[Mac] Enchanted Scepters (1986)

How:
Found while browsing a book on adventure games.

Note:
Credited to be the first point-and-click adventure game. Actually, it seems like "La Souris Golotte" came first.

Pros:
- Nice challenge with some almost unfairly difficult puzzles

Cons:
- Too much randomness
- Fights require no skill
- Some very crude graphics
- Weird mixture of typing and mouse commands

This might also be the first appearance of a talking head in an adventure game.

I finished the game with experience 3950 and wealth 1356, no idea what that means.

[PC] Eric the Unready (1993)

How:
Got on GOG.
Pros:
- Nice puzzles overall, not too easy

- Robust parser

- Some nice memorable music

- Fun text and dialogue, akin to Terry Pratchett's humor

- Light-hearted and enjoyable text adventure

Cons:
- Quite short, each part is just a few screens and puzzles

- Inconsistent artwork

- Very rushed ending

Amusing example of the game's humor: this character replaces all the R's with W's, hence you must interact with the room by using the same rule... "look at dwawing"

[Amiga] Arazok's Tomb (1987)

How:
Found while randomly browsing my Gamebase Amiga collection.
Pros:
- Very good graphics
- Moderately challenging puzzles with lots of red herrings and limited inventory
- Cool fantasy/sci-fi hybrid setting
Cons:
- Rather short
- Many showstopping bugs (crashes, glitches)
- Many typos
- No dialogue
- The few speaking characters can be heard only via the optional synthesized speech, otherwise what they say is not reported on screen
- Confusing descriptions
- Weak parser
- Some annoying time-based puzzles (eating, drinking, fighting)
- Very weak and abrupt ending

[Browser] A small talk at the back of beyond (2013)

How:
Appeared in Adventuregamers.com monthly freeware feature.
Pros:
- Nice atmosphere
- Good parser
Cons:
- Too short
- Very few puzzles

[Browser] Guilded Youth (2012)

How:
Covered in the monthly freeware games feature on adventuregamers.com.
Pros:
- A fun and lighthearted augmented IF game
- Nice idea of the BBS game mode
Cons:
- For some reason sound effects do not work

[Browser] The Play (2011)

Pros:
- Fun and very well written, choices sound natural and link seamlessly with the story
- Nice IF system
Cons:
- Would have loved if it had some illustrations, as in a book

[PC] Digital: A Love Story (2010)

Pros:
- Very innovative
- Incredibly immersive
- The story runs smoothly and manages to surprise despite the (intentionally so) obsolete interface
Cons:
- Messages are received only upon (any) user action
- Full-screen mode would have been nice for a total immersion