The Road to Canterbury

[Jolor]

The Road to Canterbury is a text-based adventure written by Kate Heartfield. It is a Nebula nominee in the inaugural category of Game Writing. She also has a nomination this year in the Novella category for 'Alice Payne Arrives' which I'm looking forward to reading.

For reference, the rest of this year's Nebula nominees are here.

I just downloaded the game and it was good fun in the limited time that I played it. Looking forward to a few runs to see how varied the outcomes are based on my different choices.

[Holman]

Thanks for the heads up!

I have no idea how good this might be, but I teach portions of Chaucer every couple of years, so I'm game.

[Jolor]

Oh. Really interested in your feedback, then, if you decide to give it a go.

[Holman]

I picked it up and just dabbled a little bit, and I like what I see.

It's a "choose your own adventure" text format, so it feels like a written exercise rather than a videogame. It's clear that the team is dedicated to the writing, and there's a lot of it.

This means original writing. Nothing is an automatic and bolted-on copy of Chaucer's text. It's all fresh and modern, though clearly and consciously inspired by the Canterbury Tales. If you're looking for an exercise in Chaucerian English, this isn't it, but the game is clearly dedicated to the social and character elements of Chaucer's tales, and I'm right there with it.

[Jolor]

Thanks for your comments. I just finished my (first) play-through tonight. I really liked the way the game was structured; not sure why it qualified for a Nebula as I don't think it's SF&F but I do agree that the writing is noteworthy.