How do I play interactive fiction? This looks very weird.
This is parser-based interactive fiction, a very old style of adventure game. I first played a game like this in about 1978.
Here's an introduction to playing this kind of game.
How come a text game takes 125 megabytes of space?
Yeah, it's a little bulky. Hadean Lands is based on a cross-platform interactive fiction app called Lectrote, which in turn uses a framework called Electron, which is turn is based on Chrome. So basically you've got two megabytes of IF game file, plus a half megabyte of Javascript interpreter code -- plus Node.js and a bundled web browser.
It's not the most efficient way to release a text game, but it was the best way to provide a great IF interface across Mac, Windows, and Linux.
It's a bit slow.
See above. The interpreter is written in Javascript. But it should be playable on any modern desktop computer.
Now, if you were to look through the Steam app directory for a file called "HadeanLands.ulx" -- that would be a portable Glulx game file. You could copy that out and play it in a native IF interpreter such as Gargoyle, and it would be quite a bit faster. (And not take 125 megabytes.) But then you wouldn't have the nice map and journal interface.
What's this about DLC?
See the store page for more information about that.
Where do I find hints?
Hadean Lands does not come with hints or a walkthrough.
If you decide you need a hint -- and you might not! -- then I recommend asking other players. Hint-giving works best in a community. The Steam forums will certainly have open topics for getting help.
Failing that, there are also some very thorough fan walkthroughs out on the Net. I won't link to them, but a web search will lead you there.
What other IF have you written?
Hadean Lands is the only IF game that I am selling on Steam. Most of my older games are available on my web site for free!