A Taste of Terror is a Z-machine interactive fiction game written with Inform 6 and is © 2025 by Garry Francis. It was an entry in ParserComp 2025, placement to be determined.
In this game, you play as ten-year-old Sean MacDonald enjoying your holiday by running around Aunt Clarissa's farm. Your aunt has aged horribly though. Uncle Bill's death must've hit her hard, but perhaps something else is wrong. And, tonight, your back hurts. You hope you can find a painkiller in the kitchen.
This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Release 1 of the game.
SPOILERS AHEAD. Reading a walkthrough prematurely can sometimes diminish one's enjoyment of an interactive fiction game. Please make an honest effort to play the game before reading this walkthrough.
Kitchen
> x me. (You're Sean MacDonald, ten years old.)
> i. x sneakers. x kimono.
> x cupboard. open it.
> take painkillers. take matchbox.
> x packet. read it. open it.
> x tablet. take it. chew it. (no instant relief)
> drop packet.
> x matchbox. open it. (not unless you need one)
> x trunk. open it.
> x jug. (opaque)
> x dagger. (serpent-shaped)
> e. (no: door closed)
> open door. (no: locked)
> w.
Foyer
> x staircase. x handrail. x door.
> u.
Top of Staircase
> x curtain. w.
West End of Hallway
> x door. knock on door. (no answer)
> open door. (locked)
> e. e. e.
East End of Hallway
> x trapdoor. open it. (no: out of reach)
> w. n.
Guest Room
> x window. (nailed shut)
> look under bed. (find your backpack and a doll)
> x doll. take it. take pins. (Your back pain disappears.)
> drop doll and pins.
Did your aunt use witchcraft against you?
> take backpack. x it. wear it.
> s. w.
Top of Staircase
> open curtain. n.
Storage Room
> x ladder. take it. s. e. e.
East End of Hallway
> drop ladder. climb it.
> open trapdoor. u.
Darkness / Attic
> light match. open shutter. blow out match.
> x chest. open it.
> x hood. take it.
> x window. open it. n.
Roof Outside Attic
> x drainpipe. d. w.
Roof Outside Aunt's Room
> x window. (closed)
> open window. s.
Aunt's Bedroom
She's not here.
> x bed. look under bed. (nothing)
> x nightstand. take all from it.
> x key. x hairpin.
> unlock door. (can't)
Don't bother closing windows and doors and covering your tracks.
> n. e. u. s. d. stand. w. w.
Top of Staircase
> slide down handrail.
Foyer
> w.
Library
> x bookshelf. x books. read books. x armchair.
> x desk. take all from desk.
> x parchment. x quill.
> open drawer. (no: locked)
> pick lock with hairpin. open drawer.
> take book and coin. x coin.
> x book. x symbol. read book.
> e. e.
Kitchen
> take jug and dagger. (jug rattles)
> empty jug. look. take rusty key.
> unlock door with small key.
> drop small key and hairpin.
> open door. e.
Pantry
> x shelves. x goods.
> x freezer. open it. x body.
Make sure you're carrying the dagger directly.
> take dagger.
> save
> d. d.
Alchemy Laboratory
The witch doesn't answer questions, but if you let her monologue long enough, she mentions both the poena curse and the adulescens spell.
> x witch. z. z. z.
> kill witch. (with dagger)
> x witch. look up poena in book.
> look up adulescens in book.
> x alembic. x yellow liquid. smell it.
> x trapdoor. unlock it. open it.
> x torch. take it.
You will need Aunt Clarissa's head later, but leave it here for now. You never need the alembic as long as you have the jug. Make sure you unlock and open the trapdoor so you can exit the tunnels at this end later.
> u. u. w. w.
Foyer
> open door. s. w.
In Front of Barn
> x barn. s.
In Barn
> x hay. x pitchfork. x stacks.
> x workbench. x tools.
> x hammer. x pliers. x screwdriver. x cutters.
Of all these tools, you only need the hammer and cutters. The pitchfork was another weapon you could have used to kill the witch with.
> take hammer and cutters. drop cutters.
> n. w. n.
Gypsy Camp
> x camp. x man. x caravan.
> talk to man. (Esmeralda can tell your future for a silver coin.)
> give coin to man.
> e.
Gypsy Caravan
> x Esmeralda. x ball. x beads.
> ask her about aunt. (Revive her with expurgo spell.)
> ask her about uncle. (Revive him with expurgo too.)
> look up expurgo in book.
> ask her about witch. ask her about black witch.
> ask her about witchcraft. ask her about spells.
> ask her about curses. ask her about potions.
> ask her about doll. ask her about raven.
> ask her about herself. ask her about gypsies.
> ask her about house. ask her about me.
> w. s. s. s. w.
In Front of Old Farmhouse
> x house. x door. x window.
> break window. (using the hammer)
> s.
Inside Farmhouse
> x debris. look. x shotgun. take it.
> n. e. e. e. e. s.
In Front of Construction Site
> x fence. x gate. x chain.
> cut chain with cutters.
> open gate. e.
Construction Site
> x trench. x dirt. x tools.
> x shovel. take it.
> w. n. e. ne.
In Front of Cabin
> open door. s.
In Cabin
> x stove. x bunk. look under bunk.
> look. x cartridges. take them.
> load gun.
> x can. take can. (hear splooshing)
> n. w.
Between Hills
Don't stay near the boar. If you hang around it too long, it charges at you and kills you. Leave the boar alone and go away.
> w.
Pond
> x pond. x ravens. listen.
> shoot raven. (with shotgun)
> take raven. x it.
> n. w. w. w. nw. n.
In Front of Chapel
> x chapel. x windows.
> n.
Inside Chapel
> x altar. x stoup. x water. x pews.
> fill jug. (with holy water)
> s. w.
Country Cemetery
> x rose.
> s.
Among Tombstones
> x tombstones.
> read tombstone. ('William "Bill" MacDonald')
> x grave. dig grave. x coffin.
> remove nails. (using claw hammer)
> open lid. x body. (head missing)
> pour water on body.
Go back to the chapel for more holy water for your aunt's body.
> n. e. n.
Inside Chapel
> fill jug.
> s. w. s. s.
In Front of West Crypt
> x guard. (dressed as a monk with hood)
> talk to guard. ("private ceremony")
> e.
In Front of East Crypt
> s. (no: rusty gate closed)
> open gate. (no: locked)
> unlock gate with rusty key. open gate. s.
Darkness / East Crypt
> light match. (nothing but rock here)
> n.
In Front of East Crypt
If you're wearing the hood, the guard lets you into the west crypt.
> take hood. wear hood.
> w. s.
West Crypt
> x people. x pentagram. x altar. x head.
> s.
Behind Altar
CAUTION: If the hooded people see you with Bill's head, they kill you. Don't take it north from here.
> x trapdoor. unlock it. open it.
> take head.
> d.
Darkness / Underground Tunnel (four locations)
Incidentally, the game doesn't punish you for walking in the tunnels in complete darkness. If you know the route and both trapdoors are unlocked and open, it's all good.
> light match. light torch. (with match)
> e. ne. e. u.
Alchemic Laboratory
> take aunt's head.
> u. u.
Pantry
> pour water on body.
Head for the east crypt with both heads, parchment, quill, raven, kerosene, and lit torch. The guard doesn't even blink at your unusual inventory.
> w. w. s.
> w. w. nw. n. w.
> s. s. e. s.
East Crypt
> look up expurgo in book. (if you forgot what to do)
> draw circle. (using raven's blood and finger)
> put heads in circle.
> take quill and parchment.
> write expurgo on parchment. (using blood and quill)
> put parchment in circle.
> pour kerosene on parchment. (You pour it on the heads too.)
> burn parchment. (with lit torch)
*** You have won ***
> amusing
This is the response to AMUSING after you've won the game:
Have you tried:
- Examining everything in every room, including scenery and the rooms themselves.
- Using DANCE, JUMP, PRAY, SING, THINK and the magic word XYZZY.
- Removing your clothes.
- Reading the instructions on the packet of painkillers.
- Sliding down the handrail in the foyer.
- Putting the pins back in the doll.
- Opening your bedroom window.
- Jumping off the roof.
- Reading the books in the library.
- Standing on the armchair in the library or the pews in the chapel.
- Taking stuff from the lab, unlocking the lab trapdoor or leaving the lab before killing the witch.
- Killing the witch with the dagger, the pitchfork and the shotgun.
- Allowing the witch to kill you to hear everything she has to say.
- Drinking or smelling the yellow liquid in the alembic.
- Asking the gypsy man about the satisfaction survey.
- Asking Esmeralda about curses, potions, spells, the specific spells, circles, pentagrams, ravens, black and white witches, witches, warlocks, witchcraft, rituals, gypsies, the future, the satisfaction survey and the various things you've seen around the farm.
- Taking Esmeralda's crystal ball, the dead bodies, the hay in the barn or the leaves in the cabin.
- Giving the heads to any of the other characters.
- Cleaning the window of the abandoned farmhouse before and after breaking it.
- Throwing stuff at the ravens.
- Killing the ravens with the pitchfork and the shotgun.
- Shooting the boar before killing a raven.
- Climbing the ladder to avoid the boar.
- Attacking the guard at the crypt or asking him about anything when not wearing the hood.
Found dead:
Mentioned:
This is the response to ABOUT or CREDITS:
This game is an enhanced version of the unfinished Italian adventure 'Serie Misteri: Sorsi di Terrore'. It was to be published by Edizioni Hobby S.r.l. on the cover tape of 'Viking', no. 12, but the magazine was cancelled before the game was finished.
The game's original article, map and design notes were stored in the archives of Bonaventura Di Bello for many years and eventually scanned by Marco Vallarino. We now know that the concept was proposed by a friend of a collaborator to the publishing house. The collaborator later died in a motorcycle accident, so we haven't been able to identify the original designer.
The original article and map were translated to English by Garry Francis and the hand-written design notes were translated to English by Gianluca Girelli. These were used as the basis for a new design, together with a lot of imagination to fill in the gaps and create the story. The coding was done using Inform 6 and the PunyInform library.
Concept by unknown author.
Restoration of original design notes by Bonaventura Di Bello and Marco Vallarino.
English translation of original design notes by Garry Francis and Gianluca Girelli.
Game design and coding by Garry Francis.
Play testing by AM Ruf, Charles Moore Jr, Dark Star, Dave Hall, Gianluca Girelli, Jade J Aincioa, Melendwyr and Robert Eggleston.Thanks to Bonaventura, Marco, Gianluca and the fantastic test team for their support and feedback during this project.
Note: As near as I can tell, you cannot botch the EXPURGO spell. The parchment won't let you write the wrong word on it. You can't pour the kerosene unless the written parchment and both heads are in the circle, and you can't burn them without first cleansing the bodies with holy water. So there's no ending where you live but your piblings stay dead, and there's no ending where you restore just one pibling back to life but not the other.
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