IF Comp Review: Duel

Hello, all and sundry! For the next couple weeks I'm going to be reviewing a game from this year's IF Comp every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Up next, it's piato's Duel.

Duel is a short dark fantasy story about a creepy magical fight. Though the beginning is a bit confusing, gradually you learn that this is a world where memories of important things, people, and events can be weaponized through magic, and naturally most of those memories are bad. Like, really, horrifyingly bad. Duel isn't quite a horror story, because the focus is centered squarely on the magician's duel, but it certainly isn't something you'd recommend to a friend with a lot of squicks.

The gameplay itself is actually quite simple: you and your opponent take turns casting memory spells; because all your opponent's spells have a set order, solving Duel is bit like solving a grow-game puzzle, where the right action (or inaction) at the right moment is the key to victory. I checked the walkthrough to win, but managed to bring the fight to a stalemate on my own. (As an aside: I found the final action in the winning ending to be rather obscure about just what was going on. I think one memory killed the other, or maybe merged with her? Anyway, I suppose it's not really important in the grand scheme of things.)

Conclusion: ( Click for verdict )