"Afterdream", my Adventure Game Hotspot review!

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Excerpt: Afterdream definitely has some eerie-looking imagery and sounds, but before long it becomes obvious that this game isn’t simply a scary story but also one of grief, loss, saying goodbye, getting closure and accepting the finality of death. Even though the puzzles are on the easy side, there’s enough diversity of gameplay to keep you entertained on an interactive level. But it’s the heart-tugging story of Jennifer trying so hard to make contact with her deceased father, and her encounters with the other ghosts stuck in their own purgatory, that make this quite the emotional journey as well. It may only take three hours to finish, but it really is a dream to play through.

"The Legend of Skye", my Adventure Game Hotspot review!

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Excerpt: Lovers of nostalgia will adore both the lovely pixel art graphics and (at least for a while) verb-based user interface of The Legend of Skye’s fantasy journey, but some puzzle designs seem to stem from the 80s and 90s as well. You’ll often have to think long and hard about how to use your huge collection of inventory items, and you’ll find yourself searching everywhere and talking to everyone more than once before the penny drops – if you don’t stumble upon the solution accidentally through trial and error first. While I enjoyed the humor and had lots of fun throughout, especially during the second half, by which point the game’s expectations had started to become a bit more intuitive to me, it also came with its share of frustrations. This too will be very familiar to all those who tried to solve adventure game puzzles in the era before the internet, which appears to be the point. At least this time you don’t need to call a hotline to pay for your hints, with a walkthrough always close at hand. I wish I didn’t need to use it as often as I did, but I gladly accept some old-school gameplay frustrations for the chance to feel transported back in time with a funny, entertaining adventure experience like I remember from my childhood.

Classic time: "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" playthrough

Proudly displaying my Indy-gear...

I've replayed Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and finished it in just under 2 hours! That's probably fast, but I've owned this game for thirty years or so, and I've played it countless times, so I know most of the (inventory) puzzle solutions by heart.

I've been a long time Indiana Jones fan. I watched Raiders of the Lost Ark on the BBC, so without Dutch subtitles, and together with the Lucasfilm/Arts Games adventures, that was a great help to learn the English language. I got really hooked by playing The Fate of Atlantis; I bought that game before I got my hands on a secondhand copy of Last Crusade, actually, and it was great fun being able to play as Indy.

I wish you could see the old librarian's face here as well...

The adventure game follows the movie, omits several scenes but also expands on others. It's too bad there's no young Indy section, and all the major action sequences are cut out too, like the motorboat chase and the tank in the desert. We do get to explore the Venetian catacombs and Castle Brunwald more thoroughly. Venice has several cool puzzles for which you need to check the in-game diary, but most of my playing time went into exploring the castle. I was caught several times, lost several fights, because I couldn't remember how to fool all guards.

Let's check out their tapestries, Lord McDonald...

I really like how there are different ways to play it. You can fight, talk or bribe your way past enemies, you can take the zeppelin or fly a biplane out of Berlin, but what's most important is that you need to find two descriptions of the Grail, one found in the catacombs and the other in the castle, together with the physical copy of the diary that came with the game, in order to properly finish it, and it's quite easy to miss those and get stuck in the end.

Dad? What? Dad?! What?! Dad! What!

But that's not all: it's also impossible to find the castle clue if you forgot to pick up an important item at the start of the game! Now, of course, every adventure player worth their salt knows that if it's not nailed down, then take it with you. But still, these kind of dead-ends, and the game-over screens after losing a fistfight as well, are not what Lucasfilm/Arts Games are known for. That's because danger is very important in an Indiana Jones story. You need to have that feeling that you can fail, that you can make mistakes, and that it will cost you dearly. Of course, that makes it a tricky balance to still wind up with a fun game, something you still enjoy playing instead of getting frustrated by it.

It was so simple in the movie. Just throw a guy out the window and go!

The Last Crusade is definitely a game where you will want to save often. During this playthrough, I chose to enter the zeppelin instead of using a manual found in the Venice library to start up a lonely biplane. The biplane would've actually been quicker; I had to reload the zeppelin maze several times, since I was constantly getting knocked out. I used to have the perfect route memorized to avoid all soldiers and get to the exit as fast as possible without a single encounter, but I could no longer do it. The three mazes (catacombs, castle, zeppelin) really prolong the game.

Where's a flock of seagulls when you need them...

Then there's the plane chase. Trying to leave Germany, fighter planes will try to take you down. If you crash, you'll find a car to continue your journey but then you'll have to get past a series of checkpoints. The number of checkpoints that remain depends on how many planes you managed to shoot down. However, you as Indy only control the biplane itself; it's your dad who's holding the gun, and his crosshairs seem to swerve all over the place instead of over the targets. I don't think I've ever been able to take down more than three enemy aircraft.

Hesitate as long as Indy did in the movie and you wont make it...

Sadly, there's no Sallah in this game. And then come the three trials. To be honest, I was kinda expecting more of the trials themselves. The second one is easy, the first one takes a clue from the physical diary and some pixel hunting, and the last one, well, that's just a leap of faith.

What, no sword fight?

This is an older SCUMM game, which I ran through ScummVM (hence the weird looking screenshots). A downside is that these games require a double click to activate the order you give. You're actually compiling a sentence: you pick a hotspot, you pick a verb, then you have to confirm your choices before Indy will do what you want. Also, hovering your mouse over the screen won't reveal anything. Hotspots can only be located by activating the "what is" verb. I'm glad future adventure games simplified that user interface.

I wish I could go back and play a game like this for the first time again. I don't recall how long my original playthrough took. But especially Castle Brunwald is very tricky. I've played the Indy action games as well (Infernal Machine, Emperor's Tomb, Staff of Kings) and I'll probably play The Great Circle too once it comes out, but I really wish they would make a new point 'n click as well.

"Between Horizons", my Adventure Game Hotspot review!

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Excerpt: While the user interface takes some getting used to, and the script could have used a little more polish, the story and investigative gameplay of Between Horizons are highly entertaining. I really enjoyed playing as Stella, molding both her character and the story’s ultimate outcome with my dialogue choices and efficiency as the Zephyr’s chief of security. I loved roaming around the spaceship looking for clues and talking to other characters, each with their own unique personality and background, with not one but ten different mysteries to investigate. And there’s a great amount of detailed worldbuilding, both visually and narratively found in this game. It’s a shame that trying for a different outcome demands another complete playthrough, but I was very satisfied with the ending I got, despite only finding the right solution for eight out of ten cases. Even if you’re like me and generally have no real affinity for science fiction, this intriguing detective/sci-fi story aims for the stars, and as far as I’m concerned it’s mission successful! 

"Reveil", my Adventure Game Hotspot review!

 

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Excerpt: The beautifully realistic graphics pulled me into Reveil, but I stayed and even endured some motion sickness for the emotional quest of the main character to find his missing loved ones, the nightmarish locales and the nifty puzzles, capped off by an exhilarating final chapter that truly succeeds in turning everything upside down. I know jump scares are often a main attraction in horror games, but I’m personally not a fan of them so I’m glad they didn’t go overboard with them here. Although there were just enough to make me instinctively curse out loud on occasion, something I’m usually not known to do! I certainly don’t regret getting a ticket to this crazy circus adventure. It may not be the greatest show on earth with only a four-hour funhouse ride, but it makes for a captivating exploration through its protagonist’s twisted dreams and tortured memories.

Finished Scott Whiskers: The Search for Mr. Fumbleclaw in 10 hours!

It takes a long time for someone to show up here...

Even though it has its flaws, I did enjoy playing through it. I kinda rolled into it the further I got, it's fun doing all the quests. The art style might not have always been my thing, but there are some good scenes as well. I often stumbled upon what I call chronology errors in the dialogue options; to give an example, it's sometimes possible to ask a character something with dialogue option #4 first, which then contains information Scott only acquires by asking dialogue option #2, so which should be impossible chronologically speaking. But even if that part of the conditional programming could have have used a bit more work, all the different storylines still pulled me in and made me want to complete them. 

Now these are very transparant living arrangements...

The final chapter wasn’t that long but still well designed. I finally met the owner of the back alley business that was always deserted for most of the game, and finally a connection with the first NPC you meet in the game. Turns out I actually found Mr. Fumbleclaw pretty early on at the start of the third and last chapter, but then my objective changed a bit, which led to a couple more good puzzles. What I really enjoyed in this game is that you can take a Polaroid photo of all NPC’s; they’re actually the Steam Achievements! Sadly enough I figured out pretty late how I had to recharge the camera, and by then one of the NPC’s was no longer available, so I didn’t get 100% achievement!

There's something hidden here and it's not what you think...

There was a funny section where you listen to an NPC who is playing through the original Police Quest off-screen, though some people might find it a bit long-winded, but then again I never watch videos or streams of people playing games myself so that might be my reason for thinking so (I tried making playthrough videos once but they weren’t very popular it seems so I stopped doing that, lol!)

Mission accomplished!

Overall, it was a fun game but perhaps a different kind of funny. I didn't think it was as "laugh out loud" funny, it's not that "in your face", it's more "silly" funny. Should I compare it to Lucasarts Games, it's no Sam & Max or Day of the Tentacle, but more Monkey Island and Indiana Jones. A more serious premise but still including humor. I think the dev and I look at puzzle designs in very similar ways. I see the obstacle, I imagine a possible solution, so then when I eventually find what I need I just need to take it back to the obstacle. Even the instance where Scott mentions "moon logic" was pretty obvious for me.

I'm certainly looking forward to see what this developer does next!

"Conrad Stevenson's Paranormal P.I.", my Adventure Game Hotspot review!

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Excerpt: Thankfully, with all the “how to play” research out of the way, I spent hours investigating each new haunt without noticing how much time was flying by. Yet even after knowing how everything worked, the second location took me even two hours longer to finish! That was okay, though, because even in all the quiet, slow-burn moments I had a constant feeling of excitement, jumping at every sound and physical manifestation as I tried to capture evidence of paranormal phenomena. And it was my curiosity about the deceased I was “hunting,” and of course the anticipation of actually seeing the spirits in person, that kept me glued to my screen as if it were my own personal ghost relic. It’s an acquired taste, even with the right expectations, but persevere beyond its daunting start and Conrad Stevenson’s Paranormal P.I. becomes a thoroughly compelling procedural with a very real human element, even if most of those humans are no longer alive.