Fool!

This was a lot of fun, and definitely worth the price for all the hours of fun and content you can get out of it. Most of the characters are interesting enough to make you care about them, and the variety of choices leaves you a lot of options, so you rarely feel like a complete failure. Hail didn't want to romance me and I died a virgin, which is a damn tragedy, but I did get the companionship of a monkey and the respect of the people and royalty alike, so I'll take it. Overall, I would highly recommend this to anyone with an interest in medieval times, RPGs and/or text-based adventure games. Also, I refuse to believe that our character finding a broken down cart wasn't a Cicero reference.

Some scenes are brilliantlly written, but that's all. The stat system of this game just makes everything so easy that you can pass every skill checks by developing three core skills. Romance is trash and I'm already being kind saying this. You cannot make any meaningful connections with literally anyone, even your monkey and non-romance options! Some characters you encountered will never return in the later part of the game which makes you wonder the point of some interactions and numerous relationship stats. And on to the LGBT issue, yes everyone should be equal and all that. As a non-binary person myself, I still don't care for the idea of "throwing gender neutral character at you and just suck it". We should have the option to choose the gender of some characters (male, female, trans, non-binary). And spoiler warning and literal warning, a certain "prinxe" character is just a trap for any player who wants to aim high. Yes, "they" are not Mx. Right; they are just another spoiled brat who wants to just shirk their responsibilities and acts on their whims. I feel that this is a very bad game written by a well-learned and talented author whose archaic-style writings are just too much of a chore to read (or just for non-native-English-speaker like me).

Reviewing (mostly) every game (or DLC) in my library, part 552: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆☆ (8/10) What a lovely gem. Wow. [i]Fool![/i] is just pure fun. As you might imagine, you play as a fool. Not an idiot, no, but a real true court fool: a licensed troublemaker in motley, armed with wit instead of steel, free to say what everyone else is thinking and survive precisely because no one quite takes you seriously. You tumble through courtly intrigue, bad decisions, and sharp dialogue where you can become the Royal Family's trusted advisor or stir up the rabble. While light on the romance, and with a slightly confusing stat system, [i]Fool![/i] is such a joy to read. [b][h2]Pros:[/h2][/b] ✅[b] Early Modern English/Shakespearean English[/b]. Not only is the style eye-catching, but [i]Fool![/i] is wonderfully written. My high school English teacher always me Shakespeare was meant to be said aloud instead of read. Now I understand why! Ben Rovik employs a slightly inverted sentence structure—verbs arriving late, clauses unfolding before their point becomes clear—which is just odd enough you're forced to slow down and cherish the prose. As strange as it sounds, Rovik's prose is downright musical. Long, winding clauses build momentum—then snap shut with a short, blunt phrase. Elevated diction stretches the line; a plainspoken or cynical ending cuts it clean. The vocabulary itself is tuned for sound. Early Modern English favors strong stresses, hard consonants, and vowel-heavy words. Alliteration, internal rhyme, and parallel phrasing show up constantly. Constantly!!! For example, I've picked this paragraph for your reading pleasure. If you struggle with this paragraph, know the rest of the game is in this style, if not more dense: [spoiler]"However, your father discovered that some quirk of moisture, minerals, and sunlight makes your acreage suited to bumper crops of deadly nightshade, crab's eye, foxglove, and more of nature's fatal foliage. Ever enterprising, he established your farm as the premier supplier of thoroughly toxic vegetation to all the nobly minded souls in the region with interest in such things: physicians, game hunters, and natural philosophers. When pressed on whether or not he was also likely supporting Brenton's assassins, murderers, horse-thieves, and suicides, he was wont to answer, "Don't mind who they are, long as their coins clink." The clinking of coins being notably connected, of course, to salvation in the hereafter."[/spoiler] ✅[b] Plot balance.[/b] As one might imagine from a royal fool, you'll have to deal with court gossip, politics from neighboring lands, and discontent. Each issue gets its own chapter(s) to shine, and every path given seems well-balanced. Some IFs sometimes show their hand by supporting revolution, but I'm glad I choose to play as a loyal monarchist and was rewarded for it. ✅[b] Ape companion.[/b] Destiny truly is unpredictable. Tell me why I was traveling in a cart and adopted an ape because no one else wanted him. Tell me why I befinded this ape and taught him tricks! Tell me why I made him by best bud and taught him tricks. [b][h2]Mixed:[/h2][/b] 🟨 [b] Stat system[/b]. First, you have two main stat bars: Blood/Melancholy and Phlegm/Bile. These are explained with a sentence each. Second, there's also five skills you have: Wit, Conditioning, Repertoire, Sagacity, or Stagecraft. Third, you have four bars for your Reputation: Renown, Knavery, Bawdiness, and Surety. The problem is these two stat systems aren't explained. By the end of the game, I knew what Bawdiness was, but not if it had consequences to being high. Was it better to keep it low, completely? Additionally, the stat checks themselves are difficult to parse. Sometimes, I thought a choice would test my Wit, but it tested my Sagacity instead. Lastly, there's a new bent to the aptitude system. While your skills determine success or failure, in some cases, your mood determines the overall outcome. So, if your attitude doesn't align with what you say, it'll color the action and could count as a fail, even if you have a high percentage. So for example, I have a high Blood stat over Melancholy. If during a check, I choose calm, stoic dialogue, I would fail because I have 60% Blood. It's interesting! You may want to take stranger decisions just because they are "in-character" and therefore more likely to succeed. However, at times I did feel constrained. It doesn't help I wasn't certain what each choice would check. [b][h2]Cons:[/h2][/b] 🟥[b] Not recommend for beginners.[/b] I adore the dialect, but the Shakespearean English may be off putting at times. The medieval dialect is a little hard to understand sometimes, but it really helps with immersion. I personally had to look up quite a few words, and even the good ole context clues didn't help much. 🟥[b] Little/confusing romance.[/b] I'm still not sure how many romance options there technically are. Four, perhaps. I romance Aubrey, a maid, and it was fine? We exchanged banter, kisses, and hurried rendezvous, but that was literally it. No character development, no actual talking, just ... some click to romance buttons. There's also Tom Fletcher, the male equivalent, who works as a stablehand or blacksmith of some sort. There was one introduction scene with him, and he pretty much disappeared from the narrative. There's Gwendell, your rival, but the lock-in point of the romance comes rather late. And finally, my biggest problem, Prinxe Hail. I had a high relationship with them. I impressed them [spoiler]after their argument with the king, and choose to run away with them, even![/spoiler] So when trying to kiss them twice, I got rejected—both times! What the hell? It was in a very humiliating way, as well. This is not a game where being rejected is an interesting narrative or design choice; it just feels like somehow I chose the "wrong" option (while somehow having a high relationship). [hr] If you enjoyed this review, please check out my curator page to find more: [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45814768-Verdict-Play-or-Pass/]Verdict: Play or Pass. [/url] Also, please leave a like and visit [url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/Indie_Gems]IndieGems[/url] and our YouTube channel for more reviews like this one. [/hr]

My thumb is up, with a bit of an asterisk. Fool is an extremely well written game. While the Shakespearean English was a bit of a turn-off, I got used to it quickly, and it provided a bit of charm. The game does a good job of making you feel like your choices matter (for the most part, more on that later), and as long as you make your stat checks, it does a good job of making you feel like you are making the right decision, no matter what path you take. The stats are moderately clear, though some of the relationship stats seem to be pretty meaningless. The overall plot is pretty uneven. Each Act works well as a self-contained piece, but some elements are much more entertaining than others. I’ll do my best to keep this spoiler free, but the ending I got on my first playthrough was a huge downer and probably tainted my thoughts on the game as a whole. I don’t know if I strayed too far off the planned path or what, but I got an ending that was basically, “You died off screen and nobody cared.” Really unsatisfying based on how much the game had been rewarding my play to that point, and how nothing about the plot to that point had indicated that my choice was “wrong.” Though I will say that the post-death scene was enjoyable. Pluses: + Very well written + Wordplay is very clever and meets the expectations of the subject matter + Rewards your choices for the most part Minuses: - Some plot points work better than others - Some of the stats don’t actually seem to have any bearing on the plot - Unexplained, unpreventable deaths for choosing the “wrong” option break the plot Overall, I’d recommend the game. It’s enjoyable and clever. Hopefully you won’t have the same issues with it I had.

It's particularly well-written with a colorful vocabulary fitting for the time period it portrays. Two things that irked me: personality stats and the ending. The personality stats, as is a problem with many ChoiceScript games, force you to lean towards one trait or the other if you wish to enjoy success on certain choices. For example, the game has a stat for Blood/Melancholy. Now certain situations the game presented made me feel optimistic while others had me worry. Responding accordingly didn't feel rewarding as it seems no choices favored having balanced Blood/Melancholy. The ending felt a bit lackluster. Of course the game isn't so grand that it will have you slay dragons or save the world but it lacked some sort of decisive epilogue that would tell the tales and legends left behind by your character. Despite the high renown and top-rank position my Fool ended up with, the last bits of the game said little more than, "You did it! Congratulations!" Despite those bits, I highly recommend giving it a shot. It's good fun, a quality read, decent length, and has ample branching narratives.

I am just, a sexy little clown, roving around with my toned body and my ape, having a grand old time

Only one playthrough but the writing was phenomenal. I could do without the humor (two bars with a spectrum of Phlegm-Bile and Blood-Melancholy) system and sometimes it was a bit vague which skill was necessary, but overall one of my favorite CoG games. Update: two playthroughs later, I'd say I got 80% of my enjoyment from my first run which was like 4-5 hours. It's honestly up in the top tier of my favorite CoG games because the writing raised the bar, it was great to read.

God, I've played this for almost 6 hours, just today??? This game is very, very hard lol. I've had to restart multiple times because I hated seeing that minus attribute or minus character favor. It's really killer that the choices program doesn't allow for saving because that would've (heh) saved me some time. The writing seems a bit hard to understand at first, but you get used to it. I can easily see playing this for hours more, just playing as different types of jesters/fools. Absolutely hilarious going the route of stagecrafting performer because all the corresponding answers were sometimes a bit unbelievable (in the best way possible). Situation occurs: insert random crafting answer that somehow solves the problem, if your crafting skills are high enough. Some plot points and characters just kinda... veer off and disappear into the void. But the story is very enjoyable even with those awkward moments. Haven't tried everything yet, looking forward to playing again in the future. PurpleRibbon's review is pretty legit for how my routes went down so far lol. This story prioritizes the life of The Fool and the politics that ensue, over the romance, so IF YOU WANT ROMANCE, DO NOT LOOK FOR IT IN THIS GAME. If you like medieval stuff (wondering what the life of a fool might be like) and aren't turned off by old English, I would highly recommend this.

Don’t get me wrong, this game has a lot of problems. -The world is blunt and non-original (basically late medieval/early Renaissance Europe); -Elizabethan English, in which it is written, adds little even to atmosphere, but makes reading it a chore; -Author’s attempts to insert his LBGTQ+P^HX*_insert_letter-friendly ideology over what essentially is a late medieval Europe are laughably at best – and immersion breaking at worst (Really?.. ”Prinxe”?..REALLY?!..); -Stat system is somehow both overly simplistic and incomprehensively complicated (It took me up to an endgame to understand that to play a “wise jester” stereotype I really need not “Sagacity”, but “Repertoire”; swearing and restarting game at this point was particularly…unpleasant); -And, probably worst of all, there is a lot of times then you feel more like a modern clown (a paid entertainer, who should entertain without crossing certain borders), not a “jester”, let alone “fool” (archetypical trickster, who’s JOB is to break social borders). So… why, despite all of this, I’m still giving it a thumb up? …because of a caravan cart on a rainy road. Cart which a lonely fool, just “gifted”(sold, essentially) to the king must share with a scared monkey, held in cage. That moment when this to lonely souls connected, touched each - other almost overwhelmed me; it will remain with me for the rest of my days. I cared more for this god-forsaken monkey then about the fate of kings and kingdoms; trained him and played with him despite at the expanse of building relationship with «prinxe» that was supposed to be my best friend and romantic interest. Yeah, it was foolish; but if this game taught me anything –it is that “being foolish” sometimes mean "being right"

Fool! is easily one of the more interesting concepts I've come across in all my experiences in Choice of Games. The language is well attuned and helps me to settle in nicely with the medieval setting. I found the characters to be quite interesting, but most surprisingly I found myself liking the protagonist a lot more than expected (which is odd, considering that it's meant to be me). The only parts that made the experience a bit more dull was the lack of connection between the player and the other characters, [spoiler] especially for one of the endings with your primate friend.[/spoiler] The fact that it was pretty easy to breeze through the game by focusing on a few stats was also another meh aspect as the choices were quite straightforward and obvious as to what they would do, so as a veteran player, it was a bit of a shame. However, that is not to discredit the game whatsoever, and honestly I would give this game a solid 9/10. Overall, If you're new to these types of games then buckle up for an adventure because this game will definitely consume a few hours of your life (granted that you'll be hooked enough to replay, of course).