Raiders of the Unix seas

I beta tested this game and I had great fun doing it. RotUS is a “Unix tooling” game, meaning that the “game” is a series of folders and files and you progress in the story by searching those directories and (sometimes) manipulating files with unix programs.

You need to start from the README and immediately after HELP: HELP especially will give you an overview of what you will need in your quest and what to expect. Once you do that, it is time to explore the market/ folder for clues (as an example I catd everything up in a big stream and ran it through less).

The search starts relatively easy but soon you will find yourself having to use more specific Unix programs (and with precise invocations!). If you — like me — need hints, read hints.txt and it will definitely help.

Once you are ready, sea/ awaits you (but make sure you know coordinates and depth or you will lose yourself!).

What to say about RotUS? I had extreme fun playing it, it was really challenging without being frustrating. Descriptions (even of items which are not useful to the quest) are well written and captivating. The genre has one of its most famous incarnations in clmystery, which I found easier but not as rewarding as RotUS.

Thumbs up!

I really enjoyed playing this and toying around with some unix cli tools i do not come to use very often in my day to day life. The idea to make a game, where you solve puzzles with the tooling you have in your terminal fits the theme just perfect. The descriptions on each item, even on the ones not quest related was nice and the ascii art also on point.