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Wishbringer is probably the most underrated game to have sprung from the
fertile imagination Brian "Professor" Moriarty, of Loom fame. In contrast with
Moriarty's earlier philosophical classic Trinity, Wishbringer is a whimsical,
light-hearted fantasy game designed with IF beginners in mind. You begin as a mail
clerk in the Festeron Post Office, who is sent to deliver a letter to the Magick
Shoppe at the other end of town. When you leave the Shoppe you discover that its
owner has slipped you the Wishbringer stone, and that the town of Festeron has changed
into a dark caricature of itself called Witchville. As you explore, you find that the
former items and occupants of the town have transformed into twisted alter egos of
themselves. Naturally, your mission is to defeat the Evil One and your boss, Mr.
Crisp, and to transform the town back into Festeron, with the help of the Wishbringer
stone, some friendly platypii, and your own raw wits. In keeping with it being a
"beginner's game," the puzzles are very easy, and most of them have multiple solutions,
solvable either through reasoning, or using the Wishbringer stone to wish for some
sort of aid. The stone has limitations, however: if you rely too much on the wishes,
you may fail to acquire items that you may need to solve later puzzles. As in
Moriarty's other works, the town of Festeron is vividly depicted in detailed
descriptions, full of colorful and unique characters. While the puzzles are easy,
they are not typical - the solutions to many of them are quite creative, even when
solved with the Wishbringer stone. In the end, Wishbringer is one of the most fondly
remembered games among die-hard Infocom fans, although it remains relatively unknown
to the masses (despite sharing the same fantasy world as the immensely popular Zork
trilogy). If you are a novice IF fan and prefer a "gentle" game that you can play
leisurely without worrying about grues lurking in the shadows, or if you have never
played an IF before and want to be introduced to the fabulous world of interactive
fiction, it's the perfect choice. |
