The Choose Your Own Adventure series of books have long been a favorite among young readers. At its core, In the Service of Mrs. Claus is an extension of these books blended with interactive fiction in a thriller fantasy written by Brian Rushton. Unlike the books we may have read as children, In the Service of Mrs. Claus offers a more robust narrative experience with over 167,000 words, several options, a variety of endings, and is an overall enjoyable experience like the rest of the games offered by developer Choice of Games.
An Alternate History Of Santa Claus
Games that present an alternate narrative to history to drive its story are always interesting, if for nothing more than that “What if…” factor of past events. The same is true for the story of Santa Claus. The game lets the reader know early on that Santa Claus died hundreds of years ago, and was married to a goddess who had lived many lives, Bast in Egypt, Artemis in Greece, Diana in Rome - but to you, she has been known as Mrs. Claus.
You experience the story from the perspective of an elf, which you can define in terms of gender and species, background story, and even a first and last name. While on a routine mission, you recall the strange events and ways that Mrs. Claus has been acting in the past few days, which ultimately leads to a massive conspiracy to overthrow Mrs. Claus, which you work to actively prevent.
So Many Choices
Unlike the traditional Choose Your Own Adventure books, or even other works of interactive fiction, In the Service of Mrs. Claus often provides many options for how to proceed with the story, even in the most mundane of situations. It is not clear which of these choices ultimately impacts the long-term progression through the story, though there are occasions where one choice clearly takes you down a completely different path.
Although there are often many options available regarding how to proceed, they provide a broad range of actions and expressions of emotion for your character. This is one of the game’s strong suits because the development of a character feels both unique and tailored to your individual choices. On subsequent playthroughs, I began the game with the intention of developing characters that occupied extreme opposite positions in temperament and morality. The result is a wildly different experience each time, both in the progression of the story and how the elf character is represented.
Developing Skills
While it may only seem like players choose how to proceed in the story, the game provides RPG elements by having those choices impact the development of a broad set of skills. Shifting, Tinkering, Trickery, Cheer, Grumpy Goose/Happy Helper, and Steadfast/Open Minded are but some of the attributes that form based on decisions made. This is expanded as well towards developing relationships with key characters in the story, which will affect how easy or difficult certain choices are later on.
Great Replay Value As A “Different” Elf
Since choices matter for the story and character progression, In the Service of Mrs. Claus provides a great amount of replayability. Best of all, since the entire game is text-based with no music or sound, one can play through the entire story, and then try again with the intention of using a different type of character for a new experience. As stated, the game has over 167,000 words, and by comparison, that makes it slightly shorter than words of fiction like Dune by Frank Herbert at 188,000 words, or close to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling, at just under 169,000 words.
If one chooses to play this game with the goal of trying a new type of character each time, they will get the most from In the Service of Mrs. Claus. In addition, there are several achievements to acquire that come from developing the story in different ways, and finishing them all will require multiple playthroughs.
Text-Based Treats
In the Service of Mrs. Claus is a real treat for the holiday season, and anyone who enjoys this kind of interactive fiction should check out the rest of the offerings by developer Choice of Games. There are hundreds of options of this same type of narrative game, and some of them are massive in scope and word count.
In the Service of Mrs. Claus is impressive, making for an extensive narrative experience. With a broad range of themes to choose from, there is something for everyone.
A PC copy of In the Service of Mrs. Claus was purchased by TheGamer for this review. In the Service of Mrs. Claus is available now for purchase on Steam, Android, and iOS.
