Loom: Hint Book

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Cover.

The Loom: Hint Book is a hint book for Loom. It was published by Lucasfilm Games and released in 1990. It could be purchased in video game stores and through mail order, and the LucasArts Classic Adventures box set collection included it. Hints in the book were obscured with red ink and a red plastic transparency, which was included with the book, could be used to reveal the hints. This hint book has a lot more to it than a mere walk-through.

Personal

Own?No.
Read?Booklet.
Finished2019-08-27.

The same friend who introduced me to the game Loom had this hint book, although I don't think I ever looked through it at the time. Instead, I beat the game without any hints and only read this hint book years later to see if I missed anything important.

Review

Overall:

Rating-5.svg

Good

  • The red ink does a decent job of keeping clues hidden ensuring you don't accidentally read hints before you need them. This was a common practice at the time, and I like it because it gives child-readers a sense that they're uncovering a real secret.
  • When clues would be especially revealing, the reader is given a second "are you sure?" type of warning before they reach the spoiler.
  • The maps starting on page 28 are a helpful addition, even if they're only line art.
  • The novelization of the game, starting on page 39, is an interesting memoir of the game, which doubles as a complete spoiler-ridden walk-through.
  • The Things to Try section on the last page includes a list of interesting results that you may have missed in the game.

Bad

  • Realistically, the game is so simple, a hint book is not needed.
  • Having a transcript of the audio drama that came with the book is basically just filler.
  • It would have been nice if the unobscured text in the book was printed in black rather than red which is a bit hard on the eyes.

Ugly

  • Nothing.

Media

Credits

Role Staff
Author Judith Lucero Turchin
Additional Contributions Kirk Roulston, Andrea Siegel, David Fox, Terry Bratcher, Carla Green, Liz Nagy
Maps Harrison Fong, Kirk Roulston
Testing Meredith Cahill, Carla Green
Design Mark Shepard
Print Production Management Lyza Swearingen Latham
Proofreading Andrea Siegel
Thanks Carolyn Knutson, Greg Hammond, Brian Moriarty