Inevitable

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs

GAME DESIGNER:Kathleen Fischer
GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware
GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware
Copyright 2003, Kathleen Fischer

Inevitable is a fun sci-fi IF from Kathleen Fischer, author of Redemption and Masquerade, two Top Dogs also reviewed on this site. The plot is cliche, but passable: while accompanying an ambassador of the planet that colonized your planet years ago, something goes horribly wrong, leaving you stranded with the ambassador nowhere in sight.

While the plot is not something that will leave you ponder the meaning of life after the game is over, Inevitable has plenty of atmosphere, communicated very effectively via detailed descriptions of the landscape and various alien objects. The puzzles are also refreshing and fun to solve, not least because many of them affect the gameworld in significant ways. Similar to Interplay’s early classic Mindshadow, you can REMEMBER objects and events to fill read the interesting and often useful background detail. While some puzzles could use less obscure clues and less guess-the-verb syndrome, Inevitable overall is an excellent game that should please every fan of ‘hard-core’ sci-fi genre. Recommended!