Adventure X 2019: A Perspective By Tomas Becks

“AdventureX is the UK's only convention dedicated to narrative-driven gaming. Since 2011, AdventureX has been bringing together developers & gamers with a passion for interactive storytelling.”

This comes straight from the Adventure X website and on November 2-3 I had the opportunity to experience my first quest to the adventure game convention in London, held at the British Library. It did not disappoint. Besides meeting amazing people and talking to many developers and publishers, I also got to play a load of demos of upcoming or just released games. I had an absolute blast and will share my experiences here by briefly going into the games I got to play.

There were 26 games on display and the quality of the games was incredibly high. There were classic point and click adventures, visual novels, text based games, RPG games... It was a cornucopia of narrative-driven games and every one of them was playable or had a demo to enjoy. For a huge adventure game enthusiast like me, it was paradise. And they all came with the added value of having their creators present, watching you play the game and answering questions. But without further ado, here are the games and my brief impression of them, in random order.

The Crimson Diamond

I didn’t play The Crimson Diamond, but I didn’t need to, because it was a very faithful emulation of the old Sierra parser-driven graphic adventures like The Colonel’s Bequest, The Dagger of Amon Ra and King’s Quest. It looked amazing, because it looked exactly like those old school adventures and I can’t wait to play this for real. The demo is available on Steam and The Crimson Diamond is creator Julia Minamata’s first game. Impressively old school.

Sumatra: Fate of Yandi

I purchased this game a week before the convention and hope to review it soon. Sumatra: Fate of Yandi is a traditional, pixel art point+click about Yandi, who gets lost in the jungle of Indonesia. The game draws heavily on Indonesian legends and folklore, which is a background I have not yet seen a lot of, so I’m looking forward to exploring this story, created by Cloak and Dagger Games. It is available on Steam now.

Backbone

Anthropomorphised animals in games are very popular right now and Backbone by Eggnut is an upcoming point+click adventure game that combines this with the always popular private eye trope. The result is a very atmospheric pixel game that really draws you into this dystopian future noir world. Backbone has many things in it that I like in my adventure games, so I am looking forward to playing it. Until then, the demo is a prologue and available on Steam now.

Elsinore

Shakespeare meets Groundhog Day. If that premise intrigues you, then Elsinore is a game for you. Golden Glitch Studios takes you to the world of Hamlet, where you are put in the shoes of Ophelia who is stuck in a time loop. Can you help her prevent the tragedy that is about to happen? Can you help her uncover all the secrets of the court? Ophelia retains her memories when the time loop resets and you must use this to bring the adventure to its fortunate or unfortunate end. It’s a beautiful watercolor world  and many of the characters will be familiar from the timeless Shakespeare classic. When I played it, I was basically dropped in the middle of the game, so it was a bit hard to figure out, but it left a good impression and I purchased the game at the convention. Elsinore is now available on Steam.

Tick Tock: A Tale For Two

Tick Tock by Other Tales Interactive is a co-op adventure game, so it needs two players to play it. The game is in atmospheric sepia with a bit of color and an important aspect of the gameplay is the communication between the two players. Lacking someone to play it with, I couldn’t play at Adventure X, but I own the game and hope to play it with someone in the near future. Tick Tock is available on Steam now and on Nintendo Switch from December 5th.

Ring of Fire

A utopian solarpunk future detective thriller. That’s basically Ring of Fire by Far Few Giants. It has a cool style and a cool setting, because a sustainable future is not something you see a lot these days. This is the setting in which you play as a detective investigating a murder and the investigation aspect is the most important part of the game. You do this by searching for clues, interrogating witnesses, entering your info into a database, then cross-referencing it. It also helps to take notes. On paper. It looked very promising and I hope we get to play it soon.


Ord.

A tiny text adventure. Every choice results in either three (new) words or the end of the game. That is the whole premise of this wonderful little game called Ord.. You think you can’t tell a story three words at a time? Think again. Ord. proves that it is definitely possible and goes surprisingly deep with it. The game is made by Mujo Games and you can find a demo of Ord. on their website.

Mutropolis

Mutropolis is described by Pirita Studio as “a lovely SCI-FI archaeological post-apocalyptic adventure”. The Spanish duo have created a classic point+click adventure game that really showcases their own style. The story is interesting and the characters and backgrounds look amazing. They take a look at our own society through the eyes of the 50th century future and that makes for an intriguing setup for an adventure game.



The Longing

The king has gone to sleep and left you in charge, with a clear task: wake him up in 400 days. Real time. The Longing must have the most bonkers idea I have come across in a long time. It’s a game about exploration (which I love) that requires a lot of patience (which I don’t have all that much). It almost plays like a casual game; send the little servant to the top of the mountain to investigate something? It only takes an hour to get there, so you might as well do something else in the meantime. There are ways to shorten the waiting time, and that’s something the little servant has to find out how to do, like creating a painting to decorate your room. The Longing has a lot of humour in it and multiple endings. You can finish this game a lot faster than in 400 days, or you can just let the servant be and check in after 399 days to see what he’s up to. Studio Seufz lets you experience the loneliness the way you want.

A Juggler’s Tale

A 3D side-scrolling, narrative-driven puzzle-platformer. That’s the best way to describe this stunning looking game. You play the marionnette Abby who wants to escape her captors and it’s up to you to guide Abby through this fairy tale world without getting her strings entangled. The game played easily and the puzzles were just the right kind of challenging. Abby literally hangs on threads and those strings influence the environment too, so that adds a new layer to the game. This environment is truly beautiful and the narrator makes A Juggler’s Tale an experience to remember.

Inspector Waffles

Inspector Waffles is a cat who gets called in when a high profile cat gets murdered. The witty detective has to use all his investigative skills to solve this mystery and he does so with jokes and puns. The world is entirely in pixel art and it’s a classic point+click adventure. GOLOSO Games have a playable demo to try out, which gives a good impression of what the game plays like. Inspector Waffles has a jazzy score, the graphics are simple, cute and effective and there’s plenty of humor to enjoy.

After Hours

After Hours was the shortest game I played at Adventure X and it might have also been the one with the most impact. It’s a story about true events and the creator plays herself in the game. It’s a very brave little game that puts you in the shoes of a woman who is going through trauma, who has to process a lot of stuff, and it shows the impact it has on her, on her surroundings and on the people she loves. Dark, disturbing, real, beautiful, personal… After Hours stuck with me a long time after finishing it.

Haiku Adventure

Small Island Games displayed Haiku Adventure, a poetic point-and-click puzzler. It’s completely in eastern art style inspired by Japanese woodblock print and it plays as if you’re in the middle of a mythological story. Your quest is to stop a volcano that is threatening to destroy everything. The goal in each stage is to solve the puzzles and collect parts of sentences, with which you can then form a haiku that you need to finish the chapter. I never really grasped the ancient Japanese art of haiku, but this game made it quite accessible.

Vagrus - The Riven Realms

Vagrus is a narrative driven role playing game with adventure influences. It’s powered by an interesting and complicated system, but the game allows you to gradually learn it. The artwork is amazing and the world building is impressive. Vagrus is based on an actual RPG campaign that the creators played for years, and that shows in the story. There are choices to be made, lands to explore, a crew to manage and enemies and monsters to defeat. Combat is turn-based and makes the artwork really come alive. I got to play quite a lot of the prologue and it showcased a deep game with a lot of potential. You can wishlist the game on Steam now.

Once Upon A Crime In The West

This was one of the last games I played. Once Upon A Crime In The West reminded me of Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight meets Return of the Obra Dinn, with a camera that allows you to see back in time to figure out what happened with all the dead bodies. It’s all in first person perspective with some highly stylized art that still feels very Western and has become something of developer National Insecurities’ trademark style. The premise is engaging and fans of murder mysteries will surely like this. Once Upon A Crime In The West is out now and can be purchased via its website.

30 Birds

30 Birds by Belgian developer ram ram dives into oriental fairy tales and mythology to give us a very charming point+click adventure game that loves to play around with dimensions. 2D and 3D mix in a unique way and the game is very colourful, being heavily inspired by Persian miniature tradition. You play as Zig, who has to search for the titular 30 birds for her goddess in a corrupt and criminal city. I had never heard of the Persian mythology of Simurgh, so this was fun to dive into. The puzzles fit the style well, and even though I only played a small bit of the game, it left a good impression on me. The game is currently in pre-alpha and no release date has been communicated yet.

Crowns and Pawns

Crowns and Pawns by Lithuanian developers Tag Of Joy is as if Broken Sword, Syberia and Runaway came together and created a child. It’s a gorgeous point+click adventure game that takes you around the world as Chicago native Milda, who is trying to solve the mystery of her family whilst being chased by crooked KGB officers. The game played very smoothly and the puzzles were sensible and logical, while propelling the story forward. I highly anticipate this one, as both the story and style really appeals to me and I would love to go explore a location like Vilnius and find out what the big secret of Milda’s family is. The game can be wishlisted on Steam now.

Aurora - The Lost Medallion

No game is created without enthusiasm and passion, and Greek developer Noema Games takes this to a whole new level with Aurora - The Lost Medallion. Their classic point+click adventure Aurora truly is a labour of love and it shows. It’s a 2D sci-fi adventure with hand drawn graphics, and it looks like a cartoon come to life. It looks really sweet, but it’s not a simple game. The demo I played had one tough puzzle in it, besides several less tough puzzles. While I was solving them in the form of a game of hide and seek, I got to know more about the world and the girl you play. The world building looks impressive. It took me 40 minutes to play the demo, but it didn’t feel that long at all and it left me wanting to explore more of Eedor and the Trappist-1 planetary system. Aurora can be wishlisted on Steam and is planned to be released in early 2020

Tangle Tower

Detective Grimoire returns in SFB Games’ Tangle Tower! The game is already available on Steam and Switch, and was part of the Apple Arcade launch in September. Because of this, the developers couldn’t showcase the game anywhere before launch, so this was an exciting moment for them as well. This is a new mystery for Detective Grimoire, where everything points to a murder done by a… painting? It was a fun game to play, as it is a very fascinating set up for a murder mystery, in a great setting with quirky characters. Grimoire’s style is very present here too and that makes for a unique atmosphere.

Because We’re Here and Magical Diary Wolfhall

I put these two titles together, because they were the two visual novel/dating sims on display. I’m not always a fan of visual novels, because I feel they often lack interactivity and action. These two titles made up for that in different ways. Magical Diary Wolfhall by Hanako Games is a Harry Potter-esque dating simulator that adds dungeon crawling to the game where you can put your magical education to use, when you’re not trying to romance your classmates and survive magical highschool. Because We’re Here by Studio Elfriede stands out because it takes its story and romance to the trenches of WW1, but between fictional countries. Both games have good graphics and a deep story.

Unfortunately I couldn’t play all the games that were on offer at Adventure X. You might still be interested in them, so I will share their websites and/or trailers here for you to check out.

In Other Waters

Website: https://jumpovertheage.com/

Astrologaster

Website: https://www.astrologaster.com/

Conclusion

I am definitely going back next year. Adventure X 2019 was amazing. Adventure X 2020 will be even better