Fool!

Reviewing (mostly) every game (or DLC) in my library, part 552: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆☆ (8/10) What a lovely gem. Wow. [i]Fool![/i] is just pure fun. As you might imagine, you play as a fool. Not an idiot, no, but a real true court fool: a licensed troublemaker in motley, armed with wit instead of steel, free to say what everyone else is thinking and survive precisely because no one quite takes you seriously. You tumble through courtly intrigue, bad decisions, and sharp dialogue where you can become the Royal Family's trusted advisor or stir up the rabble. While light on the romance, and with a slightly confusing stat system, [i]Fool![/i] is such a joy to read. [b][h2]Pros:[/h2][/b] ✅[b] Early Modern English/Shakespearean English[/b]. Not only is the style eye-catching, but [i]Fool![/i] is wonderfully written. My high school English teacher always me Shakespeare was meant to be said aloud instead of read. Now I understand why! Ben Rovik employs a slightly inverted sentence structure—verbs arriving late, clauses unfolding before their point becomes clear—which is just odd enough you're forced to slow down and cherish the prose. As strange as it sounds, Rovik's prose is downright music…

It's extremely fun. Wish the author didn't include so much writing about the ape, though. That thing's gonna rip my face off, don't make me hug it.

This game has actually been really inspiring! I´ve been trying to write a book about a jester for three years now and there was nothing I could actually point to and say “Yeah, I want my story to be a little like that!” Now I have that and it´s wonderful <3 In my defence, it´s hard not to be inspired when the game is this good. There´s so many paths you can take, the story is consistently funny and I have very rarely seen tension executed so well. My only critique is that the text itself is quite hard to understand at times- for a non-native English speaker. I´m familiar with using a dictionary with anything I read but that won´t help me with understanding what the sentence itself is trying to communicate. Thankfully, the game has been quite forgiving so far. It really helps that it´s just extremely well written. It always makes me giddy when I look at a paragraph and see no sentence that I would cut for brevity. Everything has a purpose and the story respects the players time. Wonderful! I have so much respect for the writers/writer. If I could force people to buy it on mass, I would. Great game, I recommend it wholeheartedly <3

was looking to become a funny little jester and got a monkey companion along the way, destiny truly is unpredictable!! some pros: - [b]Very interesting story!![/b] The fool is constantly on the move [i](whether for better or for worse)[/i] so if you love text-based games and dynamic stories definitely give this a try!! - [b]You can try to romance and befriend a lot of folks[/b] and that's all my little gay heart needed <3 Some characters have more spotlight and leave the scene faster than others, the story [b]is[/b] about the fool's path to greatness, so if you want to romance someone you can't waste time ;) (and you gotta trust in your choices) - [b]There really is a lot of choices. Like oh my god.[/b] There's a lot of possibilities for different playthroughs and it really makes you wonder about the things you could have done differently. This is definitely the type of game you can keep playing over and over and still find new routes, interactions and outcomes!! :DD some cons: - The [b]old english[/b] may be off putting at times, i feel like if english isn't your native language you'll have more trouble understanding what's happening (personally i had to look up words more ofte…

It's difficult to find good interactive fiction with positive reviews, but Fool deserves more notice. The skill system is new and interesting- your aptitude determines success or failure, but more generally your mood determines the overall outcome- if your attitude doesn't align, it'll color the action and could swing negative even if you had the skill. This creates interesting situations where based on how you've played, you may want to take riskier decisions just because they are "in-character" and therefore more likely to succeed. That's something I haven't seen before, and I love it. The setting and focus is also refreshing- I think it's one of two stage-oriented stories on Steam. A good use of two and a half hours for a first play, and well worth the money. There is definitely enough branching for additional plays although achieving specific outcomes may take some thinking.

One of the weaker ones...At what I thought would be about halfway is the ending. Generally speaking the whole thing is...fine. I'd say even $5 is a bit rich considering that;s the same cost as something new like Whiskey Four....