Halfway through and completely addicted to "Foolish Mortals"

Mirror, mirror, on the dresser... 

After playing through the Prologue chapter, I'm now halfway through Foolish Mortals and I wish I could play this game in one sitting. Everything goes so smoothly. The puzzles all make sense - or at least after a while. The graphics, voices and music are all gorgeous. And the story is very engaging, with lots of characters and great dialogue combining background information with clues to the puzzles.

I'm going to print this out as a fake shopping list and leave it in a cart...

Part One felt like an elaborate fetch quest to find the necessary ingredients for a voodoo spell. Compare it to the recipe to guide your ship to Monkey Island. After exploring the island of Devil's Rock and seeing what's what, I actually found all seven ingredients faster than I had thought I would. 

Not quite Escher, but similarly mind-boggling...

Part Two was a bit trickier. It followed pretty much the same formula, except now I only had to gather five elements together. This time the puzzles weren't only of the inventory variety. There was one puzzle where you had to navigate a magical staircase room. This one had me try out the in-game hint system because I just couldn't figure it out. Turned out I had made the solution harder in my head than it actually was, and after realizing one particular visual element didn't matter at all, it was easy to get past this.

Once again proof I suck at dancing...

Another puzzle involved a dance floor and some basic programming, in fact. This one I finally solved on my own, though it did take a bit before I figured out what all the steps did.

After a little more than six hours of gaming, now it's on to Part Three!

You can buy Foolish Mortals on Steam and GOG!

New game: "Foolish Mortals"

New game!

I've started playing Foolish Mortals by Inklingwood Studios. I'm Murphy McCallan, auditor in charge of finding the lost assets of the Bellemore estate. Three brothers and one sister used to live in the Bellemore manor. When the sister got engaged to be married to a sailor in the employ of the brothers, the brothers mysteriously vanished one by one. The wedding still went on, but instead of the sailor, the sister suddenly decided to marry someone else. Before the new couple could say their vows, however, a green light made everyone inside the manor disappear.

The quaint little town of Deadnettle on Devil's Rock.

Having arrived on the island of Devil's Rock where the manor is situated, Murphy quickly learns the tale isn't simply a ghost story. A local fisherman sends him to Doctor Moray, a voodoo priest with the knowledge of how to find the lost treasure of the Bellemores. Why exactly he didn't go find the treasure himself and instead sends Murphy to do his bidding, I don't know. So I don't really trust him.

I hope there's no crazy lady named Medusa on this boat...

But, Murphy is a good chap, like Guybrush Threepwood in the first Monkey Island game before he became too much of a doofus. So he follows the Doctor's orders, fetches him something from the manor to convince him he's got what it takes, and now goes on a big quest of completing a voodoo spell which will help find the treasure.

What secrets will this haunted mansion hold?

Foolish Mortals starts with an eighty minute Prologue chapter where I first reconnoitered the island. You examine things with a right click, manipulate them with a left click though mostly that only gives a second, more detailed description of the hotspots. The game features beautiful artwork filled with small animations, excellent voice-overs - with A.J. LoCascio in the lead whom I know best as Marty McFly in Telltale's Back to the Future game - and straightforward inventory puzzles.

Yay, a big island to explore!

The only nitpick I have with the game is Murphy's slow walking speed. I double-click on everything so at least he jogs a bit. But it looks like this game is going to be right up there with old classics like The Curse of Monkey Island and Broken Sword as well as new titles like Old Skies and Rosewater. Now, let's start Part One and see how good I am in locating the seven ingredients of that voodoo spell...

You can buy Foolish Mortals on Steam and GOG!

Finished "The Drifter" after an intense finale...

We won't yet be riding into that sunset...

Last time I played The Drifter, I had found myself with a new team of unlikely allies. In a short Chapter Six, I located the possible HQ of the bad guys. Together with two companions, I set out to infiltrate said HQ, and I was getting ready for a grand finale.

Reminds me of a certain secret voodoo hounfour...

Soon, however, it turned out the place wasn't as villainous as I had expected. Quite the opposite, in fact. Still, I didn't quite believe what I saw, nor what everyone there was telling me. Especially that John Hammond grandfatherly type of character. And there were lots of other people telling me stuff as well. Chapter Seven therefore was a pretty long chapter, with a new setting I kept getting turned around in, and many conversations and running back and forth basically doing errands for everyone to finally find my way toward the REAL finale of the game, with yet another new team of unlikely allies, like that German Ludger Brink type of scientist...

Meet my new team of unlikely allies...

Aaaand of course my hunches proved to be right, and with the bamboozlement uncovered, that slow chapter gave way to a couple of very intense final ones that expertly combined humor with horror, and I finished the game in a total of 9 hours. Where a bit earlier in the game I didn't expect The Drifter to leave such a lasting impression eventually, the story picks up again with an amazing pace and a very fulfilling final showdown. Now I see why everyone was so over the moon about this game, and it will certainly completely rearrange my top ten of 2025.

MacGyvered myself a flamethrower...

Normally I'd alternate to a classic adventure game starting in Chicago of the late 1930s next, but since there has been a particular new release I've been looking forward to for a while now this week, I'm taking a small detour to Louisiana of the early 1930s...

You can buy The Drifter on Steam or on GOG.

"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!

I finished "Casebook 1899: The Leipzig Murders", but it took some trial and error...

A lovely, deserted city...

Casebook 1899: The Leipzig Murders consists of four cases, and for each one the difficulty level is raised. It's masterfully done, but I must say it's not a good feeling when a puzzle totally stumps you, even AFTER you brute-forced the solution by trying every possible combination.

Reminds me of my to-read pile...

I greatly enjoyed the third case and I was glad to see I could really accuse the person I already had my sights on for a while. But then the final case came along, which turned everything upside down and I must admit, I was completely lost.

Madame Sophia?

There were two puzzles I couldn't figure out. With the first, the locker room puzzle, I had no idea where to even start. I missed seeing the pattern, but once you realize what it's so supposed to be, you can complete the puzzle in a jiffy. The second was the puppet puzzle, of which I still don't know how you are supposed to figure it out. It's basically a code, but not only is there a specific order to clicking on the puppets when they're on the shelf, it seems there's also a specific order to placing them there in the first place! I had a feeling it had something to do with Shakespeare, but for the life of me I couldn't figure it out -- and still can't!

No master of puppets, me...

But other than that, and the rather deus-ex-machina demise of the villain, I totally enjoyed this game to no end. The investigations, the deductions, it's all great sleuthing material that kept me fully entertained for a solid 8 hours, and I hope we might get some more murder games from Homo Narrans Studio in the future!

This game did spark the desire for some more detective work, so for my next playthrough (which will be a replay for me, in fact) I'll be travelling back in time from Leipzig in 1899, to London in 1888...

You can find Casebook 1899: The Leipzig Murders on Steam!

Busy investigating the third death in "Casebook 1899: The Leipzig Murders"

Posh...

The second case in Casebook 1899: The Leipzig Murders took me an hour and a half. I had actually found the solution, but I thought I was still missing something since one piece of evidence on the deduction board wasn't connected to the others. So I did another round of questioning people, but there were no missed dialogue options. So I just went for it, and it looked like I got it right.

The puzzle of a thousand clicks...

It was a far more interesting case than the first one, with lots more character interactions and even some mini-games. One involved the typical convoluted fuse box which was trickier than it looked. And yes, you can skip it, but where's the feeling of accomplishment in that? Another one was a far simpler lockpicking simulator which offered no challenge at all. You just had to correctly line up the tumblers. But it was fun for variety's sake.

Not much skill involved here...

The third case really has me running around. I've played The Leipzig Murders for 4,5 hours in total now, but I think it'll be a while before I solve this particular murder. I have an intuitive feeling of who the real murderer is, but I'm still lacking the evidence to put that person up on the deduction board. Thankfully I just unlocked a new area, so I'm hoping to finally crack it!

One more unemployed cleaning lady...

You can find Casebook 1899: The Leipzig Murders on Steam!

New game: "Casebook 1899: The Leipzig Murders"

New game!

When I played the demo of Casebook 1899: The Leipzig Murders back in 2022, immediately I knew I wanted to back its Kickstarter. Being a longtime fan of Sherlock Holmes, I was very interested in another deduction-based adventure in a traditional point 'n click style, only this time featuring a German police inspector in an original story by Gregor Müller of Homo Narrans Studio. And here were are, with the game finally released!

A first case to solve!

The first chapter is the demo I had already played, but since that was several years ago it felt like the first time again. This time, I could enjoy voice-overs too! Yes, they are German only, and not being very fluent I'm glad there are English subtitles, but it does give The Leipzig Murders its authenticity. Not every line is spoken, though. The conversations and cutscenes are, but Joseph Kreiser's comments on whatever you click on only feature a hum, mumble or the occasional "Interessant..." though strangely enough even when it concerns - in my humble opinion - far from interesting hotspots.

Wir sind in Deutschland, mein Liebchen!

But it's the investigation part that matters. I love how you can discover evidence but then have to decide for your own what really happened. It really takes a sharp mind to find the truth, since at first glance every possibility seems to be genuine.

Accident or homicide, that's the question...

I've solved the first case in slightly less than hour - and I've already started to talk German to my wife... - but I probably did remember most of it from the demo. Now it is immediately on to der Bahnhoff for the second of the four cases in this game. Hopefully this one will have some more meat on its bones.

Choo-choo!

You can find Casebook 1899: The Leipzig Murders on Steam!