A Gothic ghost story, Infocom's most recent mystery is a good novice/intermediate level game that stands out as the most replayable adventure ever. You are cast as an American private eye whom an old friend has asked to solve the mystery of a ghost apparently haunting an English castle. After arriving, you discover two more goals: find a treasure and uncover evidence of a murder. The goals are independent. You don't have to find the treasure to identify the ghost, for instance. The puzzles are a mixture of object- and people-oriented problems. Talking to the butler, Lord Jack, Dr. Wendish, Vivien Pentreath and other guests is mandatory for turning up certain evidence and clues. There is no Duffy or lab to which you may send evidence to be analyzed, so your're solely dependent on your own wits in puzzling out this mystery.
As in Deadline, a 24-hour time limit is imposed, but even if you've accomplished only one of the goals, by then you'll feel somewhat successful. You don't get points or a score. Type score or quit and you learn about your progress: "So far you've found the treasure, but haven't identified the ghost or found the evidence." When you've attained all three goals, you get to read the author's explanation on the plot and learn exactly what happened, who did it and why.
It's the most replayable adventure because there are actually four games, each a variation on the main theme. They take place in the same castle and with the same people, but the purpose of the objects and solutions to the goals differ in each version. Also varying in difficulty, they're color-coded, and you choose one by naming your favorite color (red, green, yellow or blue) at the beginning.
Written by Stu Galley and Jim Lawrence, who also collaborated on Seastalker, the prose and dialogue are professionally crafted. The castle's creaky doors, cobwebs and eerie sounds underline the suspence as you investigate the castle's secret passageway, and each character shows off a distinct personality.
And for the first time in an Infocom game, the game text does not name everything in the room when you examine or search it. This is part of the game's copy-protection. An accompanying travel brochure provides a map of the castle and describes all the items in each location. Without it, you won't be able to finish the game because you'll never find certain items. One advantage is that you don't have to draw a map, since the one in the brochure suffices for all but the secret passage. (The packaging also includes a Moonmist T-shirt iron-on). Moonmist is an entertaining story that disk drive detectives will enjoy.
Thanks to Frank Skagemo for transcribing and donating this article.