Amazing Stories Vol 1 3

An American student visiting England has a strange encounter with a painting at the National Gallery and finds himself haunted by the ghost of a woman who died a hundred years earlier.

After two largely linear adventures, this is a nice change of pace. Although there's still a lot more reading of linear chapters than there is decision-making, this book features some genuinely meaningful (and sometimes tough) choices which cause substantial branches in the story's plot. The plot itself isn't as original as that of the first volume (being essentially a standard supernatural tale of lust and betrayal), and the writing is a little shaky at times (particularly in the characterization of minor characters), but this book maintains the series' above-average storytelling while sacrificing less freedom of gameplay than its two predecessors. It's still much more of a story than a game, but it's a story worth reading several times in order to play out all of the possibilities. It's well worth a look, especially if you like traditional ghost stories.