"Rue Valley", my Adventure Game Hotspot review!

Read my full review on Adventure Game Hotspot!

Excerpt: "Despite some rough edges and shortcuts in terms of technical production, and a disappointing ending that leaves much to be desired, I enjoyed playing through this forty-seven minute time loop over and over again, partly because it very much guides you along the necessary path. Of course there’s repetition, but it’s not frustrating repetition, where you have to do the same tasks over and over again, just a tad differently to get a slightly alternate outcome as I have often experienced in similar games. Here you’re not aiming for that perfect run, you’re looking for all the pieces of the story puzzle, and when it comes to that, Rue Valley’s gaming experience and stylish presentation definitely succeed."

Classic playthrough: "Spellcasting 101: Sorcerers Get All The Girls"

New game!

I've never played a game by Legend Entertainment before. I didn't even know this company existed until I read about it in The Guide To Classic Graphic Adventures. It's part of why I started doing classic playthroughs for this blog; I definitely wanted to finally fill that gap in my knowledge. And so that particular personal quest starts with Spellcasting 101: Sorcerers Get All The Girls. A game that probably wouldn't see the light of day in our current times. I mean, just look at that cover; this is Porky's or Revenge of the Nerds except with magic. We're definitely not in that 80s frame of mind anymore...

Such an overwhelming UI...

I'm Ernie Eaglebeak. Suffering a violent stepfather, it's my intention to enroll into Sorcerer University, learn some cool spells, whoop his ass, and finally win the heart of my nextdoor girl of my dreams, Lola Tigerbelly. And perhaps those of several others as well, since I'm basically a horny teenager, it seems. The game starts with me locked up in a room, and I need to escape. After some time has passed, a buddy of my stepdad shows up and carries me off to work for him. Game over. 

Finally arrived at Sorcerers University!

This game is a melange of user interfaces. It's a text adventure, but it does have graphics as well, even with some small animations now and then. It's not only a text parser game, because it also supports a point 'n click interface where you can choose the necessary verbs and hotspots from on-screen lists with your mouse. But it's pretty overwhelming, because there are over one hundred different verbs to choose from, and the hotspot list not only includes everything there is to see in a particular location, but also your entire inventory. I often forgot whether I was already carrying an object with me or not.

This university is huge and I have no idea what to do!

It took me a whole hour to finally escape not only my room but also my street - where stepdad's buddy would still grab me - and reach chapter two where I suddenly find myself at the Sorcerer University. I had to restore and even restart several times because that guy kept showing up and dragging me with him. Apparently there's an in-game clock with fixed events at set times, and every action you perform takes five minutes. So my strategy is basically just exploring, trying out stuff, restoring when necessary, until I've figured out what it is I'm supposed to do and then go back to the start of the chapter for  a quick and efficient playthrough.  

The plot has thickened!

It took me another two and a half hours to figure out what I'm supposed to do at that university, since the place is huge and there's lots to see and do. I found a kind of magic-VR-room to practice spells, located some frat houses and brought a girl back to my room (to keep her safe from the other boys, I promise!), had to deal with a professor's wife coming on to me (what is it with the women in this game...) and discovered a maze which actually wasn't that hard to navigate for a change. Then suddenly the university is attacked, a very special magical object stolen, and I find myself all alone. With a modified surfboard in hand I'm supposed to travel elsewhere, I guess, but I haven't figured out yet where. I had a feeling this was going to be a difficult game, but it still blows the mind...

You can find the Spellcasting games on Steam and on GOG!

Finished "Perfect Tides" but missed lots of content...

A very Willy Beamish type street...

After playing through summer and fall, and as the ending of Perfect Tides drew near, I had a feeling I had missed out on lots of stuff. At first I was a bit frustrated by that, since I'm more into linear adventure games without optional content and where you can't miss anything that's important.

First time I'm able to enter this room...

But I realized almost immediately, this is exactly the way it's supposed to be. As a teenager - but actually as an adult still - you don't really know what you're doing. You're living your life improvising all the way through. You can make plans, but they won't always work out. You don't always have obvious goals. And there is stuff you will miss out on or fail to do, very often because you weren't even aware of them. That's just what life is like.

Love the winter version of this game!

As soon as I entered the harvest festival, I realized I should have planted the seeds I found at the start of the game. But I never seemed to have a chance to do so; the story just progressed. I failed to get my mom a gift for Hanukkah for the same reason: I never seemed to have the chance to find anything for her. Then I started thinking perhaps it was linked to those photo negatives I developed at school, but I never seemed to have the chance to go back there and actually develop the photos themselves. Other things kept getting in the way, you might say.

I'd have dumped him for his driving style alone...

Knowing all that now, Perfect Tides truly has replay potential. But do I really want to? I experienced Mara's story, basically a full year in Mara's life. Or at least my version of it. You can't have do-overs in real life, and for me the story is quite wrapped up. After 7,5 hours, this is the story I got, based on the efforts (or lack of, apparently) I put into it. And I'm fine with that.

My thoughts exactly...

While I wouldn't immediately describe Perfect Tides as a feel-good game, it does fall into the cozy category for me. There's nothing difficult about it, except perhaps regularly needing to revisit all locations to find that one trigger that will progress the story. But the game has depth too; I really enjoyed the narrator's dialogue, going deep into Mara's feelings. While I didn't always understand Mara's behaviour towards others, I certainly recognized that general feeling of being lost in the world, unseen by others. And this is exactly what makes it stand out between other games. It's the interactive version of a young adult novel, of a coming of age story, and I really appreciate the efforts that went into making this.

Happy Hanukkah!

While I might not play its sequel, Station to Station, immediately, I will definitely check it out some day. For now, it's time for another classic playthrough. I'm going to return to the magical year 1990, and this will be the very first time I'll play a game by Legend Entertainment. It has a totally different user interface and gameplay style than I'm familiar with, so I'm sure it'll be quite the experience!

You can find Perfect Tides on Steam and on GOG!

"Éalú", my Adventure Game Hotspot review!

 

Read my full review on Adventure Game Hotspot!

Excerpt:"Éalú is a wordless brainteaser good for a couple hours of pure puzzling to escape a maze filled with mechanical obstacles, its stop-motion technique bringing a real wooden toy mouse to life working wonders. While I’m usually no fan of labyrinths in games, the sheer ambition of the developers actually handcrafting each room, then photographing each step the mouse makes, results in an impressive production that heightens the cuteness factor as well as the empathy you feel for the little fella. I wanted the mouse to make it to the end, hated each time it died, and thus tried to avoid it for the rest of the experience. And of course I cheered when I finally succeeded and saw my little rodent friend leave the labyrinth in an endearing final cutscene. With such a short play time, there’s no need to rush, taking your time to savor the experience. After all, the early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese."

It's fall in "Perfect Tides", and lots of drama has passed by...

Beaches are cool...

So after my first introduction to Perfect Tides, I slowly started to relate to the main character Mara very much. My first real relationship was with someone I met in a chatroom as well, so I can totally recognize her excitement and enthusiasm.

ASL?

You move through the storyline at a steady pace. Usually it's apparent where you're supposed to go and what you have to do. Sometimes, though, I was afraid I might have missed something. Often when you talk to someone - like Mara's mom, for instance - you can go with them but they'll ask if you're ready or not. Then you have the option to go immediately, or to wait a bit so you can still do other things. But I never know what else to do, so I've always gone with them straight away. So I don't know whether there might be optional tasks you can miss out on this way.

Dreaming of my next cruise...

There are puzzles, but they don't amount to much. The focus lies on playing through Mara's life as a teenager. And once again, it becomes very recognizable at times. I was an awkward teenager as well, with goofy hair and childish clothes. I never really felt accepted at high school, always felt as the outsider. It got better in later years, when we all had grown up a bit. But at Mara's age? Yes, pure hell.

Sneaky ninja...

But playing Perfect Tides makes me glad I'm not a girl. I get very uncomfortable playing as Mara. I'm constantly afraid something bad will happen, that someone will take advantage of her. There are so many boys - and men - around her, it feels like it's only a matter of time. One guy at school actually showing his, ahem, reproductive organ to her during class... Another guy trying to persuade her to kiss him in an alley...

Party time!

The story takes place in all seasons. I've already had spring and summer, and four hours into the game it's fall. Winter is still coming, but I can only guess where the story will go. Mara's online boyfriend Staggle has to be part of it, but I'm also expecting something world-shattering, something far worse then Mara's brother cutting her off from the internet...

You can find Perfect Tides on Steam and on GOG!

New game: "Perfect Tides"!

New game!

Since Meredith Gran of Three Bees will release its sequel Station to Station soon, it's the perfect time to play the first Perfect Tides! I've heard some good things about this game, I just never got around to it before. Its graphic style reminds me a bit of Willy Beamish, with its quite detailed pixel art but with a sharper look to it.

And that's all you need to know!

Your name is Mara Whitefish. You live on the island of Perfect Tides. As she returns home from getting groceries on the mainland, Mara's friend Lily tells her she had sex with someone. Immediately I thought, how old are these kids?! Because they looked like ten years old to me. But no, they're actually fifteen. Which doesn't make it much better; guess I'm rather old-fashioned that way. I just don't see my own fifteen year old son engaging in that kind of activity; or any kind of activity where he needs to let go of his PS5 controller, for that matter...

Home sweet home...

Anyways, after finding my way home, and doing an errand for mom, I was kind of lost and didn't know what to do next. So I roamed the island a bit. It's a very 90s point 'n click user interface, where you can cycle your mouse cursor between walk, use, talk, and any active inventory item. You can also choose these actions from the menu bar which pops up at the top of your screen. So indeed, very Sierra. Selecting an inventory item to use somewhere is a bit cumbersome, though, but that's a minor nitpick...

Weekend at Simon's?

Eventually I found my way inside the house of an older friend, Simon, who kind of invited me over for dinner tonight. If I can bring my own food, that is. So okay, that's a clear goal. Only I already visited every location on this island (or so I thought) without finding anything food-related, and Mara won't take the groceries back out of the fridge at home...

One hilarious quit-screen!

But traipsing around some more I did find some things and suddenly, after an hour of gameplay, night has fallen. Perfect time for a break and writing this blog post. It is a bit awkward playing a teenage girl as an adult male, but I do remember my own obsession with the opposite sex when I was fifteen... and thirty-five... (I'm happily married now!) So yeah, I'm sure it'll be okay...

You can find Perfect Tides on Steam and on GOG!

Finished "Les Manley in: Search for The King" but not without lots of help!

Phew, glad that's over with...

Yes! Les Manley in: Search for The King, this evil spawn of text parser moon logic, has been vanquished! My final impression of this game: how are you supposed to figure out half of this stuff? Like asking for a soda. And how you can make a sandwich without even knowing there's bread around. And apparently there are many uses of candle wax I wasn't aware of. I also had to look up a word I had never encountered before: rosin, a solid form of resin, which provides grip for gymnast, but which seems to have the exact opposite effect in this game for some reason... And "the dream"! How out of the box are we supposed to think here?

Creative candle holders...

So, once I had figured out I needed to gather pieces of a look-a-like costume, I was better able to focus my search. Back at the circus, I also discovered a new location in the form of Madama Zamooska's fortune telling wagon. Her hypnotic blue eyes didn't really have much to offer, and then she even vanished when I got too close to her, but at least then she couldn't stop me from further examining the stuff on her table, even if that didn't give me any new ideas, either. But by now I had a couple of items in my inventory, so I referred to the age old technique of trying to use everything on everything. I went back to the other circus people and went through the list, when suddenly Luigi, the strongest man in the world, accepted something and finally started his act. I still don't know why...

Still no idea if this place serves a purpose...

Then I went on a limb and tried to give a hungry lion the only food I had on me, even though it wasn't meat as the beast's thought balloon seemed to prefer. Thankfully it worked and I was able to discover another part of the costume. Which I probably wouldn't have recognized if I hadn't skipped ahead first in my previous playthrough to figure out what I was actually looking for. Which left Helmut, the smallest man in the world, and that's the point where I'm sorry to admit I consulted an article written by Richard Cobbett which can also function as a walkthrough. And while I feel bad about that, I also don't because no way would I have been able to figure out how to help Helmut. But then I had to reload from an earlier point, after accidentally losing Helmut when I finally moved on to Las Vegas.

Cuter than Lo Fat, at least...

The Vegas sequence was a bit easier, but perhaps only because by now I had come to expect the limited replies from the text parser, so I knew I had to go into detail myself. I had learned by now that usually it wasn't enough to just look at objects; you have to look inside them as well. There was a kind of invisible door I didn't notice at first and an item in a bathroom I hadn't realized was there, either. But at least it was more logical than some of the things I had to do before. Finally moving on to Graceland, I still got the message that I might have forgotten something. But by the life of me I had no idea what that could be. So back to the walkthrough it was, and turns out there was indeed a part of the costume to be found at the pool of the Las Vegas hotel. I had actually seen that place, but other than getting myself killed there I had no idea what you were supposed to do. I guess in hindsight it was obvious, looking at all the pictures of The King, but still, quite far-fetched...

Wish I had gone on vacation instead of playing this game...

The final sequence at Graceland was quite straightforward, except for the invisible bread I mentioned earlier. There was one other issue where I had to reload again because I didn't notice I lost one of my inventory items at an earlier puzzle; and yes, I had to take a peek at the walkthrough for both these issues, sadly enough... I guess the second one is on me, but the bread is unforgivable: there is absolutely no indication, not a single description mentioning the bread is there. I can't call this anything other than bad design.

Johnny has left the game, thank you very much...

So all this led to a very strange but eventually happy ending. I won't play it straightaway, but I heard the sequel, Lost in L.A. has dropped the text parser for a point 'n click interface, so at least I have that to look forward to. Lets hope the rest of the game design is more user-friendly as well. Next up, though, I'm going to play a more recent game about a teenage girl growing up on an island, because its sequel is coming out this month and I want to be prepared!

I don't know why you'd want to, but you can find Les Manley in: Search for The King on Steam and on GOG!