Kobayanshi Marooned
Platform: Mac, Windows
[Note: This game is available in Pay What You Want format, including free. If you enjoy this game, please support the developer who made it by paying them what you think is fair!]
Now is your final chance, Space Cadet, to become the space hero you've always wanted to be. All you have to do is pass the Captain's test and impress the most daring, heroic, and critical instructor in all the known galaxy, Captain Dirk Parsec. Kobayanshi Marooned, available in Pay What You Want format by Phil Hornshaw and Nick Hurwitch, is a sci-fi interactive fiction adventure that will have you attempting to pass the hardest test known to man to prove that you would be the phenomenal Star Captain you secretly always knew you would be. Well, more that likely what will happen in this Twine game, is you finding one horrific death after another while you laugh, because even though some of these deaths are quite gruesome they are spectacularly told in some of the most humorous ways, with nearly 30,000 words and 26 different endings, this is one space adventure you won't be forgetting any time soon.
Following Twine fashion, this game is played by reading and clicking on the green colored text for your choice. Each one leads to different branches that have their own unique end, or occasionally weave back into another branch. There are plenty of choices and endings, both good and bad. To undo a choice, you can easily hit the back arrow in your browser, and the makers of the game encourage you to use this "cheat" as much as you want. Clearly from the premise of the game, and even from the name of the famous Dirk Parsecs, this game does borrow a lot from the Star Trek franchise, which makes it one of the better satires I've read in a long while. But even if you're not familiar with the show there, is still a lot here that will have you chuckling under your breath. I haven't had a game make me laugh out loud in a long time, but Kobayanshi Marooned caused those around me to give me odd looks more than a few times. If you enjoy this read, but found it too short, you're in luck because there is also a book it is based from. So if you need a good laugh or want to try your best to save the galaxy, look no further than here.
Windows:
Get the full version
Mac OS X:
Get the full version
This was a lot of fun and a really well imagined parody of Star Trek. The amount of spelling and grammatical errors really detracted from the experience, though.
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