"Tachyon Dreams Anthology", my Adventure Game Hotspot review

Read my full review on Adventure Game Hotspot!

Excerpt: "Compared to most modern graphic adventures, Tachyon Dreams Anthology might shock newcomers to the genre with its blatantly old-school graphics and user interface. But this is a game that must be judged on what it’s trying to do, and that’s where it largely succeeds. It’s a nostalgic 80s-era Sierra clone, with blocky pixel art and a text parser for commands instead of simple point and click. Objects are sometimes crudely presented visually, and a better than basic knowledge of the English language is needed, but I hope people who aren’t turned off by its limitations will give this game a go. Sci-fi usually isn’t my cup of tea, but the simplified presentation made for an enjoyable trip down memory lane. And even for those who didn’t grow up with adventures in the 1980s, not only does this game shower you with great humor, it succeeds in making you think about your own life and the path you’ve walked in the process."

10 of my favorite (modern) traditional adventure games

Many people can't get enough of the old Sierra and LucasArts adventure games. Pixel art or 2.5D, one-click interface or verb system, it all revolves around talking to people, picking up everything that's not nailed down, or looking for something to remove those nails with. Fetch quests, item combinations, finding or fabricating keys to open doors, moon logic or down to earth, inventory or mechanical puzzles; modern developers still love telling their stories through these means, without feeling the need to completely redesign the gameplay or user interface.

Here's a list of my favorite traditional adventure games released in the past couple of years, that I feel capture best the look and feel of the classics, but also succeed in telling a memorable story you might want to revisit some day.

*In no particular order*

Lucy Dreaming - (2022)

I had the honor of beta-testing Lucy Dreaming and so helping fine-tune this beautiful work of point ‘n click art and storytelling. There’s a clear love of adventure gaming shining through in every second you spend in this world, and this game is good for 12 hours of puzzling fun!

I’m Lucy, troubled by recurring nightmares depriving me of some well needed night’s rest. My goal is obvious: find a way to take control of my dreams and combat those nightmares. A psychology book of my dad advises me on how to do this, so the first part of the game is getting set up for this.

In this way, it combines travelling through fantasy (dream) worlds with solving a murder mystery, all in a nostalgic 90s setting with excellent, very detailed writing, great voicework (including Dominic Armato, whom Tom succeeded in acquiring for this job even long before anyone ever talked about him returning to a particular island), clever puzzles and nerdy coolness overall! I estimate a regular playthrough time of 12 hours.

Crowns and Pawns: Kingdom of Deceit (2022)

Crowns and Pawns: Kingdom of Deceit is a light and colourful game with beautiful backgrounds, a movie or good TV show quality soundtrack, and a fun to play with main character whose outfit you can even customise. One puzzle I encountered even involved putting together the right pieces of clothing.

I'm Milda Kovas, freelance photographer (I chose that profession from three options at the start of the game) and I just inherited a house from my grandfather in Lithuania. Once there, I discover some people are after a secret gramps seemed to've been hiding, so of course I want to go after it myself first!

The game takes elements from Broken Sword and Secret Files to build a mystery drenched in history. I've encountered a couple of logic puzzles but the others are mostly inventory based. There is some level of interactivity added to interaction of NPC's by offering multiple ways to respond in conversations (not only in person but also by phone; calls ánd text messages), building your version of Milda's personality along the way. The quality of the game is top notch, it's everything what I expected. I finished it in 7 hours.

The Excavation of Hob's Barrow (2022)

I'm Thomasina Bateman, antiquarian, and I've been invited to the town of Bewlay to investigate Hob's Barrow, a local burial mound. Once arrived, my host is nowhere to be found, the local townsfolk are keeping mum about both him and the barrow in question, and it doesn't take long to realise there's more than one mystery surrounding the area.

It's a slow game and I took my time to look at everything, talk to everyone, gather information and clues and just following the storyline as it unfolds. It's not a puzzle heavy game but it's a great story. I loved walking around Bewlay figuring things out. I don't think I used the in-game map function even once; I always walked there myself. I finished the game in 7,5 hours, and I'm really curious to see what the next brain child of Cloak and Dagger Games will be!

The Will of Arthur Flabbington (2023)

The Will of Arthur Flabbingon is a game by Fabio "Guga" Guggeri. I've helped beta test it a bit and I played through it again after it was officially released. I had only played the unvoiced version before that, so I was very keen on hearing all the characters speak for the first time! I Finished it in roughly 9 hours!

Jack Flabbington's uncle, Arthur, has passed away and Jack is upset he doesn't inherit anything. Arthur is supposed to have a treasure stashed away somewhere, so Jack calls in the help of a medium to bring back Arthur's spirit so he can ask where it is. Something goes wrong, though, and the medium brings back the wrong Arthur. Jack is now stuck with an unknown spirit, and there's nothing left to do than search for Arthur's old friends Ada and John who, according to his will, are the only ones who can access the fabled treasure.

This game is amazing. You have to pay attention to so many details to figure out the puzzle solutions. It's all inventory puzzles mostly, but then I suddenly discovered Arthur, the ghost, can POSSESS people! Yes indeed, you need to take over other people's bodies to get them to do stuff for you! This is ingenious! Not to mention funny! This also means that you actually have TWO playable characters in this game, which also means you have TWO sets of descriptions for every hotspot you encounter! Now that's what I call a very creative attention to detail and love for the job of decent game development!

Darkestville Castle (2017)

I finished Darkestville Castle in 8,5 hours! It seems to be heavily influenced by Curse of Monkey Island. The graphic style, the chapter titles, the inventory system, especially the music, well, mostly the music, I mean, put this music in a quiz and I think every gamer will say it's from Curse...

I'm Cid, a demon come to the town of Darkestville on a falling star. He plays a bit like Guybrush Threepwood but mixed with Megamind, although in general he doesn't come over all that villainous. One day my old "nemesis" Dan Teapot (who reminds me a bit of Wally B. Feed) locks me up in my castle, awaiting a trio of demon hunters to catch me and take me away. Of course I succeed in getting rid of Dan, only to have the demon hunters take off with my pet fish instead, which I'm adamant in getting back!

I like the puzzles, which are pretty straightforward. The game works with a verb coin, giving you the option to "look", "talk to" and "grab/use/open" stuff. There are lots of hotspots with often funny commentary, making this a well-packed game. It's not THAT long of a game, but I took my time exploring this detailed world, looking at everything and trying out stuff just to see what it does.

Beyond the Edge of Owlsgard (2022)

I'm Finn, a roebuck returning home to the land of Velehill to celebrate an annual festival, only to find his parental home completely destroyed. Monsters roam the land, and the nearby villagers are convinced it's the wolves, once banished to the other side of the forest. But Finn encounters some weird elements while looking for his parents that makes him believe a lot more is going on than just a pack of vengeful wolves...

It's a fairy tale world filled with talking animals. There are many characters with great voice actors and several different locations all easily accessible through a world map. It all looks very cheerful but the place got its darker side too. Sometimes you're even warned of approaching danger by a flashing save (floppy disk) icon. And indeed, if you slip up, you get one of those classic death scenes the old Sierra games used to be filled with. Only here it's funnier than being simply annoying.

I really like how this story is written, everything makes sense, there's danger lurking all over the place, there's a general feeling of urgency, you really want to achieve all goals and, well, save the world basically. Usually you get a general "okay, that was fun, let's see what I'll play next!" feeling, but here I'm really quite immersed in this world and really wanted to celebrate the good ending. It's a gritty fairy tale that's about more than just cute talking animals. Very good story, I really hope it becomes the success it deserves to be!

Unusual Findings (2022)

I had been looking forward to Unusual Findings, being an 80s child myself. I love everything about it. Finished it in 13 hours. You control Vinny, who is followed by his friends Nick and Tony to explore their hometown and make up a plan after they find something unusual...

It's a beautiful pixel art adventure game using a verb coin to interact with the world (look, use and talk). Some well-designed puzzles; it was usually apparent what I had to do but not HOW I had to do it. Some misdirection, extra elements, but also some hidden objects; you really need to not only inspect but also try to use everything in this game because you never know where a necessary inventory item might be stashed away. 

I really loved it when the domino effect happened, with one thing leading to another in solving the puzzles. I really like the structure of the game, and how we have three protagonists; it makes it far more believable when each of them does something they excel at, than having one main character capable of doing it all. Also the dynamic between the boys adds to the fun, I really liked their diverse personalities.

Whispers of a Machine (2019)

I'm pleasantly surprised by Whispers of a Machine. I love the character portraits, the voices, the setting doesn't have too many screens so my mental map of the place was under control. I enjoyed this investigation.

You play as Vera, a cybernetically altered detective investigating a series of murders in a post-apocalyptic world. Puzzles are of perfect difficulty level.  I was always looking forward to see where the story would take me.

As you play, you unlock new abilities, or "augmentations". Which ones you get depends on your playing style, and of course this also changes the puzzle solutions. Finished the game in 8,5 hours, though I have a feeling I could've handled the ending "battle" differently. I got the "Path of Tyr", finishing the game assertively, I "unleashed the wolf" and went "careerist". So turns out there are different endings, and from what I hear from other players, there are also different augmentations to get, depending on how you play.

The Night Is Grey (2024)

The “grown man meets little girl and vows to protect her” theme is part of what made games like The Walking Dead and The Last of Us so great, as it’s highly effective at stirring up powerful emotions. And that’s exactly what Whalestork Interactive does with The Night Is Grey, their very first point-and-click brainchild. This side-scrolling cinematic thriller brings two contrasting characters together and takes you on a creepy ride through dark forests and abandoned mines, where you’ll thoroughly (if tensely) enjoy puzzling your way past all kinds of physical obstacles to bring your young charge to her grandparents’ house while keeping her safe from a band of roving wolves.

The Night Is Grey constantly kept me on my toes. It challenged me with some doozy logic puzzles I was able to solve just before frustration set in, but thankfully its more straightforward inventory puzzles were able to balance the difficulty. The gorgeous scenery and frame-by-frame animation blew me away, and the chemistry between man and child, so well presented through their dialogue, made me forget they weren’t even voiced. There’s tension throughout the journey, and the quest to keep Hannah safe really makes you feel responsible, motivating you to hurry up and find your way out of danger. And then there are the story twists, the constant hinting at Graham’s past, the strange occurrences with the wolves, and a memorable ending that is sure to make you do a double take. Overall, it’s a wonderful journey that combines all of the elements that I enjoy most, and I consider it a must-play for other fans of traditional adventure games.

A Twisted Tale (2024)

Wow, what a ride this was! What a feeling of accomplishment every time I made some headway! There are some nifty puzzles in this game, lots of funny stuff. I was really stumped a couple of times, but never too long to get frustrated. Really looking forward to chapter two!

My name's Vio. One day I'm minding my own business, cleaning up the café where I work, when suddenly I find this small Rubic cube left on one of the tables. As soon as I pick it up for a closer inspection, a vortex appears and it sucks me right in, only to spit me back out in some forest with strange looking plants and trees. The cube follows me through the portal and falls to the ground, glowing hot!

While I wait for it to cool down, I walk to the edge of the forest only to find a floating town in the clouds! I explore the town and meet a fisherman trying to catch birds, his wife Betty waiting for him as she constantly paints over her nails, a very enthusiastic turkey loving chef in a restaurant and his old lady customer needing to clean her teeth, a couple of road workers trying to keep the crumbling town together, a tattoo artist, and a very pedantic antique shop owner who just happens to have stolen my magic cube as soon as I'd turned my back!

I love this game's style: one-click user interface to either talk, examine or pick up items. An inventory you click open with the other mouse button. A hand-drawn classic-style adventure game with great voice acting and cool music every step of the way. While there aren't THAT many locations to visit in this chapter (nine screen in all I believe, some of them scroll sideways...) I must've walked for miles in this game! It's almost like, people don't stay where they are, and other conditions and environments change over time as well, as you progress through the story and puzzles. So I was constantly exploring, looking for new things, talking to people again and again.

"It's Grim Up North", my Adventure Game Hotspot review!

Read my full review on Adventure Game Hotspot!

Excerpt: It’s Grim Up North is flawed. There’s no getting around that. Clumsy interface, grammatical errors (and I’m not talking about the blatant slang), the protagonist walking through objects, and characters telling you to do things you’ve already done. But oh, it sure is fun anyway, init? Terry’s ad lib remarks and insults towards the other villagers, inventory puzzles that are put together logically, funny animations like Terry twirling a shotgun, and of course the hilarious combat sequences and the creative alien designs. It all fits together so well, and had me in stitches for a few hours. Those hoping for a complete game will be disappointed by the “to be continued” nature of the (non-)ending here, but as the first chapter of what I hope will become a memorable adventure-RPG hybrid series, it now has the opportunity to fix its technical issues for future episodes (and ideally patch this introductory chapter too). If not, I might start to wonder if the developers are alien imposters as well.

10 of my favorite adventure (adjacent) games

The past couple of years I played a variety of games that stood out to me. Usually they weren't traditional point 'n click adventure games. No Sierra or LucasArts clones. Instead games that tried something else with their gameplay; and succeeded very much as far as I'm concerned. They might not always be the first of their kinds, and you might easily compare them with other and perhaps even better titles, but this is my personal list of 10 games I played and enjoyed the most.

*In no particular order*

Return of the Obra Dinn (2018)

I don't know if this counts as a point 'n click adventure, but I've played Return of the Obra Dinn and finished it in an intriguing 10 hours!

It's a mystery you unravel piece by piece, and out of chronological order. The Obra Dinn is a ship that once disappeared but suddenly returned, with its entire crew of 60 either dead or gone missing. It's your job, with a special timepiece which takes you back in history, to figure out the identity of all passengers, and how they perished exactly.

At first I was daunted by the task, but when the pieces started to connect and I discovered the fate of the first people (you're always notified when you get three of them right) and when I started to get the hang of the gameplay, it became loads of fun.

There are certainly some hard ones to figure out, but you really have to pay close attention to all details. Sometimes I got some names switched, sometimes I was too fast to make assumptions regarding the ways people died, but it was by looking around a bit more I found the truth. But I admit that several times I just had to guess, or try out several possibilities until I got it right.

But I was so sorry when I finished the game. I want more of this! I so wish Lucas Pope, its developer, would make a new game. Similar style, similar gameplay, just a new mystery to solve. I'd buy it in an instant.

 

Chants of Sennaar (2023)

Finished Chants of Sennaar in a little over 12 hours!

It's totally mouse-controlled, so definitely point-and-click! You solve puzzles, talk to people, open doors, and sometimes even use inventory items. So yeah, point-and-click.

Sennaar refers to the region where once stood the fabled tower of Babel. Your unknown main character suddenly shows up at the bottom and needs to make their way to the top, solving puzzles to get past doors but also learning the languages of the different people inhabiting the tower.

I'm not sure I understand everything that went on in the tower, but Chants of Sennaar definitely makes my list of best games ever. This is a great example of not only a game, but a work of art. It had just the right difficulty level for me. Often you just go through the motions of solving puzzles in adventure games, but here I really got that feeling of accomplishment after figuring out the languages, similar to getting the deaths right in Return of the Obra Dinn. I can totally recommend it for people who are looking for a different challenge than the traditional point 'n clicks.

The Last Express (1997)

I'm very surprised but I finished The Last Express in only 6 hours time; I had imagined a more difficult experience with lots of retries. But I had to rewind only a couple of times during the on-board concerto. I had a hard time finding a particular item, and I died a couple of times because someone brained me, and also I accidentally blew up the train a couple of times.

There's an in-game hint system that basically tells you where to go and what to do in the form of Robert's thoughts and I refrained from using it for the first half of the game, but it was too tempting for the second half.

The game felt a lot like that movie Source Code for a bit, which is funny because Jake Gyllenhaal stars in that movie, and he also plays the Prince of Persia.

I just wasn't very good searching the cabins, or getting inside them to begin with. And at one time I couldn't even get out anymore (I got in through the window and wanted to leave that way too, but it turned out I just had to use the door. Go figure.) There's actually a lot to read in this game, and I always skimmed through the text fast because I was afraid a passenger would walk in on me. Which never happened, actually.

And the infamous top-of-the-train fight kept me busy for a while, too. I also got a bad ending because I didn't acquire a certain item, so had to rewind again. But to be honest, the gameplay wasn't as difficult as I feared. Though I still feel there's a lot going on in that train I'm not aware of in this single playthrough. I think it's definitely a game I'll revisit someday.

The Lost Crown (2008)

I finished "The Lost Crown" in a little over 22 hours!

Okay, if anyone is interested in a serious, supernatural investigation game, then this is the one for you! It has its flaws, but the design of this game, the clues left all over the place, the necessary actions to progress the storytime, but also the way certain locations are sometimes temporarily unavailable, guiding you towards at least some general area where you need to go... Not to mention all the detail, the many characters, both living and dead, the backstory to it all...

Deep respect for Jonathan Boakes, this is amazing interactive storytelling with puzzles that may seem hard but aren't all that tricky. It doesn't have the complicated puzzles of the Dark Fall games, and I also prefer the third person perspective over the first person POV of those games, even if Nigel almost drops over dead, so slow is he.

The quality of this game stays consistent from start to finish. If there was a novelization of this story, I'd definitely buy it and read it

 

Eastshade (2019)

Not your typical adventure game, you are a painter going around the land of Eastshade inhabited by antropomorphic animals, doing simple quests for them, making paintings of the environment. There's no action whatsoever, very limited puzzle solving (I think there's only one real puzzle in the whole game) but lots of walking around beautiful scenery.

I spent 19 hours in this world and loved every minute of it. It's such a relaxing game. The variety of nature and civilization is amazing, walking from a rocky beach through a forest into a town, then following the river to the mountains. Also the different character types like the owls and bears, while they can look a bit unnerving in their clothes and regal statures, this community as a whole is such a convincing fantasy setting I gladly lost myself in.

Lake (2021)

10 hours delivering letters and packages in a town by a mountain lake. Sounds boring but Lake was right up my alley. It's more than a postman simulator, after all. The town isn't static, it's not only about finding your way around and do the deliveries. It's a game about the townspeople, who they are, where they came from, where they're going. There are countless stories being told here. There's never any real excitement, no action, no conspiracies, no catastrophies, just the people and their personal concerns.

Driving around the mail van, following the pointers on your GPS, feels like playing GTA but without having to fear driveby's. The strength lies in the conversations with the people you meet. They'll tell you about their lives, sometimes ask you to make special deliveries, inviting you to hang out at times. The game even has a DLC in the form of a prequel where you drive around as the main character's dad, and recently added an "endless mode" as well, where you can keep on making your deliveries after you finished the story mode. Driving around listening to the same songs on the radio over and over again has this relaxing routine about it that works for me, even though it might have the opposite effect on other, more action-oriented gamers.

The Council (2018)

Conspiracies and intrigues. That's The Council. It brings together several well known historical figures, like George Washington and Napoleon Bonaparte.
It's not point 'n click but an investigative third person game in the vein of the Sherlock Holmes games by Frogwares. You search a mansion for clues which help you make the right dialogue choices, which is basically its main gameplay part. There's some type of RPG element where you require new skills with which you can activate other choices. The fun part is that you can talk politics with these historic figures.

There's lots going on in this game, storywise. It was originally released in five separate episodes but I played it in one go after they were all released. It took me 18 hours to finish. I loved exploring the mansion, talking to everyone, figuring things out. The storyline branches out depending on your choices, and while usually you have this artificial feeling about such a thing in games, here it felt truly genuine.

This War Of Mine (2014)

Something totally different, and more of a survival simulator than an adventure game, This War Of Mine has already kept me entertained for a grand total of 32,5 hours. This includes two full playthroughs, because the first one didn't end very well so I tried again with the acquired knowledge of where to put my priorities to ensure a better outcome; or at least a better chance at a better outcome.

You're in a warzone, taking shelter in an abandoned but dilapidated house. Winter is coming, so you need to prepare through resource management. You can visit other locations to scavenge for food and materials. You can trade with others. You'll be joined by other people as well. You can decide to steal or to share. Everything you do will have consequences. Certain events will turn your world upside down. You can die in all kinds of ways, and your goal is to survive the winter until the city is liberated. It's a very addictive game that has since released lots of extra scenarios as DLC.

Not Another Weekend (2021)

Old school point 'n click adventure, that's Not Another Weekend! You play as Mike Melkout, bellboy at Hotel 404, with a hidden agenda. I have two days time to clear the hotel of all guests and staff and complete my secret mission. I'm not telling you yet what that mission entails; you'll find out eventually. But I also have a job to do, being the bellboy. My boss, the guests and other staff members will often beep me on my pager with one task or other. If I want to stay at the hotel, I'll have to please them as well as try to get them to leave the place themselves.

The game is divided into time segments. You start on Saturday morning and the game will take you all the way into Sunday night, with four time slots for each day, for a total of eight chapters. The story is awesome. I never lost interest. Everything fits together well. I love all the 80s references with the character names, Lethal Weapon, The Terminator, Indiana Jones, Weird Science, Married... with children, the Delorean, etc. Play this game, you'll probably discover lots more references than I did. One word of advice: remember the details. A puzzle solution is often hidden in one particular character's dialogue earlier in the game.

The Painscreek Killings (2017)

Who killed Vivian Roberts? You'll have to find out in The Painscreek Killings. In this first person murder investigation, you walk around the town of Painscreek looking for clues. And there are lots of them. After a while, I started taking notes in an actual notebook, because I was gathering so much information in the form of numbers, combinations, keys, I was losing track of it all and needed some structuring.

You move from location to location, house to house, following a pretty linear path, sometimes needing to backtrack, but the realistic environments and attention to detail - so many details! - is what makes this game for me. It's a bit creepy that the whole town seems to be deserted, giving you pretty much free range to explore; if you can locate the right keys and lock combinations, of course. There's a surprising finale that doesn't really fit the rest of the game, which can get a bit frustrating if you have to retry it a couple of times in a row, but the journey is certainly worth the effort.

Finished "Chants of Sennaar" in a little over 12 hours!

Pretty grim setting, that Exile...

The finale of Chants of Sennaar totally surprised me. At first I was a bit underwhelmed by the fact that the translations in Exile were going so smoothly. There's a different gameplay elements here where you have to align the symbols of all languages on a dial, and that fills up the gaps in the Exile language.

Then I had to go back to the different levels and open up the doors I had already noticed but never had the key for. There's a lot going on here, but I'm not going the spoil it. Let's just say I didn't expect these developments.

I'm not sure I understand everything that went on in the tower, but Chants of Sennaar definitely makes my list of best games ever. This is a great example of not only a game, but a work of art. It had just the right difficulty level for me. Often you just go through the motions of solving puzzles in adventure games, but here I really got that feeling of accomplishment after figuring out the languages, similar to getting the deaths right in Return of the Obra Dinn. I can totally recommend it for people who are looking for a different challenge than the traditional point 'n clicks.

The end!

11 hours into "Chants of Sennaar" and I've reached the Exile!

Not the worst level of the tower to live in...

I've finished the Garden level and then reached the Galleries, realm of the scientists, or alchemists. While in the Garden, I also figured out you can assist with conversations two different people are holding with the teleportation modules. This takes the translation assignment a little further, in that grammar comes into play as well. Different people use different sentence structuring so even if you know the correct words, it's still hard to figure out in which order you have to put them.

They seem to pee a lot in the garden...

The Alchemist's level is preceded by an abandoned copper mine with a rampaging monster. You have to avoid it before you can take the elevator up, using the stealth mode in combination with a couple of levers to get more sunlight, which the monster can't stand.

Hide and seek...

I really liked the Alchemist's level, and translating seemed to go easier than in the previous levels. I think it's because 10 of the symbols referred to numbers, which were quite easy to deduce because they had actually left a measuring stick on a table somewhere, with all the symbols up to 20.

When in doubt...

This was a very interesting level because with mathematics becoming a thing, it went a bit further than translating a language. I also had to figure out which symbols mean tens, hundreds and thousands. That took me a while, but oh felt so rewarding once I got it right!

Temple of Doom moment...

So now I've reached the highest level, I assume I'm also nearing the end. I'm really wondering how it will be all tied together...