GAME: Unraveling God
AUTHOR: Toddwat
PLATFORM: ADRIFT 4 http://www.adrift.org.uk/cgi/new/adrift.cgi
SOUND: no
GRAPHICS: no
REVIEWED: 16th November 2002
WALKTHROUGH: http://www.shadowvault.net/wt%20ug.htm
DOWNLOAD: http://www.shadowvault.net/games/unravelinggod.zip


Unraveling God is a strange and unusual game in that, for the most part, it reads more like a novel than an actual piece of interactive fiction. It is also unusual in that it doesn't play in a single time frame: it begins towards the end of the storyline then jumps back to the middle before moving on to the start. While the changing time perspective is often a little confusing (particularly in trying to remember what has happened to the player and what is yet to happen), it's certainly an original way to write an adventure. And it works very well indeed.

The premise behind Unraveling God is that you, as a professor by the name of Gabriel G. Markson, have created a unique and original science which allows people to be essentially frozen. They don't age or require sustenance and can be kept this way for an indefinite period of time. Travel to different star systems is now a possibility as is the idea of "freezing" people with incurable diseases until such a time as a cure can be found for them. As the story unfolds (SPOILER ALERT!!!), it turns out that Markson was not in fact responsible for the discovery of this science but one of his lab students instead although, following an unfortunate accident, Markson takes credit for the discovery which, he tries to convince himself, he would have made given the time.

The gameplay in Unraveling God is very linear. The story follows a set path and there is no way to change the events that have already occurred in the player's life. That said, there is a considerable amount of attention given to detail in the locations in the game, even the ones which you are not required to enter in order to complete it. This attention to detail is one of the ways in which Unraveling God distances itself from the majority of text adventures: there are few instances of the dreaded "you see no such things" popping up. Indeed, it is obvious that painstaking effort has been made to make the locations as believable as possible and the effort really pays off.

As far as the style of writing Unraveling God is a winner from the very start. There is an incredible sense of realism about it. And also an unpleasant scene or two. Markson's actions after the accident in his home involving the lab student are quite chilling and you wonder at just what he would have done had not the accident occurred. In a way, it's a shame having so little control over what your character does because I would have liked to see what Markson would have done if the lab student had not had the accident. Would I have been involved in a potential murder attempt?

This isn't a game that really falls into any one category: it could be described as science fiction or horror but in fact it doesn't really fit into either field. While there are undoubtedly moments of both science fiction and horror, Unraveling God reads more like a thriller that has supernatural and horrific elements thrown in for good measure.

At the same time, this isn't a game that fits into the traditional idea for text adventures: there are no quests to save the world (although, choose the correct path, and that is essentially what you end up doing), no magic swords to collect or prizes to gain. There are items in the game but as the game plays through several different time frames, these items tend to disappear when not needed.

In summing up, I'd recommend Unraveling God to anyone who wants to play a well written game. Well written it certainly is and while, due to the linearness of the storyline, replay value is not high I suspect anyone who really likes this sort of game will play it at least a few times just in case there was anything they missed the first time.



Logic: 8 out of 10
 Pleasantly straightforward. There are very few actual puzzles which require much thought in the game and the storyline moves along in a pleasing and logical manner.

Problems: 10 out of 10 (10 = no problems)
 Not one thankfully.

Story: 9 out of 10
 An enthralling and at times quite bewildering storyline which is different from most adventures in that it doesn't play out in one time frame. Instead, it jumps from point to point in the player's life. A quite inspired idea.

Characters: 8 out of 10
 Interaction with characters was different from most ADRIFT games in that there was none of the "ask 'character' about 'subject'" style of things. Conversation was instead handled by a more simple "talk to 'character'" followed by a list of possible replies. While some people might find the lack of interaction a downside, I thought the way it was handled was very good.

Style of writing: 9 out of 10
 Superb from start to finish. As said above, Unraveling God reads more like a novel than a text adventure and if this is any indication of how well the author writes he should definitely think about a career as a writer.

Game: 9 out of 10
 Undoubtedly one of the best games ever written for ADRIFT though I imagine the linear storyline might not appeal to everyone. Personally, I loved it.

Overall: 53 out of 60