Poems & Codes

I really loved their other game, Prose and Codes, so it felt like a no-brainer to pick up this game next. I wanted to love it, I really did. Basic gameplay is the same. But there's one large difference that makes this a game I will probably never finish: Words that I do not know, and words that are not commonly used. For example, in one puzzle, by filling in other letters, you are left with _a_onwita. I had to look up the poem to learn the word is Yakonwita. I'd never heard of this word, or of this poem before. There are plenty of quotes in the other game that I hadn't heard of, but at least with those I was able to puzzle it out. This is frustrating in a very not-fun way.

[i]Poems & Codes[/i] ist nicht nur ein grundsolides Textentschlüsselungs-Spiel mit einer nostalgischen Atmosphäre, sondern viel mehr eine lyrische Entdeckungsreise und vor allem eine Liebeserklärung ans geschriebene Wort. Dunkelromantiker und Wortpuzzle-Fans werden hier also auf jeden Fall auf ihre Kosten kommen. Wie schon der Vorgänger ist [i]Poems & Codes[/i] nur in englischer Sprache verfügbar und auch wenn mMn wieder keine allzu komplizierten Texte ausgewählt wurden, ist dieses Spiel hier durch die blumige Wortwahl und die veränderte Satzstruktur um einiges schwieriger. Man sollte also besser etwas mehr als nur Schulenglischkenntnisse mitbringen. Aber keine Angst, denn feststecken kann man beim Rätseln nie. Anders als bei [i]Prose & Codes[/i] gibt es hier keine Limitierung des Hilfesystems und man kann sich so viele Buchstaben lösen lassen, wie man möchte. Natürlich hat man auch wieder die Auswahl aus 4 verschiedenen Schwierigkeitsgraden, die man auch jederzeit ändern kann. Auf Einfach sind bereits 6 Buchstaben gelöst, auf Mittel 3 Buchstaben und auf Schwer gibt es keine gelösten Buchstaben. Außerdem gibt es noch die Option, dass es mit jedem gelösten Text etwas schwieriger wird. Wenn man möchte, kann man nach dem Entschlüsseln noch raten, aus welchem Werk der Textausschnitt stammt. Auch ist es möglich, seine Favoriten mit einem Klick auf das Herz zu speichern und sich das vollständige Gedicht anzeigen zu lassen. Sollte die Neugier geweckt sein, gibt es auch eine direkte Weiterleitung zu der jeweiligen Gedichtsammlung auf der kostenfreien und ehrenamtlich geführten digitalen Bibliothek [i]Project Gutenberg[/i]. [u]Kaufempfehlung[/u]: 9,75€ für ein kleines Rätselspiel mögen sich auf den ersten Blick für den einen oder anderen etwas viel anhören, aber ich finde, dass [i]Poems & Codes[/i] das auf jeden Fall wert ist. Außerdem unterstützt man damit nicht nur ein Herzensprojekt von dem Entwicklerpaar, das hinter [i]Hero Game Co LLC[/i] steckt, sondern setzt sich auch für einen guten Zweck ein. 10% der Einnahmen gehen nämlich an das [url=https://gutenberg.org/]Project Gutenberg[/url]

Still a very smoothly implemented game, but not nearly as good as its predecessor. One of Prose & Codes' strengths is in the sheer variety of texts puzzles are drawn from. There are some repeated authors, but no two puzzles are from the same work. In contrast, Poems & Codes features up to 12 puzzles in a row all taken from the same poem. The repetition is tedious and makes the puzzles too simple, and the small number of total poets represented make the categories feel as samey as the puzzles within them. The game also adds some features to make the solving experience easier, such as defaulting to correct capitalization instead of all-caps, which feel wholly unnecessary given how many clues are included just from the repeating verses from stanza to stanza and puzzle to puzzle. The frustrating thing is how easy it is to imagine a version of this as solid as Prose & Codes—include more total poets overall and no more than one puzzle per poem, and the experience would be much more similar in both difficulty and novelty. That would also allow the use of shorter forms, like haiku, since each poem wouldn’t have to field a fifth or more of its category’s content. I don’t regret trying it at all, but unless you’re desperate for more after finishing Prose & Codes, give this one a pass. Editing in a response to the developer response: Yeah, I know. I'm not annoyed that normal capitalization is an option, just that it's the [i]default[/i] option given what a huge hint capitalization can be.

Прошёл еще одну игру от Hero Game Co LLC в коллаборации с Project Gutenberg. В данной игре представлены поэты золотого века (к сожалению нет русской поэзии, без неё на мой взгляд, золотой век представлен не в полной мере). МЫ находим здесь шедевры от Шелли, Шекспира, Блейка, Аллана По, Эмили Диксон, Милтона, Блейка и прочих. Если в Proses & Codes было порой сложно (но увлекательно) разгадывать строки из произведений, то здесь в легком режиме есть бесконечные подсказки. Если нет желания ломать себе голову, достаточно использовать подсказки, и наслаждаться чтением. Игра прекрасно оформлена. Под стать произведениям: прекрасные шрифты, великолепное оформление, фоны, ненавязчивая анимация, разбивка по темам, поэтам, произведениям. Игра не претендует на хардкор, и в этом её шарм. Она позволяет увлечь игрока в мир литературы, обрисовав новые горизонты познания. На сайте от Project Gutenberg можно найти бесплатно кучу книг. Правда, на английском. Но если вас заинтересует то, или иное произведение, то вы всегда можете найти его на родном языке, а позже прочесть в оригинале. Лично я люблю в оригинале Шекспира и Эдгара Аллана По. Если бы не кинематограф в своё время, и школьная программа, эти шедевры прошли бы мимо меня. А сегодня у игроков есть еще дополнительная возможность изучить всё это благодаря прекрасной игре. Подождите скидки, приобретите все две части, если душа тяготеет к подобному, вы не пожалеете. Гарантирую. -------------------------- I've completed another game from Hero Game Co LLC in collaboration with Project Gutenberg. This game features poets of the golden Age (unfortunately, there is no Russian poetry, in my opinion, the golden age is not fully represented without it). Here we find masterpieces from Shelley, Shakespeare, Blake, Allan Poe, Emily Dixon, Milton, Blake and others. If it was sometimes difficult (but fascinating) to unravel lines from works in Proses & Codes, then here in easy mode there are endless hints. If you don't want to puzzle yourself, it's enough to use hints and enjoy reading. The game is beautifully designed. To match the works: beautiful fonts, magnificent design, backgrounds, unobtrusive animation, breakdown by themes, poets, works. The game doesn't pretend to be hardcore, and that's its charm. It allows you to take the player into the world of literature, outlining new horizons of knowledge. You can find a bunch of books for free on the Project Gutenberg website. However, in English. But if you are interested in this or that work, then you can always find it in your native language, and later read it in the original. Personally, I love Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe in the original. If it hadn't been for cinema at the time, and the school curriculum, these masterpieces would have passed me by. And today, players have an additional opportunity to explore all this thanks to the wonderful game. Wait for the discount, buy all two parts, if your soul is attracted to this, you will not regret it. I guarantee it.

A game that scratches parts of my brain and makes them happy.

Nice to have a sequel, but I miss some of the interface features of the previous game. For example, you can no longer right-click on a letter to erase it, which is a bit of a pain when playing only with the mouse. I also liked the layout better of the old one, or rather, I had gotten accustomed to it, so the new buttons etc seem in 'the wrong place'. This is more understandable, that they may choose to lay it out differently, so I can overlook it, and assume I'll adjust. But it is a bit annoying when switching between the two games. I did love that right-click-erase feature though, so I'd beg for that to return in any future installments! Edited after playing further: The game has crashed on me twice, that is to say, the text has disappeared completely. The buttons also, but they still work if you click the spot they should be. In both cases I had to restart the game, but the progress of the cipher was saved. The font choice in this one isn't as good as the first game, it has odd spacing sometimes but more annoyingly, the italic nature of it means some letters are quite difficult to distinguish, like e and c. Also I dislike how the capitalization can 'give away' if a single letter is I vs a. The way the background fades in and out also is distracting and can cause contrast issues (I have been playing in Night Mode, which I'm happy to have the option to do, but maybe I'm not seeing the game at its best?) I had initially assumed that the poems would be harder to solve, as they may use less common words and poetic spellings. But it turns out those oddities actually make them easier to solve, since they're easily recognizable patterns. It's made easier still by the fact you're solving multiple stanzas of the same poem, and lines and phrases tend to repeat, so there are recognizable patterns there too. Whether this is a pro or con to you, depends on your own preferences. In conclusion, I love love love to have more ciphers to solve, but the previous game is far superior in terms of interface and stability. I'll still buy updates for both games (if they appear), partly to support Project Gutenberg, and partly because ciphers are still fun even if this incarnation, while 'fancier' with its moving background and more extensive author information, is still a downgrade as to usability and enjoyment (disappointing, as it's a sequel).

Fun and simple cipher puzzle to poke at. A relaxing way to unwind and get to read some poetry.

非常美的填诗游戏，画面清新好看，配乐宁静。每次玩这个的时候，心就从繁杂的人间事务中抽离开来，沉入诗歌的世界。用来学英语单词也是极好的，不过部分诗歌是古英语，就会很有难度，所以我一般开简单模式~这个游戏还有一个企划，大略看了一下，是收集各种电子书【不过好像全是英文版】，并对其进行校对，很有意义。推荐所有文艺青年游玩~

Through decoding the poetry, I feel it added a new way of appreciating the classic poems featured in game. Like, finding something meaningful through what appeared to be nonsense until viewed through a different lens.

Bought it to support the idea, but nowhere near near as good as the first installment.