Type Help

This is great, I love how fun it is to figure out new files. And go back and read the old ones once you have more context, and people's names filled in. There's more depth to each conversation than initially meets the eye. 

I haven't finished I'll have to come back to it.

Beautiful work! It took me a couple of hours with a break in between. A couple tips that I used to keep things moving, keeping spoilers out of it:

- If there's no obvious places to continue, try going through each person and making sure you know where they are every hour. There are some early ones you won't get for a while, but it's useful for finding places to poke at.

- If you know some of the people in a scene but not all of them (so you don't have the full file name), process of elimination is your friend. People only show up once at any given time, so who isn't already accounted for in that slot? There were a couple where I got it down to just a couple possibilities and guess-and-checked those, which probably isn't the ideal way but it worked for me.

- The references are very useful, although there are some where it's not clear for a while what they're referring to.

ROT13 spoilers:

Vg gbbx zr n juvyr gb svaq guvatf yvxr gur Rqqvr naq Znegun fprar nsgre Rir'f qrngu (hfvat anzrf fb gung vg'f fpenzoyrq ol ebg13 fvapr ahzoref nera'g) naq gur svefg fprar jvgu Gbal naq Uryra orpnhfr vg gbbx zr n juvyr gb abgvpr gur ersreraprf gb gubfr va yngre pbairefngvbaf qvqa'g qrfpevor guvatf V'q nyernql frra (rfc gur ynggre). 

Vg nyfb gbbx zr jnl gbb ybat gb svaq gur irel ynfg guvat. V'q svtherq bhg gung Wbua qvqa'g frrz gb erzrzore hagvy gur irel raq bs uvf ynfg nggvp fprar naq unq svtherq bhg gung Xngr zhfg unir qvrq orgjrra gur pnyy naq gung, ohg V pbhyqa'g svther bhg ubj gb svaq gur npghny fprar. V gubhtug vg zvtug or fghpx oruvaq gur unatzna pbzznaq ohg jura nyy ibjryf snvyrq ba gung V ernyvmrq vg jnfa'g. (Vf gur unatzna npghnyyl fbyinoyr orfvqrf vgf ebyr va gur raq perqvgf?)

V svanyyl svtherq vg bhg ol ernyvmvat gurer unq gb or n ernfba gung Wbua'f nggvp fprar naq gur sbyybjvat rageljnl fprarf jrer frcnengrq (fb gung Xngr pna qvr ng gvzr gjragl-svir naq Wbua qvrf ng gjragl-fvk), naq gura vg gbbx zr n yvggyr gb erzrzore gur ybpngvba jnf zragvbarq naq obyqrq (juvpu V unq npghnyyl gubhtug jnf bqq jura V svefg ernq vg) naq gung jnf rabhtu gb svther vg bhg.

The game is so well designed and developed, both in the story itself and how it unveils. I fell for it at the first glance, and it proved even beyond my expectations! The note system was seldom used and could not support connections between notes, so I just tried to memorize and deduce everything through the titling system and my brain. Nevertheless, really thanks to the author for making such an intriguing game!

Type Help has won the "Outstanding Game of the Year" award in the 2025 IFDB Awards! https://intfiction.org/t/results-of-the-2025-ifdb-awards/79012 It also won "Outstanding Game over 2 hours", "Outstanding Puzzle Design", "Outstanding Mystery Game", and tied for "Outstanding Plot".

On top of a brilliantly designed mystery, this is also a haunting horror and tragedy! Both the deduction game and the story are amazing. This got me completely hooked.

One thing I noticed:  Gur punva vf pnyyrq n 'punva' sbe n ernfba: vg fher frrzf yvxr vg qbrfa'g fcernq 'yngrenyyl'. Rirel gvzr gung fbzrbar qvrf, vg'f orpnhfr gurl erzrzorerq gur cerivbhf crefba va yvar fcrpvsvpnyyl -- abg whfg "fbzrbar jub qvrq bs gur phefr", fcrpvsvpnyyl gur cerivbhf crefba va gur punva. 

Juvpu vf tbbq, orpnhfr lrnu, bgurejvfr V jbhyq vaqrrq unir cynhfvovyvgl dhrfgvbaf nobhg ubj uhznavgl vfa'g nyernql rkgvapg. Ohg vs vg pna bayl fcernq 'yvarneyl', gura vgf novyvgl gb xvyy gehyl qnatrebhf ahzoref bs crbcyr vf arhgrerq; vg erznvaf dhvgr ubeevslvat gb guvax nobhg, ohg vg qbrfa'g cerfrag fhfcrafvba bs qvforyvrs vffhrf gur jnl rkcbaragvny fcernq jbhyq.

Loved this game so so much. I never cry at games but I welled up at this one. If you like mysteries at all you WILL love this. The format is so innovative and fun and it’s all just brilliant.

Just remarkable. A text based game that HAS to be text based. The exhilaration of finding those last pages is phenomenal, a concentrated version of the "ah ha!" moment that fuels these types of puzzle games.  So excited this game will live on in a new format. If you're thinking "I'll just wait for the Steam version" ...don't! Play this one in this form- it's an entirely unique experience. And then play the Steam version when it comes out, I know I will.

I had to make an account just to leave my praise here. What an absolutely incredible game! I had to use a guide for the end, but I absolutely adored playing through this. I will be recommending this (or the upcoming remaster) to anyone who will listen to me for the foreseeable future!

Well, damn. That was... not what I expected, I suppose. Far better. Hell of a medium to do it through, too. I don't think anything else could have worked. A profound experience, and an easy recommendation to my circle.

I love your game (I played and commented on it... ages ago), but I just saw you're adding translations (as a fan effort, I presume?) I'd love to bring your game to the Spanish community if you're interested :)

Truly a phenomenal game, beautiful and engaging and haunting. The connections were a helpful nudge without being overly obvious, and the story built out so effectively. Thematic and extremely enjoyable. 10/10

Superb game that kept me hooked basically nonstop until I hit the credits. Well done.

I have spent far too much time on this and holy cow this was so much fun and incredible!! Tracking the movements throughout the house, figuring out how it's all connected, god this was amazing. It happened so subtly at first that I hardly noticed because everyone is a stranger at the beginning. Just awesome. Amazing storytelling

absolutely amazing, fully deserving of standing alongside its inspirations imo. slowly realizing what was going on, picking up on patterns and right up until the end seeing a major clue i missed felt so satisfying. this game hooked me in minutes and had me obsessed for days. im a sucker for these kinds of information-progression games like obra dinn, tunic, outer wilds etc so this felt targeted right for me. fantastic

Slight mechanics spoilers

Great game 15/10. I'm more of a twitchy gamer (ARPG/FPS) but this game blew me out of the water. If you're having trouble keeping track of the information, imo instead of using notes, it's better to retitle some things so you can easily place clues where they go in the timeline.

I LOVED THIS GAME. 
THIS WAS SUCH A BEAUTIFULLY ELEGANT MYSTERY DESIGN.

As the revelations came, i felt genuine chills from the eeriness of it all. 
I entered a total fervor, similar to the narrator. I needed to solve it all and I even started taking my own notes on the side. I poured over every detail to figure out the narrator's final hypothesis and it was so satisfying to unravel. 

Beautiful, beautiful game. 
Also found the Hangman puzzle ominous at first, but by the end, it became sincerely sad and noble. Cannot glaze this game enough; from its writing, creativity, and overall design of the story layout. 

Started playing an hour before my bedtime and ended up rawdogging the entire game in a single session. Took me about 10 hours and now my brain is megafried but it was all worth it.

I even created an itch.io account solely to express how much I loved this. 11/10

Played this with a friend, it took us a while. Mostly because we couldn't play too long or too often. We just finished and we really enjoyed it. It was exciting and sometimes annoying. But we made a good system with writing down possible scenes from references and we made a spreadsheet to keep track of where, when and who died. We also made a sheet where we filled in each person for each scene to make sure we were keeping track of where they were. All in all such a fun experience and even though we now know what happens, we will still play the remaster when it comes out!

So it turns out that trying a game like this at 10pm was a terrible idea. It's 8am now. What an experience tho.

I'm not that much into detective games nor text adventures, yet this game had me hooked from the start. What a great concept and execution! I'm amazed how elegant the scene typing mechanic is: time, location and characters in just one simple code that interconnects all the pieces. So simple and clever! A concise mechanic that unveils a deep and complex narrative.

I created a document to track all the characters, props and locations on each timecode. It was so rewarding to locate everyone on each story beat. I'd never done this before, and I've played a good amount of adventure games, so I hope that tells how engaging this game is. I just wishlisted the remaster!

I heard about this via the Back Page podcast, where Matthew nominated it as one of his games of the year. Being a big detective game fan I came to check it out, and damn, he wasn't wrong! This is an amazing game, especially considering its bare bones presentation. It's kept me busy for a few evenings and I've really enjoyed digging into the mystery and pulling it all apart. I love how it starts off quite simple and then you really have to start tracking info, people and places. Then using deduction or elimination to narrow down the last few bits.

I also think the very basic interface works really well, and its smart to let the player rename things and organise a bit. I did keep a google doc with timeline leads and to group related info. Even though I figured how the numerical death order worked, I purposely tried to solve it without this info to see if you could. And yes you can glean enough info to narrow it down through process of elimination, which is nice. 

Anyway, excellent little game William, I hope you do more detective stuff in future!

I'll use Rot13 for spoiler thoughts:

Jura vg svanyyl uvg zr jung jnf npghnyyl unccravat jvgu gur phefr znxvat crbcyr sbetrg (V guvax jura Uryra qvrf vf jura vg pyvpxrq cebcreyl) vg jnf na nznmvat qrynlrq erirny. Nyy bs n fhqqra fb znal guvatf znqr frafr naq V jnf noyr gb tb onpx va gur fgbel naq fgneg gb frr ubj gur gentrql cynlrq bhg sebz Ehcreg bajneqf. Rira yngre ba lbh pna erghea gb rneyvre fprarf va Qnl 1 naq fhqqrayl ernyvfr jul crbcyr npgrq pregnva jnlf, yvxr gur jubyr cbpxrgjngpu nssnve, whfg orpnhfr zvq jnl guebhtu riragf fbzrbar jvyy qvr naq zrff hc crbcyr'f zrzbevrf naq zbgvingvbaf. Vg vf n oevyyvnag naq irel perrcl gjvfg.

Vg'f rfcrpvnyyl qvfgheovat va Qnl 2 bapr lbh xabj jung vf tbvat ba gb gura frr vg cynl bhg - rfcrpvnyyl ubeevslvat jvgu Naavrf fprarf. Jung n terng naq qvfgheovat pbaprcg.

Nsgre ernpuvat gur 'abezny raq' va Npg 4, svyyvat va gur ynfg tncf va gur gvzryvar jnf fngfsvlvat gb uryc syrfu bhg gur fgbel bs fghss yvxr Bfjnyq naq gur cbpxrgjngpu fntn. Ng gur raq juvyfg punfvat yrnqf V cvrprq gbtrgure gur jubyr ybtvp bs gur phefr naq gung svanyyl yrq zr gb ernyvfr ubj gb trg X'f fprar. V fgehttyrq sbe ntrf gelvat gb svaq n fprar sbe Ehcreg va 01, naq tnir hc guvaxvat gurer jnfa'g. Vg jnf bayl nsgre pbzvat ba guvf pbzzragf guernq V ernyvfrq gurer jnf bar. V qhaab ubj V znantrq gb zrff vg hc, znlor V jnf glcvat va 1 vafgrnq bs 01, be V jnf chggvat Yvivat Ebbz ol nppvqrag vafgrnq bs Fghql, V qhaab. Vg vf creuncf n yvggyr unefu gb unir n frperg 12 fprar nf V'z fher gur ntrag gryyf lbh gurer ner bayl 11 hfrnoyr ahzoref arne gur fgneg. Gunaxshyyl V'q nyernql thrffrq jung gur fprar pbagnvarq, nffhzvat gung Ehcreg unq gevttrerq gur phefr cebonoyl ivn erzrzorevat Nzryvn Jrfg. Ohg vg jnf avpr gb trg fbzr erny raq perqvgf.

Nyfb nccerpvngr gur unatzna tnzr naq 'pheerag qnl' aneengvir, vg'f avpryl chyyrq bss. Arire jbhyq unir gubhtug gb frnepu sbe gur ntragf qernz va 00 ohg V guvax gung'f whfg n avpr rkgen obahf.   

amazing game! just finished and whew, it took me a little while. mostly because I'd get stuck, put it down for a few days, and come back to it at another angle, which always worked on the tougher parts. I thoroughly enjoyed the game

I thought of there could be 2 endings:first easily enough players can push straight to scene 4, identifing the curse, meanwhile we can hardly garther all the files to know all the names as well as the previous searcher. This time may have players' "inbox" reciving a new text, asking if we're finishing the investigate. If we ends here, we knew the curse is of the "forgotten name", and we seal the case deep, notice all the reveleant don't try to remember the previous searcher or anyone dead, so the curse ends at me. The other one: we insist to garther all the file, and "unfortunately", we knew the previouse searcher's name. I could even imagine the final scene: "Computer shutting down......" "your heart's still beating for your seen the cursed ghost's name" "After a long time of slience you finally decide to go sleep"  

 "the audio file displays [1] turning around over and over again,seemingly he's suffering a terrible dream, and in the background, a distant thunder, is roaring"

accidentally got absorbed by the game when i was supposed to be sleeping.... great game tho-

Leaving a comment here right now so I don't forget to.

I've only just begun act 2, but so far, I'm blown away. Intelligent puzzle mechanics that aren't too complicated but feel amazing when solved (very hard to achieve but so satisfying when done right!). Something as simple as the naming scheme for files goes from a mystery to a key tool for solving.

As someone who has never played any of the games this is inspired by, this game makes me really want to try them. Cannot recommend this enough, and I cannot believe I get to play this for free.

Genuine 11/10.

Fantastic atmosphere and lots of great puzzles. The end seemed a little bit abrupt, though, in that some big things weren't answered.

Incredible. I'm not sure if you're aware William but this game was featured of sorts in a Eurogamer article highlighting developers' favourite games of the year. Expelled director Jon Ingold listed this as his favourite so I checked it out.

My only regret is that I did so a few hours before I had to go to work. I would've loved to just set aside an entire day going through this, it really deserves it. Were it not for Hades 2, this would've taken GOTY for me. Great job.

Just finished and it was a delight, though I needed a couple of hints for the last 3 files. Filling in all the blanks when I got to the end was definitely worth it for me as I'd missed some quite important stuff (the sex scene).

Forgot to leave a comment when I first played, so here it is. Phenomenal game. Such a masterful use of its limited medium. Had a wonderful time and many chills. I also second the other comment mentioning Who's Lila?

Spine-chillingly good. For those looking for more of this supernatural, multifaceted style of mystery, I would recommend Who's Lila?

This is my first time playing this sort of game (well, I did start Obra Dinn too). To be honest, I thought I wouldn't like it, but I'm actually totally hooked! Still discovering acts I and II, things are getting really tangled and I feel I need to know more and more!

I recommend taking notes in a piece of paper rather than in the game.

I had to bust out a google spreadsheet to keep track of everything, and it was wonderful. Even cracked all the secret files by myself, except for one. Last puzzle game to make me do this was Obra Dinn, so I would say mission accomplished on your end!

I loved every second of it. If anyone knows more games like this one please chuck them my way.

This game was SO GOOD. If you like mystery games don't hesitate and just play it

This game is a masterpiece. I might start reading some mystery books soon after this.

Incredible