Tin Star

In this Western-themed multiple-choice game, the player occupies the boots of the new Marshal of Lander County, Nevada, duly deputized in an offer difficult to refuse. The milieu is a dynamic one: the site of the imminent conclusion of the trans-continental railway, the area is burgeoning with gold rush prospectors as well as restless Civil War veterans, Mormon ranchers, and Shoshone Indians who have seen all the good treaty relations have done their brothers. The focal point is in the frontier boomtown of Preston Springs, named for first citizen, Sheriff and businessman JT Preston who can be found holding office hours in the lounge of the Babylon saloon, happy to seal any deal that greases the passage of capital. The town has numerous other denizens with stories and problems of their own, and a justice-minded lawman might find much to set right -- at the risk of following in the path of their predecessors and being sent back to California in a pine box.

Players get to define their character in a fine-toothed fashion by answering questions about their background and demonstrating their choice of sidekicks, sidearms, horse and pet. The interface is a minimalist one in the house style: player input is through selection of radio buttons indicating a selection from options offered, while game output comes as long dynamically-generated text passages. It reads as interactive fiction but boasts RPG complexity as plenty of variables, including proficiency in a dozen relevant skills and relationships with the locals, are tracked behind the scenes.