The author's tag-line for this game is "A one-room game set in your apartment," and it's difficult to say much more about it without spoilers. Suffice it to say that it's extremely well crafted and very, very creepy--this is "mess with your head" IF par excellence. Precisely what happens, particularly at the end, is open to multiple interpretations. There's also a lot going on, in a sense, so you may want to replay it a few times once you're done. Not to everyone's taste--it's not an upbeat game by any means--but masterfully done.

Rating: *****

Reviewed by Duncan Stevens (07 Feb 2001)

shade.z5 (104.50 KB)

Z-code 5 executable (version: Release 1, original competition entry)

Shade-R3.hqx (278.39 KB)

Macintosh executable (version: Release 3)

shade-src.tar.Z (58.52 KB)

Inform source code (version: 3)

shade.z5 (106.00 KB)

Z-code 5 executable (version: Release 3)