Counterfeit Monkey is a 2012 interactive fiction adventure puzzle game by Emily Short. What’s special about this game is its brilliant central puzzle mechanic, in which you’ll be removing letters from the names of objects in the world, and consequently changing what those things actually are. Have an apple, but prefer an alcoholic beverage? Remove the Ps and you’ve got a nice glass of ale. It’s a simple mechanic that opens up seemingly endless possibilities.

Emily Short not only fully explores this mechanic through her game design, but also fully explores the world that such a possibility implies. Counterfeit Monkey is absolutely crammed with great writing, with better character and plot than you’ll find in most interactive fiction.

Counterfeit Monkey is free to download and play in your favorite interactive fiction interpreter. (We suggest Lectrote and Frotz.) Expect it to take around six hours to complete.

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