I made it to level 5 on The Last Outpost, and it was definitely an experience. As a result of the game, I want to provide a little directional guide to help newbies in the game.

• First of all, you can type help map newbie and there is a nice chart that comes up to give you an idea of directional words you can type within the game
• If you want to see who is in The Last Outpost–type Who and hit enter
• If you come in contact with a character and you want to see what he/she looks like–type look (and what ever the name is) and hit enter
• If you want to look around type look (enter)
• If you forget your quest–type quest (enter)
• If you need to know how many points you need for your next level–type level (enter)
• Type sco (enter) for your score
• If you have lost your map and you need to have a little idea of where you are going, type exit (enter)
• If you want to see what you are carrying, type inv (for inventory) and hit enter
• If you are carrying a bag, when you type inv, type look in bag to see what is in your bag (enter)
• If you enter a bakery/shop, you can type list (enter) to see what is for sell
• If you want to buy something simply type buy (and what ever number the item is) and hit enter
• If you need to kill some food–type kill (and whatever it is you want to kill) (enter)
• Once you kill it, you can type get meat corpse
• If you want to save it you can type get meat corpse (enter), put meat in bag (enter)
• If you want to eat the meat–type get meat corpse (enter)–eat meat (enter)
• If you are in Town Square and you want to take a drink from the well–type drink well (enter)
• If you want to take a piece of clothing off, type drop (what ever it is) (enter)
• If you are wearing a cap and you need to take it off–type remove cap (enter)
• If you begin to get hungry and you have food stored in your bag–type inv (enter)–look in bag (enter)–get (what ever the food is) bag (enter)–eat (what ever the food is) (enter)
• If you are carrying a lot of extra things and you want to put them in your bag–type inv (enter)–put all bag (enter)
• If you come to a gate and it is closed–type open gate (enter)

After playing the game, I recommend storing food in your bag for your quests, and make sure to keep water handy for when you get thirsty. I would also print out a copy of the map when you first enter the game because you loose the map after a while and it becomes difficult to remember directions for your quests.

Overall, I didn’t like the game when I first started playing it. Nevertheless, this game is one that sort of grows on you. For educational purposes, I did like the fact that the entire game is text only. Personally, I feel this is a wonderful opportunity for students to practice reading. Also, reading speed increases as you play the game because you have to learn to speed read in order to have an idea of what is happening in the game. Even though the game was text only, I felt myself in the world and I would get really nervous when on a quest or fighting. This is wonderful use of the imagination and creativity.