Varicella

Pretty cool game.
I'm usually not good at these interactive things, but this one was really cool.

Wow, pretty good choice. Quick, too, the game is only 9 years old! Still as great as the day it came out.

I'm using Firefox, and I can't get the game to work in JIG. I click on the black screen, and it does nothing. Am I incredibly dense?

The IF interpreter linked to in the review above is Flash, so you'll need the latest Flash Player installed.

Flash Player works in any browser, including Firefox.

http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/

I'm playing on firefox and it works fine

I love this game so much that I actually started writing a review for it, but stopped as I felt I couldn't fully do justice to it. (This review did a really good job).

The game and the world it is set in are captivating and playing the game really feels like exploring a novel. That said, I do agree that it is almost impossible to complete without a walkthrough or hints.

If you enjoyed this game, I would strongly recommend that you play through the rest of Adam Cadre's games, as they're all spectacular (and all deserve their own reviews). In particular, Photopia is easily my favourite IF game. The shorter games I-0 and 9:05 are also excellent and a good introduction to IF for anybody.

Fantastic. This is one of my favorite IF games, and I'm glad to finally see a review here.

For those just starting: this game is HARD. It's possible to beat it without spoilers (I was *this* close, but overlooked something crucial that I thought I'd already tried), but it will take many, many, many attempts. But it's totally worth it for the satisfaction you get when you finally figure out how to solve one of the puzzles.

For those who enjoy this, or who almost did but would like something a bit easier, I strongly recommend Lock & Key, also by Cadre.

I played this game a few months ago, and never beat it. I loved the game, but it is impossible. Basically, if you aren't Superman, you (probably) aren't going to beat this game.

Varicella is one of the relatively few IF games I have completed without hints or a walkthrough.

To discover what needs to be done you have to play the game up to the time limit *many* times, spending time finding things out slowly, and only once you know what you are going to do, do it without aimless wandering around. Eg. once you discover the surveillance system, spend a bunch of run-throughs just using it to find out what happens where and when. (Or that was to the way I played it at least.)

It should be noted that this replaying is NOT as tedious as it may sound: the action evolves with each iteration as you learn more, and there is some nice rising action there as well.

Great game!

I can't get it to even start. I have the browser one up, and the title screen is there, but the cursor isn't. Is there something I'm missing? I have flash.

Title screen? I'm not sure what you're seeing, but here is what you should see once the game loads...

https://jayisgames.com/images/varicella-screen.png

Try clicking on the game screen before typing to give the Flash app focus.

La la la, getting my nails trimmed... Let's see if I can annoy my servant a bit.
'punch steward'
'With your bare hands? And ruin your manicure? Never!'
Hmm. I don't think I'll be able to knife him or anything... what can I do to protect my hands?
'kick steward'
'With your bare hands? And ruin your manicure? Never!'
:O You kick people with your hands? I did not know this.

all this talk about walkthroughs...
Could we get one?
Keep it loose, y'know. Nothing strict. Just some little nudges from parts where you completionists got stuck. (i.e. "look in the closet", or something)

This was really cool, I loved it

There are a number of walkthroughs (and probably 'hintthroughs') available. For example, here is the most concise walkthrough possible: http://www.hevanet.com/cristofd/varicella.txt .

While there, I also noticed that some kind soul had actually created a map for the game, as desired in the review: http://ifarchive.flavorplex.com/if-archive/mapping-tools/maps/varic.jpg

Aww... I was hoping someone would write a walkthrough for us to post here rather than referring people elsewhere. ;_;

My personal favorite! Characters are brilliant

On the walkthrough, what does it mean when it says guard because it doesn't work. Ah! I'm sorry, I had to resort to the walkthrough because I died so many times and it gave me a headache. Please help! This game is awesome but, just beyond my knowledge

o the guard s didnt work, it says, that's not a recognized verb..?

I think that actually should be "guard,s"

So for the fun of it, I did that walk through. You end up dying. So I'm going to try to go through it and see what is messed up with it.

I would love for someone to write a decent walkthrough for JIG. ^_^

Commands structured as "(character), (instructive verb)" are usually used to tell the characters to go in that direction, so "guard, go south" or just "guard, south" would tell the guard to go in that direction. You could also do "guard, open door" or some such.

I don't have the time to go through Varicella again (I played it a few years ago) and make a walkthrough :( But I'd also love to see one here, simply because people using the walkthrough Wulfo linked would be losing *all the fun* of figuring at least some of the solutions on their own.

I remember having a lot of fun finding out who I should

particularly because I hadn't figured out how to off Bonfleche. A hint for anyone stuck in the same position:

I loved the part with the

I'm trying to figure out whether people are talking about my concise walkthrough. I don't see any other walkthrough being specified or linked...but the only place mine says "guard" is where it says "bribe guard". And mine does work--I just tested it again to make sure. (You may need to hit "return" at a couple points during the game, if text won't fit on your screen. But with a big enough window, this won't happen except at the very start and the very end.)

(In response to cheryll: I agree entirely. I didn't write this walkthrough for people who haven't played the game yet--it was more an invitation for those who have already finished to try playing it at a second level.)

That concise walkthrough features several faster ways to kill each person than the one I found. Here's a walkthrough with all the methods.

Wehrkeit:

Modo:

Bonfleche:

Prince Louis:

Rico:

The final challenge is doing this in the right order:

My final route, using the long ways:

My route can be definitely optimized some, but it worked.

I don't know if anyone looks here anymore, but I just found this game, and am really confused.
I don't think I've got the hang of IF yet- whenever I try to ask something I get told its "not in the room or beneath my concern", and I have trouble figuring out how to use or do things with objects.

Is there maybe a "beginner" IF game I could start with, until i get the hang of them?

Hi Nicole, give Adam Cadre's "9:05" a try. It's a game with multiple endings, and it's relatively short, so it's a good one to jump into as a beginner. Here's our review:
https://jayisgames.com/archives/2008/06/905.php

Also, you might give any of the other interactive fiction games a try that we have reviewed at JIG. Most of them have been shorter, more casual experiences:
https://jayisgames.com/tag/ifiction

Am I incredibly dense too? I can't get the game to work. I click on the black screen, and nothing happens. I installed the latest flash Player.

The window that the game opens in has the wrong title (in the header).

The title says "Leaflet....", probably a previous interactive fiction.

[Leaflet is the name of our internally-developed interactive fiction interpreter, which is used to run the game in a browser. -Jay]

Okay i finished the game twice but the ending i kept getting was Charles Terror begins and well you Varicella especially gets killed by him... Is there a better ending?

@JIGuest: Yes, there is a better ending, but it's an Easter Egg.

This was excellent. Tremendous attention to detail. Probably the best text adventure I have played since Infocom (and better than some of theirs).

It's hard but not quite too hard. I finished it without help (somehow).

I know this is a bit of an old review at this point (for an even older game), but I've just powered through this for an essay I'm writing, and I've never seen a game so satisfyingly click into place through repeated playthroughs.

Also, as for the surveillance system: