Lost in the Depths of Anchorhead

One of the biggest downsides of playing text adventure games is that you can run into a section where the designer was distracted or failed to consider the syntax 95% of us would use. A box of stuff to find might yield to "search box" but, just one time, not respond to "examine box", causing a few hours of hair-pulling before stooping to read a walkthrough.

Michael S. Gentry, author of Anchorhead, makes no pretenses to making a perfect game. But it comes very, very close especially if you are a fan of H.P. Lovecraft.

Anchorhead takes you out of your home in sunny Texas, dropping you right in the middle of a bleak, rainy November day in a small, unwelcoming town. In a tip of the hat to equality, you play a female protagonist (Lovecraft never portrayed woman leads), following your husband Michael to Anchorhead to claim an inheritance from a mysterious branch of Michael's distant family.

You start the game outside the locked-up real estate office, where you were supposed to meet the agent, while Michael wraps up at the university across town. There are plenty of slightly unsettling places to visit -- a bar full of sullen fishermen and mill workers, a mysterious monument in the town square, a boarded-up church, and a tantalizing locked door located under a bridge. You are even able to make it to Michael, but a can of fish oil will provide red herrings to solving the encounter with him. It doesn't work.

Anchorhead is divided up into several days, and doesn't seem to have the annoying timekeeping that many other games have had, with dying flashlights, disconnected scripted timed events, and so on. In all, the game is heavily passive and atmospheric, even though it is loaded with interactivity and curious objects. It waits for you do discover small secret upon small secret, until their sum becomes more than any sane person can bear. You won't be able to sleep until you've complete the entire day's discoveries as they were meant. If you come close, you'll know since you can take a bath and soak some of your lurking worries away. One of the things that will make this game last a lot longer is the fact there are some puzzles that, while appearing immediately solvable save one object you know you should have gotten already, aren't. And they won't be solvable until Day 3 or 4.

Syntax is typical "Get X", "Do Y", with a good bit of "Ask A about Z". But this isn't a hop-socky adventure that consists of monosyllabic jumps from one action to another. It puts you through your paces and connects it all smoothly, with no inaccuracies or accidental plot holes ("shouldn't that door be crushed already?").

Gentry has managed to breathe life into an obscure genre by writing a rich, gradual, yet deep descent into the madness and terror that once was exclusively Lovecraft's. The interface is gracious and reasonable, and the plot is laid out in a splendid mix of references to Lovecraft, and Gentry's own diabolical creativity. This is one game you won't burn through and best of all there are online walkthroughs should you ever be totally perplexed. The few times I did have to look, a tiny bit more experimentation would have gotten me to where I should have been.

The only flaw I really saw could be defused into a matter of personal taste. I did examine one box I needed to proceed with, but got nothing because I didn't search it. Aside from that one tiny detail, I very much enjoy the effort and detail that Mr. Gentry has put into this enjoyable and original text adventure.

Textadventuretron Ratings:

Fun: 8 A little on the dreary side all around but if you read Lovecraft it's all part of the territory. Interesting takes on many memorable characters and situations. The good thing is once you get rolling it takes about an hour before you hit a snag.

Writing: 10 Polished to perfection. I don't really empathize with the female protagonist, but otherwise it's all novel-quality. Only thing I really wonder about is why a woman can't find a heavy enough rock between a church and town to smash a padlock with, but I guess that's artistic license and gaming practicality.

Fairness: 9.5 I never got stuck in an area by not knowing how to say something. I got really hung up trying to solve what should have been the first puzzle, but you can do what you have to in the alley without any special inventory.

Pace: 9.5. Hangs up if you're not a supercomputer, but if you confess your weaknesses and take just a fleeting glance at the walkthrough you can still get a lot more fun out of the game.

Puzzles: 9 A lot of it is classic text adventure key-style puzzles, but being able to research the town stands out, and a lot of seemingly loose ends always come together.

Atmosphere: 10 I couldn't get over how closely Gentry channels some of Lovecraft's best imagery and concepts. The part about red-rimmed eyes does get a little thin after a while, but that was part of H.P.'s style as well: to hammer home a small detail that could morph into maddening given enough time and weight.

Navigation: 10 Forget some silly early text adventure maze that is 10% walls and 90% "you can't go there". Everything is clearly laid out and intuitive.

Overall: 10

Resources:

Download Z-machine (lets you run text adventure games)

Download Anchorhead

Spoilers/Walkthrough -- Don't peek till the game drives you nuts! :D