Adventure Gamers - Forums

I just started playing NiBiRu: Age of Secrets (I’m an hour or two in to it), and I can’t help thinking I’ve played an identical game with a different name, made by a different developer, sometime in the last few years. The plot was the same, the locations and tasks, everything is deja vu all over again. The only thing that might have been different is the graphics, which in this game seem dated compared to whatever else I’m thinking of. This suggests the deja vu game is newer (NOTE: NiBiRu was released in 2005)?

Any ideas if NiBiRu has been remade and if so, what the name is of the copycat game? Possibly a Broken Sword game or something similar?

Yes!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messenger_of_the_Gods

Yeah VP, I knew NiBiRu was a remake of MotGs which came out years before, but I can’t help but think there’s been a similar game made since NiBiRu came out. Again, newer graphics, or maybe a cartoony graphical style is what rings a bell. Better VO’s, too.

I may be dreaming it, who knows…

i had a screenshot in my quiz picture folder, the graphics are quite well drawn.

i bet it would’ve made a good head scratcher.

edit: oh! that’s curious. I guess the game likes its AG tropes, such as international travel and conspiracies involving either nazis, Mayans or both!

There are some examples of adventure games that were altered without being (marketed as) a direct remake out there, though..

EDIT: Hi eddyc, I see you must have replied while I was writing my post below. Too funny!

I found the game I was referring to in my OP. It is a HOPA called Lost Civilization. And I was right; locations, settings, and story-wise it’s almost a direct copy of NiBiRu. In fact, one reviewer on Steam says “Seriously? Lost Civilization is a rip-off from NiBiRu. I spend 5 Euros for a game I already know. Did the original developer know that you “borrow” his entire screens and settings?”

Lost Civilization was developed by Icarus Games and published by Phoenix Online, while NiBiRu was an Adventure Company production developed by Unknown Identity, the company behind Black Mirror, the current CPT. I wonder if there’s any behind-the-scenes connection between all these players, which might explain the blatant similarities of the games.

Strange that I missed Lost Civilization. I dl’d the demo today. I can see why it only averages 3 stars at BigFish. It’s not very good. Maybe it will get better, since my opinion is based on only having played 20 minutes of a 60-minute demo. I hope the Adventure iteration was/is better.

I bought the game with a credit. Finished it in about two hours. Nothing that happened between my last post and now changed my opinion that it isn’t a very good game. I never played the original, but your saying that the two are identical in concept, makes me wonder if the original was also mediocre.

The only thing I can think is that somebody at Icarus licensed the game concept exclusively for the purpose of creating a hidden object game that would be sold on Big Fish. Or maybe they offered to create the game and split any revenue generated by its sale on Big Fish.
Regardless, it doesn’t seem they credited anyone for the concept. At least I couldn’t see it in the credits.