To Be or Not To Be

Humor is hit and miss, but the creativity is commendable. I was planning to unlock all the artworks 'til I saw how many there is.

It is literally a choose-your-own-adventure book with narration. No animation or real gameplay, and it looks like it was a mobile game at one point. I would totally play this on a mobile. It is short and worth some laughs and giggles, but as a PC game, it just is not enough

It's not as funny as it thinks it is. Which could be okay, but the problem is that trying to get all the endings means sitting through the same dialogue trees over and over and over again, remembering to choose option C instead of B in choice 5001 after doing everything else right because for some reason it doesn't allow you to go back to specific choices, only 'chapters.' It's poorly designed and I would sit through the less than great humor if not for that.

This game reminded me of the books I used to read when I was a kid. I remember one about Dumbo and another about a princess (I think), and in both you had to choose what was going to happen next. Maybe that was the beginning of my love for the "choose your own adventure" type of games? In any case, Ryan North's version of Hamlet is a very fun way to learn about the story (in a general and "friendly" way, of course) while enjoying changing it at same time. If you don't like reading (or having someone read to you, if you turn on the narrator's voice, which I recommend because his voices are really fun to listen to) then this game isn't for you. However, I do recommend it if you are a completionist who wants to have all achievements/endings~

.

is this supposed to be funny?

Just as fun as I had expected this to be! As someone who has never read/watched Hamlet, I really appreciate the 'canon' options being marked, so you can speedrun a Shakespeare play.

I had fun with this, Shakespearian shenanigans indeed! It's a lot of reading and absurdist humor. Every now and then, after the game rewarded you for a wild choice, it will punish you quickly for the next wild choice, and... well, there's a lot of death and dying involved there. I suppose death and dying is sort of its own reward in this game, though, as every time you find a new way to die, you get to see another piece of illustrated art, and if you feel like it you can try filling up the whole art gallery! (I don't feel like it, that's too much work.) You also get art pieces when you reach an end, SOMEHOW, where you don't die! The deaths definitely feel more frequent, though. I do think there is, at the base, an appreciation for the original (stolen) work of Hamlet in this. It sure refreshed my memory of what happens in that play, in a way I think I will never forget.

[h1] Excellent adaptation of a very funny Choose Your Own Adventure book [/h1] Unlike other Tin Man Games based on Gamebook Adventures or Fighting Fantasy, this one doesn't require any dice rolls (or does it?). It's a book where you decide the fate of Hamlet/Ophelia/Hamlet Sr. by selecting between various choices to advance in the story. The "default" Shakespearan story can be easily discovered thanks to a system of specific choice/decision highlighted with a skull but the beauty of this book is to go nuts and make crazy choices. It's not serious at all, it often breaks the fourth wall but this is what you wanted, hopefully... It's more of a reading thing and less a game, unless you want to try to reach all the endings (of which there's a lot due to the craziness of the author and his ease to derail the story). It's actually very well done and some part might end up repetitive but each characters' story, as well as the various branching stories are quite different and make for an enjoyable read. It is very well done, unlike older Tin Man Game titles which can appear more dated. It looks based on the same engine as the revised Appointment with F.E.A.R. The music also is quite good and match well the sequence that you are reading whenever it changes. Actually there are some sound effects which spice up even the "game"! All in all, I recommend this to any Ryan North's fans, as well as people who enjoy funny, cleverly written comedic stories. The presentation of the app is very well done and supplement well the original book.

only good for art and music. i got this because it had steam cards "checkpoint" save system forces you to read from the beginning every time. no chat log, so you have to click past each text box rather than simply scrolling. game broke art unlock and Haml-O-Meter ranking my first session. clicking too fast also put the Haml-O-Meter onscreen permanently. fixed after relaunching the game. pretentious narration will make you sleepy. constantly rambles on tangents and mocks you for choosing something different from Shakespeare. painfully linear, mostly two choices available.