“Who thought a prequel can be a good suggestion?”
It’s a query requested roughly 25 minutes into Simon the Sorcerer Origins, and it’s requested by the titular Simon himself when the sport’s brand seems on the finish of the prologue.
Though it’s clearly a joke that isn’t anticipating a response, by asking it the sport does truly reply a distinct query, one followers of Simon the Sorcerer would possible fear about – would a brand new sport retain the collection’ sense of humour?
On condition that there hasn’t been a brand new sport for 15 years – and there arguably hasn’t been a great as soon as in twice as lengthy – a historical past lesson is probably going required for many readers. Created by UK studio Journey Delicate, Simon the Sorcerer was initially launched on the Amiga and PC again in 1993 and was thought of probably the greatest point-and-click journey video games of the period that didn’t open with a LucasArts brand.
The equally pleasant Simon the Sorcerer 2: The Lion, the Wizard and the Wardrobe arrived in 1995, however after this the collection went a bit downhill, with an ill-fated soar to 3D adopted by a pair of German-developed sequels, the final of which was launched again in 2010.
Now, lastly, Simon the Sorcerer is again, and whereas it’s being dealt with by Italian developer Smallthing Studios, Journey Delicate has been collaborating to make sure it feels extra like the unique sport. And sure, meaning plenty of jokes.
It additionally means the return of Chris Barrie, greatest often known as Rimmer from Pink Dwarf, who performed Simon within the CD-ROM model of the unique sport. Getting him again after greater than three many years is one thing of a coup, and it’s pretty to listen to his voice once more.
It’s a barely greater voice than common, as a result of the sport tells the story of teenage Simon as he first discovers the alternate world situated in a portal in his new home, and explains how he turns into a wizard within the first place, simply earlier than the occasions of the primary sport began.
I went hands-on with the sport’s first three chapters and it’s very a lot a case of to date, so good. I performed the primary two video games again within the day so I had the advantage of figuring out a few of the characters, however as a result of the sport’s a prequel no prior information is basically wanted.
Certainly, the sport jokes about this when Simon first meets the wizard Calypso, asking him: “It’s me, Simon! Don’t you keep in mind me?”
“Look right here,” Calypso quietly mutters. “This can be a prequel. We haven’t met one another but.” An ashamed Simon then apologises, wanting over his shoulder on the participant to see in the event that they observed his mistake.
The sport itself is customary point-and-click fare, which is what followers of the collection would probably have been hoping for. It’s simplified, although – whereas the unique sport had 12 totally different instructions together with Stroll To, Look At, Open, Shut, Transfer, Devour, Decide Up, Put on, Take away and the like, right here it’s extra of a context delicate affair.
Whenever you hover your cursor over an merchandise, the cursor will change to both a magnifying glass (Look At), a hand (Decide Up / Use) or a speech bubble (Speak To). Together with the flexibility to mix objects, that’s all there’s this time, which makes issues loads much less convoluted. It additionally permits for controller assist – therefore its launch on consoles in addition to PC – although I performed the demo with a mouse, as a result of come on.
The sport’s director Missy Calamai informed me final month that the sport didn’t need to maintain gamers’ palms, and that’s very a lot the case right here. That is nonetheless an old-school point-and-click journey at coronary heart, so that you’re not going to seek out assists for gamers who get caught on sure puzzles.
Calamai assured me, nevertheless, that the sport’s puzzles are logical, and the few I performed – together with eradicating the pull-string for a toy, tying the string to a fridge magnet, and dangling it down a plughole to select up a key inside – actually appeared to substantiate this, although in fact it stays to be seen whether or not that holds agency all through everything of the journey, or whether or not there’s one other Damaged Sword goat puzzle ready to infuriate a wholly new era.
The principle concern I had earlier than enjoying Simon the Sorcerer Origins was whether or not the unique sport’s very British sense of humour can be retained, particularly on condition that it was being dealt with by an Italian studio this time. To this point I’ve been pleased with what I’ve seen.
There’s a number of sarcastic and foolish humour within the first few chapters, from Simon’s mum shouting tutorial-based threats to him off-camera (“Simon, don’t even dream of mixing the objects in your stock”), to the comedy store indicators within the first village you go to (“Particular supply: The unique, real, distinctive One Ring. Whereas shares final”).
As ever with joke-a-minute video games like this, not each one-liner lands completely, however what I’ve seen to date is sufficient to reassure me that there’s a great time available with this one if it continues on the tempo it begins off at.
We’ll discover out in round a month’s time – Simon the Sorcerer Origins can be launched on October 28 on PS5, Xbox Collection X/S, Change, PS4, Xbox One and PC, and our full overview nearer to the time will reveal whether or not the sport managed to maintain me beneath its spell for the length.
