Following Freeware: May 2014 releases
This month you can take an insane role-playing game character through a most unusual rendition of Hamlet. You could also visit another Age in a fan-made game set in the Myst universe, or simply travel to a remote island in search of a lost tribe. Alternatively, you might go on a quest to find a pot of gold before a kingdom falls into ruin, or simply try to make the greatest sandwich the world has ever seen. All these await in this month’s round-up of releases from the freeware scene.
RoonSehv
You find yourself in a landscape full of sand dunes. A faint sun is just visible through the clouds of sand that are blown about by the hard wind. Wondering how you got here, and where 'here' actually is, you start exploring your surroundings. Soon you find some dilapidated remnants of civilization. Looking further, you discover a letter in which you are told that a collapse has happened, and that Ri'Jane is waiting for you in the Age of RoonSehv. Getting there will take some serious puzzle-solving, however.
The Myst series is still popular with a crowd of dedicated fans, some of whom have created games with new Ages. RoonSehv, by Babel Studio, is one such game. It's still a work in progress but the beautiful demo released shows immense promise. The game is basically an Age in the Uru universe, played in first-person, full 3D and looking like it was made in the Cyan studios. It even has a sort of Cleft, complete with a windmill on top of the steep walls that surround it. Everything is designed with care and has beautiful textures. The environment is not static either: there are leaves floating through the air, a flag flaps in the desert, and a fast-flowing river sprays where it hits rocks in its path. The windmill even casts shadows on the rocks in the Cleft. Buttons you press and switches you flip have the proper 'Mysty' look. The sounds are very familiar too: beautiful music, similar to the score you hear in the Myst Ages, plays in the Cleft, and suitable sound effects are heard when you flip switches or walk through a shallow pond, etc.
Walking around is achieved using the ZQSD keys. Because Denis Martin is French and uses an AZERTY keyboard, this means that the forward and backward keys are swapped on a regular QWERTY keyboard, but in practice it doesn't matter much. Looking around is done using the mouse, and the mouse is very sensitive, which makes the field of view change a bit abruptly every time you use it. A built-in damping mechanism in the final game would be quite welcome. The cursor is always in the middle of the screen and starts pulsating when hovered over an item you can click on to do something with. The demo contains a few puzzles which are on par with those that inspired them. As in all Myst games, solving puzzles requires you to take in many details of your surroundings, read the texts that you come across and then manipulate machinery to get it working and to open doors. Some of the puzzles are simple but others are quite hard, yet they all fit very well in the game.
All in all, RoonSehv is a commendable, well-executed effort in recapturing the spirit of the old Myst, and the Uru games in particular. Denis Martin keeps a developer’s blog in which he shows the progress he and his staff make with the game. There is already much more material than the demo shows, so let's hope the finished game will be released in the not-too-distant future.
The RoonSehv demo can be downloaded from the official website.
Oceanspirit Danish
The king is dead and Denlet, Prince of Menmark (it’s like Denmark, only manlier) has returned home. His uncle, Hansius, seems pleased enough to see the prince, but something is stinky in the state of Menmark. A ghost haunts the battlements, and there are suggestions of foul play afoot. Denlet, Scourge of the Underworld, must take up his spiky haircut and ludicrously over-sized sword and hunt down the perpetrator. With more than a touch of the Oceanspirit about him, there may be less Shakespearean poetry, and more ridiculously named sword moves in this play.
Oceanspirit Dennis, the AGS community’s Final Fantasy parody character, is taken in a whole new direction by Crystal Shard. This game takes Dennis through a version of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, though it is fair to say that the action, if not the overall story, somewhat diverges from the original. The game takes place around a handful of locations in and near the royal castle of Menmark. The castle itself is rendered in a light, semi-realistic cartoon fashion, though the sun and the moon are more stylised. The characters are realistically proportioned, though the same cannot be said for Denlet’s spiky hair and a sword his own height. Only Denlet himself is fully animated, with other characters sliding around, though Orfeelya’s sweeping dress hides her feet anyway. The background music is an overly dramatic piece, full of trumpets and sweeping swings, to match the tone of the game.
For the most part, the game is navigated by one-click mouse control. When the cursor is pointed at an object or feature you can interact with, a text marker appears. Mostly this command is just to look, though the actual wording varies from object to object, and even changes on individual objects when you re-enter a scene. You can gaze at, regard, glimpse and view much of the scenery. Most of these options produce dialogue that is either actually Shakespeare, or at least a fair facsimile thereof. Clicking on Denlet himself gives the command “check pockets”, allowing access to inventory. The story is surreal, with many of the characters appearing to be the same person in different outfits, though they will strenuously deny any resemblance each time. You will use a small amount of inventory to uncover the truth behind your father’s death and avenge him. At various points you will also fight different characters. This is accomplished by drawing various shapes on the screen, recorded in a book in the inventory, which cause Denlet to execute different fighting moves. Each fight gets more difficult as you progress through the game, so reasonable dexterity will be required of any player wishing to see the end.
Oceanspirit Danish can be downloaded from the AGS website.
Cale Quest
Cale has a simple desire. He just wants something to eat. But when he gets to the shared kitchen in his flat, he finds it almost entirely devoid of food. Now he wants more than just a simple snack. He wants the best sandwich ever made. It doesn’t matter how far he has to go and who he has to work with to get it. He will gather the finest ingredients there are and make a foodstuff that will leave the world in awe.
Amuzo Arts have created a game whose central quest is somewhat different from the grand adventures gamers are used to. The graphics are done in a brightly coloured semi-realistic style. From Cale’s single room in his flat, you will travel to the town square, a crammed comic and games shop, and a somewhat more minimalist record store. Characters are reasonably proportioned, with distinctive clothing and some limited facial expression. These characters are decently animated, and there are nice background animations as well, such as the birds foraging for food in the park. Each area has its own music, from a simple mellow piece on the streets to a more jazzy number in Cale’s home. There are also some sound effects, most notably a Caribbean drum trill that plays when you advance your quest.
The game comes with a point system, and with 400 points to collect in total, 5 at a time at most, you have a long task ahead of you. The game uses the standard four-cursor AGS controls, with the addition of taste and smell. Both of these additional abilities are used in solving specific puzzles in the game. Your task takes you back and forth across your home town of Matlock, as you struggle to find what makes a perfect sandwich. You will execute a number of fetch quests, sabotage a yodeller at a local fair, and take on the comics store owner in a cutthroat card game. There are extensive dialogues with all characters, many of which provide you with the information you need to advance. Cale is, at times, an unlikeable character, with insulting people an option in all conversations. As such, this game may be unsuitable for the young or easily offended. It is also advisable to save on a regular basis as it is possible to die, sometimes with little warning of danger.
Cale Quest can be downloaded from the AGS website.
Into the Wild
Crystal Rose Divine, presenter of the documentary program “Into the Wild”, is about to make a major scoop. She has travelled to the MugaBuga island, home of the tribe the island is named after. There she intends to be the first outsider to interview the MugaBuga man, chief of that lost tribe. But the MugaBuga man seems unwilling to make conversation. Perhaps if she can put together an offering in accordance with the traditions of the tribe, she can win him over.
Carmel Games take players to a remote jungle island in this outing. The bright cartoon-style characteristic of the studio’s usual graphics is once again in evidence here. Scenery varies from dark jungle glades to high, bright clifftops and a thundering waterfall. Crystal’s outfit seems unsuited to jungle exploration, consisting of a business suit with high heels and hoop earrings. She and the other characters are well animated, though Crystal is the only one that moves around much. A tribal jungle theme plays throughout, though sound effects, such as the thundering waterfall, play over the top. The game is also fully voiced to a decent standard, though the constant subtitles are a boon in the noisier areas.
Simple point-and-click controls will see you through as you scour the island from end to end looking for the ingredients needed to make a suitable offering. Improvisation is the order of the day, whether to cross the raging river or devise a temporary rope slide handle. You also need to keep an eye out for combination clues hidden in the scenery. Many of the puzzles along the way also require item combination, as will the final piecing together of the offering.
Into the Wild can be played online at Mouse City.
Tales of Carmelot
In the mystical kingdom of Carmelot, disaster has struck. Carmelot’s pot of gold has gone missing, leaving the kingdom’s finances in disarray. With no one else to turn to, the king calls in Ryan O’brien. With the aid of a little magic and some of his famous Irish charm, hopefully Ryan will be able to track down the missing moolah.
In this start of a new proposed series from Carmel Games, the characters suggest Carmelot is in the Emerald Isle. The graphics feature the same bright cartoon style of previous games from this studio. Your quest will take you from the imposing Carmelot Castle to a shopping district with mystical overtones, and to a mysterious stone high atop a hill. The action takes place entirely at night, though the interior scenes are brightly lit. The characters, such as a leprechaun-like innkeeper, are decently animated. These are reasonably voiced, and there is a narrator whose descriptions occasionally provide clues. The background music has a suitably medieval tone.
Finding the lost pot of gold is no simple task. Using single-button point-and-click, you will have to concoct some potions, fix an amusement park ride and learn how to dance. A lot of these tasks involve finding inventory, some hidden behind movable bits of scenery. You also need to engage in a follow-the-sequence minigame and put together a password. The password puzzle involves some outside knowledge, though the information in question is fairly widely known. A video walkthrough is available for those who would otherwise get stuck on this particular puzzle. Restoring the treasure earns you the gratitude of the king, and the promise of further adventures to come.
Tales of Carmelot can be played online at Gamesnappy.
Other new releases
Not all games are created equal, and freeware games especially come in all shapes and sizes. Not to be overlooked, the following list might also be of interest, though these games may be significantly shorter or less polished, more experimental titles than those detailed above, some perhaps only borderline adventures to begin with.
Reincarnation: Loving Every Evil Triumph by Vile Media – Return a computer-gaming soul to hell in this mini-episode of the Reincarnation series.
Orlok’s Ordeal by Tuuka and Dave van Bale – When his precious is stolen, Nosferatu must venture out in his castle to find it.
House of Fear: Revenge by ViDi Games – Explore a creepy house full of supernatural happenings.
Brew or Die by Tim Ned Atton – Tired of your failures, the king gives you one night to produce the Elixir of Life, or face execution at dawn.
Hipstercalypse by kokos – An OS upgrade in 1996 catapults you into the future. Can you use what you find there to halt the Hipstercalypse?
That’s it for this month. Think we’ve missed a gem or want to tell us about your own game? Then pop in to our Adventure forum and tell us about it!
Stephen Brown and Willem Tjerkstra contributed to this article.
