"Ghost on the Shore", my Adventure Game Hotspot review!

Read my full review on Adventure Game Hotspot!

Excerpt: "Instead of solving difficult puzzles, once in a while you may just feel like going for a stroll in nature. Ghost on the Shore not only scratches that itch, but also lets you experience an engaging, supernatural story along the way. The first-person exploration is somewhat on the linear side, but with plenty of collectibles that encourage exploration, each one telling a little bit more of the island’s troubled history. The banter between the two main characters is amusing, endearing, sometimes heartbreaking, with the constant tension of being stuck with each other but unable to fully help one another. It’s their relationship and the promise of uncovering more of the rich story of the past that keeps you going. This particular ghost on the shore was very much human once, with all the happiness and tragedies that comes with it, and it’s the emotional resonance of this tale that is sure to haunt you more deeply than any poltergeist."

About thirty deaths later on "The Drifter"...

My own ex has never been this helpful...

After last time playing The Drifter, I've died and returned at least thirty times. The bad guys had me cornered at the graveyard, and it took a bit to escape. I wound up at Annie's house, Mick's sister, where Sarah, Mick's ex-wife was able to help me out some. I had to travel back and forth between the different locations a lot trying to find information that could help me.

Aha! A computer! That'll surely hold some answers...

Of course when I found something I could use, the bad guys caught up with me again and I had to be creative to escape, dying several times before I figured out the correct sequence of events to get me to safety. To be honest, I thought the rewinds would be more frustrating, but it's actually not that bad and I was always able to find the solution relatively fast.

What goes up, must come down...

I really like the graphical style of The Drifter. It's pixel art, but the scenes seem to glow. The use of lighting is gorgeously done. The dialogues and voice actors are simply brilliant. I also like how slower scenes alternate the tense once where split decisions mean the difference between life or death. Or, well, temporary death...

So little to work with, yet so long until I figured it out...

After spending what felt like eternity in captivity of someone adamant on performing brain surgery on me, trying to get free time and time again and getting blasted in the face or in the chest over and over again too, I've reached chapter six after 4,5 hours of playing. It's amazing that many times when I think I have found the solution, it backfires and it turns out I have to do something completely different, or change some conditions beforehand. Now it's time to come with a plan, together with some unlikely new allies...

You can buy The Drifter on Steam or on GOG.

New game: "The Drifter"

New game!

Since The Drifter was released back in July, I've heard nothing but good things about it. Game Of The Year things, even. I bought the game as well, since the concept definitely intrigued me. But it took me a while to get to. Finally, the day has come and I started my first playthrough!

Much darker than "Loco Motive"...

I'm Mick Carter. Clearly I'm Australian, going by the accent. I also like to comment on everything I do. Seriously, this voice actor is quite something. It's hard to imagine him simply saying the lines from a script. The emotion he puts in this performance, I can't believe he's not watching an actual playthrough of the game himself, it's so on the nose!

Just pick up the idol and climb out!

Mick is coming back home after having basically disappeared five years ago. His mother has died and he wants to attend her funeral. Well, "wants to" is perhaps the wrong way to put it... "Feels obliged to" is more like it. Anyways, on arrival in a train's box car, he gets caught up in what appears to be a conspiracy: several homeless people have been abducted, others are acting crazy, and if that wasn't enough weirdness to go around, Mick is caught himself, thrown in the lake with a block of cement tied to his feet, and actually drowns. Only to come back to life a couple of minutes in the past, and with a second chance to free himself.

I felt a bit chilly...

I've heard people mention how fast-paced this game is, while still being a traditional point 'n click, inventory-puzzle based adventure. I believe we put in that sense of urgency ourselves, making the game feel fast-paced to our own experience. Stuff happens, Mick is threatened, he has to act to save himself. This gets our own adrenaline rushing, and even without an obvious time limit, we act much faster than we would in a regular adventure game. Mick's story is an action thriller but one that seems to have some supernatural elements to it, and the game does an excellent job to translate that into an interactive experience.

Cemeteries in adventure games, could be a blog post in there...

After an hour and fifteen minutes of game time, I've reached chapter three. I've finally made it to the funeral, but this is only the beginning, since Mick is now clearly neck-deep in all the nasty stuff that seems to be happening in this city... Time for me to dive back in!

You can buy The Drifter on Steam or on GOG.

Case closed on "The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Serrated Scalpel"!

So much detail in these scenes...

After finding the culprits behind the murder of Sarah Carroway in The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Serrated Scalpel, I was led to a pawn shop. It didn't take long for the owner to spill the beans. This led me to the offices of a couple of private investigators who also got entangled in the Carroway case. 

Is it African or Indian?

Too bad for them, though, as I discovered after a visit to the zoo trying to find one of them, and tracking the other one down at a subway station. Suffice to say the case got an even darker edge and started to cost innocent lives. And if that wasn't enough, suddenly we also got a suicide on our hands! Filled with remorse, the person responsible for all the trouble in this story decided to take his own life after we discovered the truth. 

Plenty of drama in this game...

Then it took quite some searching and putting a couple of details together to finally discover where the missing Anna Carroway was. I must admit I was kinda stuck there at first, having exhausted all options, missing the next lead because I couldn't immediately connect the dots. But everything turned out alright in the end.

Took me long enough to find this place...

As far as I can tell, The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Serrated Scalpel isn't currently available for purchase anywhere, though you CAN vote to put it on GOG!

My next playthrough will most likely be of a recent game again, about some guy who keeps getting killed over and over again or something...

The plot thickens in "The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Serrated Scalpel"

This is where I learned the word "taxidermist"...

After following one lead after another, I discovered the identity of the possible murderer of Sarah Carroway in Covent Garden. It took me some time beating several patrons of the Moongate Pub, as well as the bartender, at darts. The name led me to yet another series of London locations where I presumably found the murder weapon as well: the famed serrated scalpel!

Skipper's goin' down!

Using the unbeatable nose of Toby, Holmes's favorite search dog, we found our way to the docks where the murderer was doing some business with a yet to identified stranger. We caught the murderer, but the stranger vamoosed in the struggle. Locked up in jail, the murderer isn't exactly cooperating, so we need some more dirt on him to make him talk.

Run, Sherlock, run!

Following some other leads I had abandoned for a while, I finally learned the name of that rugby player. Talking to him led me to yet another handful of locations and now in search of the victim's sister, Anna. After three hours of gameplay, it seems I have finally discovered the true motive behind the killing, and what is actually at stake here.

Once again succeeded in making a grown man cry...

After exhausting all other leads, I've returned to jail to confront the killer and indeed, he gives us another name, the identity of the second man at the docks. Could this lead us to the final chapter in this story? The answers seem to lie in a small pawn shop. Let's go find out!

I just knew someone posh was involved...

As far as I can tell, The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Serrated Scalpel isn't currently available for purchase anywhere, though you CAN vote to put it on GOG!

"Agatha Christie - Death on the Nile", my Adventure Game Hotspot review!

Read my full review on Adventure Game Hotspot!

Excerpt: "I’m terribly ashamed to admit it, but I’ve never read the original Death on the Nile novel. I will get around to it someday, but in the meantime I was very happy to play through this interactive and embellished version of the story. For those who have read it or seen the various movie adaptations, the addition of Jane should add some much-needed novelty, and the two storylines of Jane and Poirot intertwine masterfully and even lead to an epilogue I didn’t see coming but made perfect sense. There seems to be a lot more to do here than on the Orient Express – perhaps even a bit too much that doesn’t really seem relevant to the story. And yet I was captivated by the setting and scenery, and really liked searching around for clues and elusive collectibles, as well as questioning people and trying to figure out their secrets. I’m very much a fan of these Poirot games, so I hope that if there’s another, Microids remembers that solving a murder with one of literary fiction’s greatest detectives is interesting enough without a boatful of diversions."

Classic time: "The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Serrated Scalpel"

Replay!

After playing Casebook 1899: The Leipzig Murders, I was in the mood for some more sleuthing. Coincidence has it that in my list of classic playthroughs I had just come to an old friend from my youth again: The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Serrated Scalpel by Mythos Software. As is the case with many classic adventure games, I lost count of the amount of times I've played through this game. It's been a while now, so let's see how much of it I still remember during this replay!

Severe case of sciophobia...

London, 1888. A woman is attacked and killed in an alley behind the Regency Theatre. Inspector Lestrade requests Holmes's presence and so, accompanied by Dr. Watson, I make my way there. This point 'n click adventure uses a verb interface. Every piece of dialogue is recorded by Watson and can be read again under the Journal button. There are lots of hotspots and each one has an elaborate description. The game hails from a time when there weren't any voice-overs, though the cutscenes ARE voiced.

The scene of the crime...

After an hour of gaming, I've searched the crime scene and the victim's residence, conducted some chemical experiments on some pieces of evidence, sent Wiggins on an errand, and found a couple of leads which led me to several locations across London. Each time you think you're getting close, a new clue pops up taking you even deeper into the case.

This travel map taught me my way around London...

So far, only one thing bothered me a bit and that was an artificial lenghtening of the game by having you bump into some bureaucracy, forcing you into some back and forth between NPC's to get past some red tape before you can actually continue your investigation. All that stuff had nothing to do with the murder, but in hindsight perhaps it's an authentic and realistic obstacle to run into. It isn't fun, though.

Ugh... Sports...

My search led me to the Kensington rugby field. I found some evidence leading to one of the players, but the coach won't let me come near him unless I can tell him a name. I haven't found a name yet, though, but thankfully I've just found another lead that might prove fruitful in this regard. Back to late 19th century London it is! 

As far as I can tell, The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Serrated Scalpel isn't currently available for purchase anywhere, though you CAN vote to put it on GOG!