipping in between classes or on a coffee break. Enjoy!

Play Room Escape SIX

It is a moonless night. The lantern light does not reach far. You are seldom frightened in these woods, but tonight is unusual.

Now, you can't help wondering whether you should have spared the noble beast.

So begins Alabaster, an exquisite and addictive piece of interactive fiction created by a team of eleven talented writers and spearheaded by Emily Short—one of the Grande Dames of the genre and authoress of such classics as Floatpoint—that takes the oft-Disneyfied, candy-coated tale of Snow White and recasts it in rather darker hues. You assume the role of the nameless woodsman, a loyal but ultimately good-hearted servant of the Queen who has been given the unfortunate task of butchering the comely Snow White. Unwilling to murder an innocent, you have struck a bargain with the girl: she will go to a prearranged safe haven, while you will kill a hart to produce the grisly proof of Snow White's death that the Queen requires. The portentous night has arrived, and you are deep in the woods with the girl. But now, as the moment of truth approaches, you can't help but hesitate.

While your mistress has undoubtedly become a bit unhinged and performed some questionable actions, if certain rumors are to be believed, the girl may be no better than her stepmother. Such a strange young woman, with her dark, knowing eyes, her fetid breath and nocturnal habits... and why, on this bitterly cold night, does she seem entirely unaffected by the temperature? She stands before you, impatient, waiting. If you see your deal with Snow White through, the Queen will almost certainly detect your treachery and have you executed; but how, really, can you bring yourself to murder what appears to be an innocent child?

The only thing you can do now, frustrating as it might be, is to talk to her. You must attempt to ascertain the truth of this deeply puzzling situation and unravel the mystery surrounding Snow White and the Queen; only then will you be free to make what might be the most important and difficult decision of your life. Choose your words with care...

Analysis: A superlative piece of work, in certain ways Alabaster is somewhat different than the majority of interactive fiction that we have previously reviewed. While many IF games present a more-or-less linear plot to play through, complete with puzzles to solve, items to collect and so on, Alabaster's heart and soul lies in the conversation between the protagonist and Snow White. But really, "conversation" seems an inadequate term; the potential paths of dialogue are mind-bogglingly sprawling and intricate and, depending on the choices you make, will lead you to one of 18 (!) possible endings. This gives the game near-unparalleled replay value. Also, only through replay is it possible to understand the entirety of the situation; Short and her compatriots have created much more than a simple retelling of the fable, and the underlying truth of the game's scenario is far more complex than any fairy tale.

The structure of the gameplay is simple and intuitive. Most, but not all of your actions will involve asking questions and supplying responses; ASK, TELL and SAY are the three commands that you'll be using most often. The game supplies you with possible conversational prompts after nearly every line of dialogue, ensuring that you never run out of things to say. While immensely sophisticated, Alabaster is not infallible; you might find yourself accidentally skipping forward (with conversational prompts that you shouldn't yet have) or missing a potential ending because your command wasn't worded in a specific way. Still, on the whole you'll probably encounter very few problems.

Beyond its value as a superb piece of interactive fiction, Alabaster is also notable for its experimental and creative aspects. The game's website calls it "an experiment in open authorship"; Short wrote and released Alabaster's introduction, and 10 other writers contributed conversation text. It's extraordinary to me that the work of 11 individuals has synthesized so perfectly into one seamless product; this is a testament to the undoubtedly dizzying amount of work that must have gone into the game's creation.

This review wouldn't be complete without discussing the wonderful, evocative graphics that accompany the game. In an experiment in "procedural illustration", in place of a standard status bar Daniel Allington-Krzysztofiak has created numerous graphical sketches that indicate and change with the state of play. The sketches themselves are starkly black-and-white but delicately lined, and it's fascinating to watch them change with the flow of the conversation.

If, after playing Alabaster, you want to catch a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the game's creation, you can take advantage of the website's wealth of interesting extras. Along with walkthroughs, you can download or link to the game's (jaw-dropping) conversation diagram, plot structure, cover art, and even take a look at the development process as charted through blog entries. Nice!

But before all that, of course, your first order of business should be simply to dive in. Alabaster is intuitive enough for a new player to pick up easily, yet rich enough to satisfy even the most experienced veteran of interactive fiction; a more wonderful combination of qualities is hard to find. Don't be surprised, however, if you find yourself unable to tear yourself away from the screen...like its "heroine", Alabaster is most entrancing, and it won't be easy to turn away.

Download Alabaster (Mac/Windows/Linux, 2MB, free)

Note: Because Alabaster is far more process-intensive than your average piece of IF, I highly recommend that you download the latest, fastest interpreter before playing: Zoom 1.1.4 for Mac and Git 1.2.4 for Windows. Links to pre-compiled versions of the game as well as the story file itself can be found at the official website.

Are you sunburnt? Tired of the sounds of laughing children, ice cream trucks and blaring beach-weather anthems? You're in luck! Toybox, a new escape game from Polish designer Lukasz W., is here to inject a little darkness into your summertime. Okay, to be more accurate, a lot of darkness.

The game's scenario is not a pretty one: you wake, cold and alone, in a room lit only by a single, faint candle... that gleams off of the links of the chain connecting your leg to the wall. Uh-oh. From there, believe it or not, things only get worse. You are trapped in a house of horrors, and must solve puzzles and face supernatural terror in order to regain your freedom. Of course, there's also the matter of your murderous captor... where could he be? You might just find out.

The game's puzzles are on the whole only adequate, mainly of the standard "collect item A to solve code/open door B" type. One puzzle involving a piano struck me as being a bit dubious, though a quick Google search allowed me to proceed without too much difficulty. A lot of backtracking is involved, so be prepared to run back and forth between rooms quite often. It's important to note that at certain points of the game, new clues appear in previously-visited locations; so, if you find yourself stuck, retrace your steps. The game has multiple endings: a "good" outcome, two slightly different "bad" outcomes, and a bonus ending that I've yet to discover. Getting the good ending hinges upon finding a specific item, so be sure to pay close attention to your surroundings!

Without doubt, Toybox's most impressive aspect is its ominous, sepulchral atmosphere. This is a horror game, through and through: blood drips thickly from the walls, severed hands festoon the ceiling, nasty surprises wait behind every door. While the game's graphics are more than adequate, it's the additions of a handful of well-made, chilling cutscenes and a genuinely spooky soundtrack that elevate Toybox above mere goriness. All of these elements meld wonderfully together to produce an immersive, entertainingly grotesque ambience that is just cartoony enough to avoid crossing into true gross-out territory. In this respect, the game is outstanding.

While it's clear that Lukasz W. put quite a bit of time and effort into Toybox, a few small additions and alterations could have made the game better and more user-friendly. First and foremost, a save feature would have been nice (particularly when trying to discover the different endings), and a mute button would also have been appreciated. Although the game's inventory system is a little clunky, there is no pixel-hunting (yay!) and navigating around the house is easy. All in all, improvable but not bad.

As you might have gathered, this game is not suitable for the little ones; though the graphics are not realistic, the game is gory and frightening enough to upset the easily-spooked. For everyone else, especially fans of all things macabre, I'm sure you'll enjoy this very creepy and stylized, if not always substantive, escape game. Next time around, perhaps Lukasz will combine his obvious talent for creating an atmosphere with equally-fabulous puzzles; if so, we're in for some truly amazing fun.

Play Toybox

It was recently estimated that there are nearly seven billion human beings alive today. Incredible. The most remarkable aspect of the human condition, however, is not simply how many of us there are. What is truly astounding is that each individual is unique, a single and unduplicated combination of nature and nurture that can never be replicated or replaced.

Now, imagine what it would be like to be stripped of that individuality, to be just one of an army of identical workers, a cog in the machine, undifferentiated by any special ability or trait. There might be a certain satisfaction in such an existence. It could be nice to be able to abandon the search for meaning, to know without hesitation exactly who you are and where you belong... or, at least, that's what you'd tell yourself. But what if, one day, you had the chance to stand out? What if you, among all your identical peers, were called upon to perform an important task, and perhaps even take on a position of leadership and power? Such an opportunity might be irresistible even to your own humble heart.

In Dead Like Ants, a sublime piece of interactive fiction by C.E.J. Pacian, this is precisely the situation you find yourself in. You are an unnamed female ant, a simple worker. You and your thousands of sisters labor ceaselessly in the service of your colony; an unexciting, if productive, existence. Today, however, is very different. Your mother, the Queen — whom you have never before laid eyes upon — has requested your presence! She has a very special task for you. Every spring, it seems, five dangerous creatures come to the colony and threaten the safety of all therein. When this occurs, the Queen sends one of her daughters to negotiate with these monsters, thereby averting trouble for another year. This spring, you are the chosen emissary. What an honor!

Of course, you're not sure what to do when you actually encounter these creatures. Your mother didn't really specify. Still, it couldn't be that hard, right? You wouldn't dream of turning down such an extraordinary gesture of trust and esteem from the Queen. Best of all, your mother has hinted that if you succeed you may earn your wings, just like her own graceful pair. Best not to try her patience and keep her waiting...

Analysis: The premise of Dead Like Ants seems straightforward enough: resolve the conflicts posed by the five dangerous creatures threatening the colony. This could easily become an epic quest, but Pacian chooses instead to go down a simpler, more poetic route. The game's main goal is not so much to present a steep intellectual challenge as it is to tell a story and offer a thought-provoking experience; on those counts, the game succeeds brilliantly. Pacian possesses real talents in the realms of language and characterization, and the game's insect cast in particular benefits from his (or is it her?) skills. A snail becomes a snooty, aristocratic lawyer, a butterfly a coquettish damsel-in-distress; these quirky portrayals make perfect sense within the story. Also, despite the game's somewhat serious and sometimes dark mien, there are more than a few laugh-out-loud moments.

One benefit to Dead Like Ants' story-centric approach is that, to those new to the wonderful world of interactive fiction, the game will be relatively accessible and unintimidating (particularly when compared to sublime but exponentially more difficult games like Varicella or Anchorhead). While there is plenty to discover within the game's framework, the commands/actions needed to simply reach the end are fairly straightforward. Pacian further increases the game's user-friendly quotient by including an instruction and hint system within the game; simply type "About" and you'll find all the help you'll need.

There is much more that I'd like to say about this deeply clever, poignant and sweetly macabre piece of interactive fiction. However, like the wonderfully enigmatic point-and-click adventure Bars of Black and White, a large part of the enjoyment derived from playing Dead Like Ants lies in the thrill of sudden, unnerving understanding; despite what one might assume, you will find that this is a game with, to say the least, an unusual goal. It's time to leave safety in the pursuit of greatness. Steady your heart and straighten your spine!

Download Dead Like Ants (Mac/Windows/Linux, 1MB, free)

To play this game, you'll need both the game file and an interpreter. Download Dead Like Ants from the Interactive Fiction database followed by an interpreter for your OS: Gargoyle for Windows, Zoom for Macintosh and Unix.