Unavowed review5/29/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() So why are point-and-click adventures only ever brushing with mainstream recognition? What’s keeping them from entering the inner circle? It would be easy to point the finger at their tropes, like putting an endless stream of large items in a coat pocket or puzzles that completely defy logic. Reviews of these titles repeatedly contain phrases like “an outstanding game” and “a masterpiece” - terms also used to describe hit AAA games like Red Dead Redemption II and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Combined with the excellent plot pacing and story elements, it makes for a powerful and visceral experience. In line with the subject matter, players are faced with the emotions and rippling actions following death through the first class writing and delivery. New York medium Rosa Blackwell and her spirit guide Joey help the dead pass over to the other side, but after witnessing a dead man’s violently torn apart before their eyes, their otherworldly mission takes a frightening and dangerous turn. Stellar voice acting, writing and rooted-in-logic puzzles set against evocative pixel art environments guide players through the muddy waters of humanity and machinery, possibilities of the past repeating itself and what defines the self.Īnother high-scoring title is The Blackwell Epiphany from indie adventure heavyweight Wadjet Eye Games, the final game in the Blackwell series. Through stoic robot Horatio Nullbuilt and his droid companion Crispin, Primordia takes the player on a journey in a world of machines where man has long been extinct. Primordia from Wormwood Studios, for example, has an overall score of ‘Overwhelmingly Positive,’ with 97 percent of reviews being positive. The modern point-and-click adventure community is thriving thanks to platforms like Steam and itch.io. Fantastic titles though they are, that early-to-mid-nineties window was the last time point-and-clicks were fully recognized. Ask your average Joe to name one and it’s a pretty safe bet they’ll offer up Monkey Island or Broken Sword. ![]() The modern point-and-click adventure community is thriving.ĭespite being one of the backbone genres, point-and-click games have remained at the edges, only flirting with the mainstream market. A number of genres go against this, but only one of them has consistently done so for almost 40 years, and on a drastically smaller budget: point-and-click adventures. It’s certainly an exciting, new (virtual) world out there.īut the growing popularity of indie games sporting graphics and styles of yesteryear - through choice or circumstance - raises the question of whether countless hours of play time, dozens of different mechanics or hyper realistic visuals automatically equals immersion. With the release of the PS5 and Xbox Series X / S dropping in November 2020, the industry showcased to the world how far it had come in terms of technical capabilities: GPUs with hardware-accelerating ray tracing for more realistic graphics, in-house built audio engines delivering 3D object-based soundscapes. Making a game feel real has been gaming’s Holy Grail in terms of player immersion. ![]()
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