App Army Assemble: XEZI: Story Mode

XEZI: Story Mode is a text-based adventure that plays like a choose your own adventure book. You are in charge of a band of misfits on an adventure across the Chinese Silk Road.

At key moments in the story, you'll have to make decisions that will affect the ending in numerous different ways. This could be a moral choice, a decision related to your character, or simply just deciding which path to take next.

If you're one of the 10 people who have an Apple Watch, you can carry on your adventure there while on the go. It plays almost identically, aside from the much smaller size of the book.

At review, we described it as a: "gamebook that's heavy on the book, pretty light on the game, but will probably find an audience of die-hard fans".

But don't just take our word for it. We also handed early access to our community in the App Army, who had the following words to say.

Edward Davis

I do like a good old text adventure. It's a bit more basic than the classics like Zoe, and feels a bit like Lifeline without all the waiting around. The soundtrack is awesome - quite relaxing.

This is a very entertaining experience. It's an interactive story set on the historical Silk Road - and it feels surprisingly accurate. You play as a merchant on a quest to reveal the mystery of a dreadful plague, and have to master two skills - trader and detective - to ensure you make the best decisions.

As you make these, the plot will go off in a different direction, with numerous different endings to see. It's very gripping, and features a dark sense of humor that, admittedly, might not be to everyone's taste.

You will bump into funny, tricky, and eccentric characters that may help or hinder you. Playing it requires your full attention so it might not work for those who can only spare a few minutes at a time, but I enjoyed it as it feels like you are actually writing the story.

Chanandler

This is a pretty good game book. It requires you to read everything thoroughly and pay close attention as the story is deep. It's very entertaining and has excellent visuals.
Playing on the watch isn't as easy, as there's too much text involved. Extra marks for effort though.

Kainen Ryan

In a strange way I'm enjoying this - it's a really fun choose your own adventure game. It's got a good plot and I like the humour.

Tony Teulan

XEZI: Story Mode is well-written. I enjoyed the mystery about the plague and my character's part in what was unfolding. The background music and art direction was also solid.

My only major complaint was that the story didn't pause every time the screen filled. I'm a fast reader but I felt like I couldn't absorb the story at my own pace, which makes those difficult choices even more so. There are also some spelling mistakes and typos which breaks the immersion.

I'd suggest a bookmark feature, or for the story to be sorted into chapters. I'd love to replay certain moments but I don't feel like rereading the entire story just to try out every single combination.

Overall, it's worth getting for a couple of playthroughs but hopefully some of these issues get addressed. If you like the genre and go in without expecting a hugely polished experience then there's definitely enjoyment to be had. But in a genre flooded with superior stories with greater polish, it doesn't particularly stand out for me.

Ethan Harold

The storyline is decent, if kind of slow in the beginning. I generally like games with branching paths, but there's only so far you can go with a text based adventure game.

Oksana Ryan

I'm liking this gamebook. It's displayed like an old script that is penned out as you read it, with drawings scattered throughout.

The plot is intriguing, and delivered well enough that you want to keep reading. The outcome depends on the choices you make, which tempts you to replay it to see what would have happened if you'd made a different decision.

There were a couple of things that slightly detracted from my enjoyment though. Firstly, several times there was only one option to select from which seemed a bit redundant. It was also obvious at times that, although you had multiple choices, the story only went in one direction. There were a few spelling and grammatical errors as well.

That being said, I'm enjoying the experience and if you like reading with a little interaction thrown in, you'll thoroughly enjoy this game.