Attic of the Underdogs

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Review by Underdogs:

Letters from Home is a fun puzzle-intensive IF based on the English lexicon. Similar to other puzzle-heavy IF such as The Magic Toyshop, the plot is virtually nonexistent. But also similar to the best of the breed, puzzles in Letters from Home are ingenious enough to keep you playing without a plot.

You start the game with no idea of what you are supposed to do, but soon it becomes clear that the real point of the game is collecting the 26 letters of the English alphabet by finding things that represent or resemble them in some way. For example, you find a cup of tea, which represents the letter T. The game is a bit similar to Nord and Bert in that the gameworld doesn’t follow the law of physics—rather, it is based on surreal, language-based puns that are internally consistent. Most of these puzzles are fun, and a few are quite remarkable. The writing is adequate throughout, although there are some awkward descriptions that make the puzzles too ambiguous.

Letters from Home is definitely longer than the 2-hour limit rule of the IF competition. Some of the 26 puzzles require multiple steps to solve, and clues are not generously given. With a world where everything keeps turning into letters of the alphabet, and abstract concepts like letters can be carried around in your inventory, Letters from Home will keep you entertained for a few hours it takes to solve it. Although as a language-related game it pales beneath the superior Ad Verbum, Letters from Home has a lot of personality and unique touches to stand out on its own. Two thumbs up!

Reviews and game data © Home of the Underdogs
Screenshots © The Good Old Days