''Counterfeit Monkey'' is a 2012

interactive fiction '' Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the ...

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangibl ...

game by

Emily Short Emily Short is an interactive fiction (IF) writer. She is perhaps best known for her debut game ''Galatea'' and her use of psychologically complex non-player characters (NPCs). Short has been called "a visionary in the world of text-based game ...

Plot and gameplay

Set in Anglophone Atlantis, the world's greatest center for linguistic manipulation, the player has been merged with another person. They are equipped with one full-alphabet letter remover and are tasked to get off the island.

Development and release

The game was developed in

Inform 7 Inform is a programming language and design system for interactive fiction originally created in 1993 by Graham Nelson. Inform can generate programs designed for the Z-code or Glulx virtual machines. Versions 1 through 5 were released between ...

and is licensed under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license. It was first released in 2012 and the latest release was in February 2023.

Reception and awards

Rock Paper Shotgun ''Rock Paper Shotgun'' (also rendered ''Rock, Paper, Shotgun''; short ''RPS'') is a UK-based website for reporting on video games, primarily for PC. Originally launched on 13 July 2007 as an independent site, ''Rock Paper Shotgun'' was acquir ...

'' appreciated the joy of "gazing on your environment with the knowledge that it can be linguistically reshaped" and that puzzles had multiple solutions thus making success feeling personalized, ending the review with "With over eight hours of delicious wordplay, Counterfeit Monkey is a powerful start to interactive fiction in 2013.". The game won "Best game" in the 2012

XYZZY Awards The XYZZY Awards are the annual awards given to works of interactive fiction, serving a similar role to the Academy Awards for film. The awards were inaugurated in 1997 by Eileen Mullin, the editor of ''XYZZYnews''. Any game released during the year ...

, is (2023) listed #1 in the

Interactive Fiction Database The Interactive Fiction Database (IFDB) is a database of metadata and reviews of interactive fiction. In November 2023, the database contained 12,969 game listings, 12,784 member reviews, 51,762 member ratings, and 17,040 registered members. Some ...

top 100, and was voted #1 in a member vote in 2023.

References

Porpentine.
Live Free, Play Hard: The Week's Finest Free Indie Games
, ''

'', 6 January 2013. IFDB Top 100
(archived), ifdb.org, 13 November 2023. Interactive Fiction Top 50 of All Time (2023 edition)
, ifdb.org, 15 September 2023. Counterfeit Monkey
at the

. Counterfeit Monkey
, github.com.

External links

Counterfeit Monkey
at the

Interactive fiction Creative Commons-licensed video games Espionage 2012 video games