My first experience with text adventures (I refuse to say “interactive fiction” damnit!) was with a game called The Boggit on the ZX Spectrum (no not Hobbit, Boggit!) It was the standard “find the sword of sharp pointy death and defeat the dragon of burning arses” fare and this was the yardstick with which I judged all text adventures from then on. I naturaly assumed that they would all be goblins and orcs and beardy senile wizards - ie slightly mundane.

A Mind Forever Voyaging has destroyed any preconceptions that I had.

Written by one of the text adventure industry’s best authors, Steve Meretsky, AMFV casts you as a sentient computer in the 21st century. In a troubled age of economic ruin and widespread decay, it is your job to enter a simulation baed around a test plan aimed towards a more properous future. The first two-thirds of the game involve exploring this simulated world and interacting with it to gather information, and features some of the most detailed and involving writing that you will ever find in a text adventure. Ultimately you will be encouraged to question not only the world around you, but also the very nature of your existance. It is not until the end of the game that you will encounter any puzzles per se, but you will be too swept up in the exploration parts and the underlining story to care.

Featuring one of the most amazing endings to a game that I have ever encountered and some truly astonishing writing, AMFV will captivate you in way that few computer games can.

A fantastic game, heartily recommended.

Related Links

• MobyGames: A Mind Forever Voyaging (AKA Prism)
  Read all about it on MobyGames.
• Wikipedia: A Mind Forever Voyaging (AKA Prism)
  Read all about it on Wikipedia.