Lil Guardsman Review

thesixthaxis.com:

The life of a guardsperson is not one filled with adventures and heroics. You’ll spend days outside, which might be lovely during the summer, but miserable when it’s cold and wet. You’ll also get to meet plenty of interesting people, but you’ll be scrutinising what they say and carry to decide if they should be let into town, often with complex and far-reaching consequences if you get it wrong.

Now imagine all of that decision-making power is put on the shoulders of a twelve-year-old girl. That’s the situation in the fantasy land of the Sprawl, where Lil minds the guard post for her father, who would rather be at the pub betting on goblinball than actually doing his job.

Taking inspiration from Papers, Please and Monkey Island, Lil Guardsman mixes what is essentially border control management with comedy and a dash of time travel. Across the eleven levels, Lil has to decide who to let into the City, who to deny, and who to send straight to jail. To help with this, she has access to a decoder ring, an X-ray machine, a metal detector, truth spray, and a bullwhip. She cannot use them in an unlimited fashion, though. Each item is powered by a power crystal, but each crystal only has a single use, has to be bought, and you can only slot up to five crystals per item. Lil also has a time travel device, and can travel back in time to change her choices. But, using the device too much can in itself have unintended consequences.

Lil’s actions are also limited per person that she meets, with the majority having three actions that can be done to them before a decision is made. Lil can talk to the person, use one of her items to scan for contraband or learn the person’s true intentions, or call one of the royal advisors for advice. These advisors are Ashe, a socialite who rose up from the streets, Stryker, the military strategist of the realm, and Malcolm, the court jester. Each of them has their own agenda too. At the beginning of most shifts, Lil will also receive a writ of