Chris Crawford, 2023. Play online.

The first thing I noticed about this experience is that it comes wrapped in claims and disclaimers. Crawford calls Le Morte D'Arthur his magnum opus. He describes it as “an interactive storyworld with genuine artistic content.” He also says:

It's not a game. It's not interactive fiction. It's not a puzzle. It's not action-packed. It's not fun. If you're a gamer, you'll hate it and should not play it. If you like interactive fiction, you probably won't like it.

Having played to a satisfactory ending, I respectfully disagree with much of this skeptic repellant. I am a gamer and I like interactive fiction, and I liked it just fine. It definitely is interactive fiction as I know it. It is action-packed, our at least adventure-ful. We could quibble about “fun” but it entertaining by design.

It's also clearly Art, by my definition; it's an attempt to convey big ideas about leadership and purpose and meaning. I love work this ambitious. Is it good art? I'm still thinking about that. It definitely succeeds more in some ways, and less in others.