Reader reviews for Simon the Sorcerer

While I did like Simon’s character and some of the humor, overall I found this game to be rather disappointing. The puzzles were largely uninteresting, boiling down to basic item fetching and combining items in ways that make little logical sense. One in particular, involving a druid, is among the most nonsensical I’ve seen in a game. The world is presented in a very open and unfocused manner, making the game even more difficult. The story is bare bones and the supporting characters forgettable. The artwork is nothing special either. Overall, Simon the Sorcerer feels like a poor imitation of LucasArts.

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Time Played: 5-10 hours
Difficulty: Hard

I had been putting off playing this game as I had heard it was ok but not excellent and that it had several flaws in it, so I wasn’t expecting too much.

However, by the time I finished it, it was easily one of my favorite adventure games of all time. I’d happily put it ahead of games that are normally held in higher esteem, like Full Throttle and Sam & Max (and I loved those games too).

I actually really liked the mix of pixel-hunting and regular inventory type of puzzles. The detail of the pixel hunting made the game feel more intricate and “real” rather when where there are just a couple of obvious hot-spots in a game.

People often mention Monty Python with the humor, but I found it to be much closer to Blackadder, with short, sarcastic, cutting witticisms throughout. Monty Python tended to be more absurd and to spin their concepts out much longer (which was great if you liked the initial joke, but not great if you didn’t). I felt like the main character could easily have been Blackadder as a kid, and that was awesome!

I liked that almost all of the game area was available to explore right away, as it meant there were puzzles where you would use something from a completely different location and it also meant that the areas all felt properly connected rather than separate “rooms” as in a lot of other games.

I’d say this game is almost as good as Monkey Island 1 and 2, and is similar in a lot of ways… it’s like Monkey Island set in a fantasy setting rather than a pirate one, and it uses more sarcastic British humor.
I also think the humor is far more universal than a lot of people suggest… I was under the impression it would really be a niche sort of humor after reading about the game beforehand.

In terms of funny adventure games, I’d put this and its sequel in the top 5 along with Monkey Island 1 and 2 and the best of the Space Quest series. Top notch stuff.

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Time Played: 10-20 hours
Difficulty: Just Right