"Listen"
Once the System was ruled in wisdom by the Counsel of Power. However, some of the powers rebelled, and the counsel became divided. War tore apart the System, until the rebellious Powers were defeated and imprisoned, and the remaining powers started healing the System.
At least, that's how the legend goes. Unfortunately, the System is in dire shape right now, and none of the Powers are around to fix it. The player character, a young red shape, decides to leave home and bring back and old Powers.
System's Twilight: an Abstract Fairy Tale is a puzzle game written by Andrew Plotkin. It's inspired by Cliff Johnson's games The Fool's Errand and 3 in Three, with new puzzles and an inventory system.
This game provides examples of:
- All There in the Script: Ift's name isn't mentioned anywhere in the game until the author's notes in the epilogue.
- Broken Bridge: Many scenes require you to complete different scenes before you can pass them. Most of the time this is as simple as collecting the right item and bringing it to the right scene. The inverter is actually used as a tool inside a specific type of puzzle.
- Collector of the Strange: The Tale of the Reclaimer involves a man who buys anything anyone offers to sell him: books, broken glass, rags, illnesses, emotions...
- Fusion Dance: When you finally reach the Counsel of Powers, you have to combine the two sides of each power.
- Give Me Your Inventory Item: There are parts of the game where you're not allowed to proceed until you give someone the item they want.
- Guest-Star Party Member: Mazer joins you briefly in the net levels to help you through a maze full of doors that can only be passed by someone carrying the correct key.
- Metapuzzle: The game uses metapuzzles (usually based on logic and word play) to gauge the story's progression. The in-between puzzles that lead to their resolution are variants of classic puzzle games like Black Box and Sokoban. The solution for the ultimate puzzle is still difficult to figure out even with the obtained clues, however, as it's unexpected Paradiegetic Gameplay.
- Mobile Maze: Some of the puzzles require to reach the other side of a maze that changes each time the player makes a move.
- Moon Logic Puzzle: The final puzzle is to reboot the system by quitting and reopening the game but requires a giant leap of intuition since there are no hints given and most (if not all) game guides only partially reference the solution. Or, more likely, you get frustrated by it to the point where you Rage Quit in mid-puzzle, thus solving it accidentally.
- No Name Given: The player character's name is never mentioned.
- Paradiegetic Gameplay: Normally, you wouldn't consider the quit button to be a part of the gameplay of a game, but it's important to solving the final puzzle.
- Puzzle Reset: Most puzzles can be restarted, preventing the game itself from becoming unwinnable.
- Two Girls to a Team: Of the ten characters the player meets, only Yjerle and Rosshi are identified as female.
- Unexpectedly Realistic Gameplay: In the finale, you reboot the system by closing and reopening the game.
- Unwinnable by Design: Most of the swamp and river levels have a trap where you can use the wrong word to get past a gate. This will make the puzzle unwinnable, forcing it to be restarted.
- Who Dares?: Weykent demands to know who dares to disturb him when first met. He's actually helpful once he finishes waking.
