The Spy and the Labyrinth

A well-written and thought out story with an amazing level of depth! But I’m not sure how this adventure is winnable, since you just spend it combing through an archive for clues... until very bad things very rapidly begin to happen, after which the story ends and you presumably lose. In other words, how does your research matter? Is the point to stop the doomsday from occurring or are you just along for the ride?

Mind you, I don’t know whether there is more than one ending, which would really heighten replayability. All I know is I MUST DIG!

The author came up with an intricate plot, which could have served as the backdrop for an engaging "detective" choose your own path game. At first, that is what I thought this would be. Instead, you have little real control over what you investigate. While you have some influence over what questions you ask, you have no choice about what actions you take. Possibly there is a path where you happen to follow the right question path and you get a chance to take some action, but I didn't get that opportunity. I had to keep reading things, even though what was happening was pretty obvious and I understood what actions we would want to take and how urgent they were, there was no chance to even recommend that we take any action. I slogged through the game even though I kept wanting to quit, because I hoped there would be some sort of grand finale where I would get a chance to try to stop the danger. This didn't happen. I feel too bored to force myself to play it through again.

Nice to see a fresh take on existential horror. Not the longest interactive fiction, but engaging while it lasted.