♦ Livestream of the ZZT world "ZZT: The House of Bob" by Leonard Richardson (1993) [https://museumofzzt.com/file/view/housebob/] ♦
(2:19) Gameplay begins
A look at the first of two worlds with heavy branding of the Da Warren BBS. Only the first game is covered today, as somewhat expected, with the sequel following next week.
What at first looks like it's going to be a typical Town-like quickly becomes something much more difficult to enjoy. Like some other games that start in Town-esque hubs, the non-linearity is an illusion, with the game requiring a very precise path to get through. That wouldn't be an issue, were it not for the fact that making progress in general requires a lot of non-conventional thinking.
The game likes to play tricks on players, with fake keys, hidden board exits, and puzzles where your first decision can make a board unwinnable, but not likely to be noticed for a few minutes. Boards start requiring you to shoot certain objects or touch them repeatedly to get them to finally do something else in order to proceed.
And to top it all off, it seems like the game is a bit buggy. There was one key I just could not find a way to collect, and looking at the code, it seems impossible to get, while also being necessary to complete the game.
When House of Bob isn't being mean to the player, it's got some expected early 90s humor. Evil yuppies, low-fat yogurt, fears of a democratic majority in congress (I'm not sure if that one was meant to be a joke actually).
It wound up being a game I had higher hopes for, being familiar with the author's final ZZT game "The Forests Will Echo With Laughter" is a much more charming and coherent world. Given this seems to be said author's first game, the more frustrating aspects shouldn't have been as much as a surprise as they were. Oh well, the game promises the sequel will be even better. I'm sure we'll see.
♦ Play this world directly in your browser ♦
• https://museumofzzt.com/file/play/housebob/
♦ Originally streamed on September 20th, 2024 ♦
