Series: Superego

The Adventure Thread
The Mirror

Just a tip: if you have not yet read my review of MS Paint Adventures, I suggest that you do so now. Why? Because this series, Superego, is one of MSPA's fan-made "Forum Adventures." Forum Adventures are series hosted on MSPA's forums that use the same user-guided, text-adventury format as MSPA. There are a lot of good ones there, so you can expect to see more in the future.

Superego is a Lost-esque story about a group of people who wake up in an empty hospital, with no memory of how they got there and a different number on each of their hands. As they explore their surroundings and begin to interact with each other, it becomes apparent that they are all working at cross-purposes -- something that the hospital itself seems to be encouraging.

Each of the characters introduced has a color and a symbol associated with them, as well as a number as mentioned above. The symbol and number each have a significance that, surprisingly, the fans have already deduced. Knowing these meanings adds an entirely new layer of experience to the series. However, as it also casts the interactions between the cast members in an completely different light, I will be putting it in spoiler tags of a sort. For those of you who opt not to read them right away, I suggest that you read them after you have caught up. To read the following text, simply highlight it.

Each of the numbers originates from the second axis of the DSM-IV Code -- in other words, each one is a numerical designation indicating what personality disorder each given character has. Sam for example has zero, which on the second axis indicates Paranoid Personality Disorder.

The symbols serve a similar purpose, each one being a visual representation of the disorder. Each one contains a circle -- the idea seemingly being that a plain circle represents a well-adjusted ordinary person, while people with disorders have modified circles. Percy, for example, has OCD, and thus his circle has a square inside of it to represent his need for order.

With this knowledge, the series can also be seen as a sort of psychological case study of what would happen if ten people with various disorders were placed in the same abandoned building, with no way out and filled with various potentially supernatural phenomenon. For anyone with an interest in psychology, this series will likely be fascinating.

Which isn't to say that that's all there is to it. Superego is still an Ontological Mystery at heart, and that has an appeal of its own, one that is arguably even better if you know the meaning of the numbers.

The series itself is still fairly young -- you can read through its archive in about an hour, likely less. But it's still pretty solid, regardless. And if you don't mind registering for a forum, you can even participate as well.

Overall View: If you're a fan of Lost or Psychology, you'll probably love Superego. If you aren't, then you should probably pass this one by.