Baf's Guide to the IF Archive

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Where Evil Dwells

Authors:Paul T. Johnson and Steve Owens
Genres:Horror>Lovecraftian
Humor
Released:1998
Review:

Wildly uneven mix of Lovecraftian horror and silly gonzo humor, illustrating nicely why those are two genres that aren't often combined: initial attempts at building atmosphere are undermined by, among other things, Gilligan's island references. You're a private detective investigating vaguely described sinister doings at an old house. The writing is sometimes adequate and sometimes weak; still, it would probably be good enough to sustain the horror game if the silly game hadn't intruded. (The silly bits don't come through often enough to make this work as a spoof, but enough to ruin the horror feel.) There are also some implementation problems--guess-the-verb and such--that slow things down. Too schizophrenic to really work.

Rating: ***

Reviewed by Duncan Stevens (09 Feb 2001)

Competitions/
Awards:
14th place, rec.arts.int-fiction competition 1998
Play Online:Play it at ifiction.org: Release 1
Downloads:
evil.txt (3.59 KB)
Walkthrough
evil.z5 (127.00 KB)
Z-code 5 executable (version: Release 1)


Baf's Guide to the Interactive Fiction Archive
Copyright © 2013 Carl Muckenhoupt
All reviews included in this site are copyright © the credited author of the review.