Absurdly ambitious, Mindwheel fully suceeds as a literary work and fails miserably as a game. Pinsky's writing is evocative and memorable, and matches well the very intense surreal atmosphere - but he said he had difficulty conceptualizing the idea of "puzzles", which are forced into the story, and consist almost exclusively of riddles or completing words in a poem. Such words are even disclosed by the game, if you ask (in the right places), so it's not really compelling the player to *play*. The reader is supposed to just follow the story and unfold it through interaction. A brave attempt to push boundaries, but boundaries break if they are pushed too far.
Absurdly ambitious, Mindwheel fully suceeds as a literary work and fails miserably as a game. Pinsky's writing is evocative and memorable, and matches well the very intense surreal atmosphere - but he said he had difficulty conceptualizing the idea of "puzzles", which are forced into the story, and consist almost exclusively of riddles or completing words in a poem. Such words are even disclosed by the game, if you ask (in the right places), so it's not really compelling the player to *play*. The reader is supposed to just follow the story and unfold it through interaction. A brave attempt to push boundaries, but boundaries break if they are pushed too far.