The 2026 what are we playing thread

Adventure/Lucasfilm Games
21

Already completed Artis Impact. It’s not terribly long or difficult, but fun nonetheless. For me, most of the enjoyment came from the dynamics between the heroine and her sidekick and, of course, the visuals:

Screenshot from 2026-03-01 15-20-22
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Screenshot from 2026-03-03 20-48-42
Screenshot from 2026-03-03 20-48-421920×1080 276 KB

Screenshot from 2026-03-03 21-09-16
Screenshot from 2026-03-03 21-09-161920×1080 250 KB

Akane is sort of borderline naive and overly nice (especially if the player is willing to lean into that), whereas bot is more the cold-hearted, calculating type, which leads to some funny moments.

Overall, it’s one of those games where the gameplay is rather casual, the plot feels a bit directionless, and the end comes pretty much out of the blue, but none of it manages to diminish the overall experience. It’s really all about the journey.

Given that all of it is made by a single developer, it’s downright amazing.

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22

Interesting find! I like the visuals, because they remind me of old C64 graphics.

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23

I started and finished Myst in a week time.
At least that is one from the 1001 games you must play list, but I can’t say I enjoyed it a lot - apart from finally being able to check it off the list- even when seeing it as the novelty it was in 1993. It did not age well.

A bad maze is one thing, but having to go through it twice when you already have proven you know the solution is pure evil.

The (over)acting is noteworthily bad too.

Mostly the puzzles were simply boring.

Not really looking forward to the other games in the series I got as a bundle…

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24

No one says you have to play them. :wink:

I played Dragon Lore back in the day (albeit not to the finish) and while the game was gorgeous, it didn’t light an enthusiasm for games of a similar ilk.

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25

I played it back then and I haven’t enjoyed it too. I still can’t get it why it was/is that popular. The graphics were good IMHO but we have seen similar render graphics in other games before. btw: @Sushi have you played the original or the “polished” remake?

At least the piano puzzle was … well … more than boring… :wink:

I haven’t played them (yet) too but I’m curious if they are “better”. Has somebody here in this forum played them?

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26

Aren’t there multiple remakes? Like at least four? :smiley:

Original with higher resolution (late ‘90s), conversion to realtime 3D (also late ‘90s? early 2000s?), remastered realtime 3D (2010s?), new remake in realtime 3D (2020s?).

27

Indeed, yes. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: I haven’t counted them, but your lists seems to be correct.

28

I never played Myst, but when it came out I remember thinking it seemed like a big step backwards compared to LucasArts and Sierra games…
It looked like one of those older text adventures where they just have a still image to represent the scene you’re meant to be in, instead of an explorable interactive world.

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29

It felt exactly like this - with a boring story and puzzles on top.

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30

I played the “masterpiece edition”, which came out in 1999 I believe. It does not have 3D, which from time to time is very disorienting as turning left or right sometimes does a 90 degrees turn instead of a 180 degrees turn.
It supposedly has higher quality audio (which was unintelligible at times) and hints (didn’t see those) and maps (that I have seen in the menu, but they’re pretty useless as they don’t show where you currently are when you get lost).

I also have “RealMyst: the masterpiece edition”. Perhaps I need to play that in a quick sitting to be able to compare while it still is fresh in mind.

really easy?
(I thought so)

I’ll take one for the team and play them all in order
My guess is NOPE

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31

Hm, the graphics felt fairly modern to me, i.e. not at all like an 8-bit or 16-bit era style. Felt more like watercolor and ink drawings to me. A bit like a graphic novel, perhaps.

I’m impressed. When I played it back in the day, I did not get very far, and if the package wouldn’t have included the hint book I would not have finished it.

I played (but did not finish) Riven. I thought it was a lot more accessible than Myst, and the world felt much more believable. More organic and not so artificial. But after that I gave up on the series. Though I do have Obduction (either got it real cheap, or free on GOG) and am slightly curious about Firmament as well.

I did read the Myst novelization, though, and it helped make a bit more sense of what is in the games. Maybe read that instead of playing.

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32

I have to say that RealMyst (the masterpiece edition - 2014; and v2.0 according to GOG) is much much more immersive and atmospheric than the original. At least it provides you with more ways to navigate in a fluid way that avoids the disorienting experience. Plus there is a day/night cycle that simply makes the thing feel more real and less alien planet. The flashlight to see what is in some dark scenes is a nice touch too.
The puzzles are obviously the same, but it really feels that with this version they first achieved what they set out to do: just immerse yourself in the world and through that figure out what the puzzles are and discover how to solve them and uncover the “story”.
The hot toggle button to show the original screens in one of the modes means there really is no need to go and play the 1993/1999 originals - unless you have a nostalgia for them.
It seems there is another bonus section in this version too (Rime), so I even have a small incentive to play all the way through and find that. (Already found the book describing the extra “age” - the same obscure writing as all the rest … and when I stepped out, the sun was setting which was a nice touch).
The free-roam control mode (which you can select on the fly through the menus) allows you to look up and down and in any angle, but also makes it a bit harder to align with objects to interact with, so not recommended if you have never played the game before.

4 Likes
33

Finished Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, with mixed feelings.

On the bright side, you get to visit the Sistine Chapel outside a long line of tourists, with excellent lighting conditions and no custodian constantly crying “SILENZIO!!1!” at the top of their voice. The Pyramids, too!

On the downside, I thought what story there is doesn’t really carry 50 hours of gameplay, especially since no matter the location, there are always the same kind of activities. All in all, everything felt very formulaic, with little intrinsic reward for going through the motions.

It’s still a fun game that nails the atmosphere, but it lacks in novelty. Being Indiana Jones no longer comes with surprises, it seems.

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34

But isn’t that a problem with every kind of series, even with sequels: You have to reuse the formula or the concept. If you want to be Indiana Jones, you are this guy with a whip and the leather jacket - in each game (and film). So each story and game that you write/develop about the hero Indiana Jones has to (re-)use the known concepts.

35

Oh, I wouldn’t want to change the character (that would probably be terrible), but perhaps there could have been a bit more originality to the kind of places we visit, the kind of adversaries we face and the kind of adventure we have as Indy.

What we have instead is cookie-cutter plot paired with cookie-cutter gameplay, wrapped in a really elaborate and shiny package. Meeting expectations, but without surprises.

Well, I can imagine that you can’t use the IP and take it to wild new places, but I would argue that there’s precedent for some variation on the theme of Nazis searching for an occult device. (I guess by that reasoning, I should perhaps also be more critical of Fate of Atlantis, but to me the Atlantis myth carries more fascination than 17 random ancient sites connected by a circle, and the game itself was all but cookie-cutter point & click.)

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36

Fascist searching for an occult device. :smiley:

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37

I replayed Curse of Monkey Island…

When I first played this game (some time around 97-98), I didn’t know it was by a different team, but it felt/looked pretty different from the first two.
I enjoyed it and felt it was very well made, but after finding out that it wasn’t by the original creators, it always seemed a bit like a non-canon placeholder, so I was still hoping for the authentic MI3 with a consistent art style linking it to the first two and all the clever answers to the MI2 ending and the secret.

However, after being somewhat disappointed by RtMI, I wanted to replay Curse to see if it now felt more like the better sequel out of the two.
And the answer is… sort of?
I went into it feeling like I’d probably really appreciate it now that there isn’t anything by the original team that is going to beat it.
I enjoyed it a lot, but the problems I felt when I first played it are still there.

I’m still not a big fan of the art style… it’s great for what it is, but it feels too different to the first two, to me.
The lavish cutscenes are kind of a mix - on the one hand they’re very well done, on the other they really slow things down, especially at the start. It seems to take ages to get going, especially compared to MI1 where we get right to it with no messing around.

The main two islands (Plunder and Blood), I find a bit too similar to each other in overall feel. They’re both enjoyable, but I’ve always found that going to Blood Island doesn’t feel like enough of a contrast from Plunder. Similar thing I have with MI2 - Booty and Phatt Island are a bit too much like the same island to me. I like the contrast in MI1 between Melee and Monkey Island. Not massively detrimental, but a small “would be nice to have more contrast” thing.

I forgot how much pixel hunting there was in this game. Every time I was stuck, it was because I had missed a very small graphical detail. I’m pretty sure I’ve miss the nails and the pepper every time I’ve played it.
Some of the puzzles are pretty out there and don’t have clues to give you a fighting chance. The gold tooth puzzle and light controls puzzle are really a stretch.

The third part where you have to do rhymed insult sword fighting and upgrade your cannons is very grindy, even when you’ve said you want the crew to help. The original insult sword fighting in MI1 was arguably already a bit too much, and this makes it like four times longer.

It’s got a lot of great, funny writing, but I think that many of the characters have way too much dialogue (it feels like the Voodoo Lady never stops talking)… in contrast, I think MI1 and MI2 got the amount spot-on, I never felt like I was bogged down in dialogue in those games.

People complain about the brevity of the end sections of Curse, but I thought that was fine. I found it wraps up pretty satisfyingly, so I never had a problem with that.

I agree with a lot of what PiecesOfKate says about the game, some similar points on her blog -

I’ll probably need to replay Return to Monkey Island again soon to really compare.
From memory, I think the puzzle design in Return is probably better, the humour is great in both, I prefer Curse’s art style out of the two, and the story is more satisfying in Curse.
I still have the feeling of “there is a missing third part to this trilogy” and neither game really scratches that itch.

6 Likes
38

Yesterday, I finally finished the original Broken Sword game.
From a technological point of view, it might have been state of the art, when it was launched in 1996, seeing the visual style, the cut-scenes and the UI. I appreciate the efforts and expenses the dev team had brought up for this elaborate game, but unfortunately the narrative (especially the protagonist’s motivation, despite his passion for Nico), the humour, the puzzle design and the UI did not fully convince me. Overall, the puzzles are easy, but in some cases I had some problems at solving a puzzle, even though I had the right idea in my mind, just because there was a design issue.
The two elements I bemoaned most were the humour, which I hardly found to be funny, and the voice of the protagonist, who sounded bored somehow - mostly because of the (german) voice actor.
Even though, Broken Sword may appear similar to CoMI at a first glance, which was released in the subsequent year, it don’t think it is on a par with it.

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39

I’ve played Broken Sword back then, but to me it was never a humorous game. There are some funny situations, but the story is more serious. So I wouldn’t compare it with a comedy adventure like CoMI.

The story has some flaws, indeed. Especially the ending.

I liked the voice acting back then. It was very professional compared to other games. But I have to replay the game. :slight_smile:

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40

Yes there are only few jokes. The visual style is also more realistic in comparison, even though some animations and characters appear a bit cartoonish.

I revised the wording in terms of the voice actor. He did a professional job indeed, it rather is his overall tone.

By the way, IMHO the monologues often are a bit silly, especially when you try something, that leads to nothing.

1 Like