Desert of Vice

A neat, little text adventure project with good aesthetic choices that could use some quality-of-life improvements. As stated in other reviews, some necessary commands can not be intuited from in-text description; thus, early playthroughs require use of the hints command. Implementation of tried and tested commands from earlier text adventures (go east, go forward, etc.) and a more uniform application of other commands ('leave' works in the motel room but not in most other locations, take works with most pickups but you have to 'harvest cactus') would do a lot to alleviate these pain points. The requirement to 'go to [place]' instead of simply 'go [place]' feels particularly odd and pedantic. Despite these criticisms, Desert of Vice has an undeniable mystique about it with an art style and soundtrack that compliment its supernatural noir themes. I think this is a great short effort from such a small indie developer and I hope they continue to improve their craft.

Desert of Vice is a text-based adventure game that draws inspiration from Lovecraftian literature. Karolis Dikcius and Co. work to create a strange, unwelcoming world that is shrouded in mystery-- a mystery that is slowly discovered depending on which ending/choice we may choose. However, with that said, a large portion of this game feels more like a kinetic novel. A kinetic novel that drags its own story down given how there isn't a convenient way to save the game to get these slightly different endings. While some of these endings can differ very greatly from each other in terms of fleeing versus running away, the separate endings blur together given the mechanic of having to type all of the same text out each play-through. With that said, I think the story and style of Desert of Vice is still compelling for those looking for a short story to read/type through. Given the relatively cheap price, interesting designs, as well as the added bonus of an easy 100%, I can only recommend this game despite these possible cons.

I wish there was a "neither recommended nor not recommended" way to review. Having played text-based games a lot in the past (I got the babel fish!) I'm used to text based games that were written to have a lot of options. Get the thing, look at the thing, open the thing, combine the thing, look at the room, etc. Lots and lots of that. Unfortunately, Desert of Vice is very limited. There are a handful of choices, frequently (as another reviewer said) you have to type "hint" just to find out what they all are, as you're not going to guess them - and it's not like there are dozens. There are usually just 3 or 4 things to do, or less. It's less a game and more a slightly interactive story, and unfortunately without choices it didn't hold my interest well enough. I think it's a very good start, and a good idea for a game, and it's atmospheric - that's what pulled me in, but as a game it needed to be fleshed out more. I don't know how many endings there are, but it couldn't hold my interest to make it to them since my choices seemed mostly moot. The mood and the preview make it seem like it should be really, really good, a clever little gem, but unfortunately as someone who's p…

The game is way good in its simplicity of playing. Easy access and fluent game progress without anything that might make you get stuck. The story and narration way are classic lovecraftian style, a bit plain but fairly well. I got an Ending 3, but I don't have time for more endings.

Great stuff! I really like the story, the visuals and music. There are six endings and they are all good and not too hard to get. I got ending "V" (five) in my first run. What I did not like as much was the single save system (although you can copy the save file in the %AppData% folder as suggested by the [url=https://steamcommunity.com/app/796370/guides/] guides [/url] ) and having to type everything even though there are few input options and the wording can be somewhat specific, forcing you to frequently type "hint". Often when a game makes you write it's because there are many input options and discovering those can be a fun puzzle, here I feel it's more just to set the tempo and vibes, more like a visual novel than a text adventure I guess. Giving the game's lenght those two things aren't really a problem, but they could be if it were much longer.

This entirely text based game, it is also short about 0.5 - 1.5 hours to beat The artwork is rather simplistic, giving the game the most basic of appearances. There is no animation in its place there is plain picture-by-picture transition. It follows simple rule, keep it simple A fantastic text adventure with an engaging plot, tense atmosphere, helpful hint system, and nonlinear gameplay (with six of endings). Important and minor decisions to make, and some ways that will sometimes lead to the same conclusion. For every gamer who like old-school text games, this is a must-have.