Hadean Lands

I've played interactive fiction for many years, so I was excited to find such a complex, rich game. Plotkin's games are always interesting, but this really is his best yet, from the way the story and the world are constructed as you play, to the alchemical puzzles. (Beginners might start with the Dreamhold instead.)

I really thoroughly enjoyed the game and feel this is one of the best interactive fiction games I've played. Truly phenomenal and detailed.

To get this out of the way: this is IF/text adventure, but it's not about solving mazes and playing guess-the-verb. It is about intricate, fascinating puzzles with a unique iterative mechanic that gives you a sense of mastery; a detailed, coherent alternate universe based on alchemy; and an overall meta-puzzle as the player tries to figure out what happened, not to mention who he/she is. Innovative parser commands streamline gameplay so you're thinking about the game, not the mechanics, and the

Fun fun game. Zarf has outdone himself.

On day 1, you'll think this is an interesting little text-based adventure game. By day 3, you'll realize it's the best such game ever written and will set the bar for all future games in this genre. Incredible.