A Foregone Conclusion?

A Foregone Conclusion?

This game has two viewpoint characters: one in the present and one in the past. The viewpoint in the present is trying to figure out what the viewpoint in the past had done: maybe they're a detective investigating a crime, or an archaeologist tracing the steps of an ancient tomb robber.

Narratively, the past sections are what's being reconstructed by the present narrator: "no, she couldn't have gone that way, the door was locked". (Somehow the present narrator's investigations let them determine these details: this could be supernatural, or they could just be a very good detective/archaeologist.)

The final puzzle of the game takes place in the present. It's visible from the very beginning, but can only be solved through the actions of the character in the past. Maybe the past character's puzzles involve committing the crime and hiding the evidence, which the present character can then find. Or the past character learned how to open the secret chamber in the pyramid, but was trapped forever by doing so.

(If you want some more tomb robbery inspiration, Amenpnufer (or Amenpenufer), Setnakht, and Nesamun were some actual Ancient Egyptian tomb robbers who broke into the tomb of Pharaoh Sobekemsaf II and Queen Nubkhas around 1120 BCE to steal their jewelry.)

Download the file for sample code in Inform 7 that handles the text changes, for messages like "he couldn't go that way" as one character and "I can't go that way" as the other.