This month you can play a horror novelist living out a real-life horror story, a Boston detective searching for a serial killer or a paralysed man escaping into dreams. For something with a more fantasy feel, you might penetrate an enchanter’s castle to retrieve a magical stone or wander through the Forest of Eyeballs looking for a book. If tales of siblings are preferred, become a young man researching the life of his estranged sister or two extremely different twins forced to share the same body. Alternatively, you could have a collection of quick adventure fixes in twelve different games, all made in just a week. All these await you in this month’s round-up of releases from the freeware adventure scene.

The Book of Living Magic

Raven Locks Smith lives in the city of Dull in the Holy Corporate Beaurocratocracy of Yawn, a place full of banking institutions and motivational speakers. Much as she wished otherwise, Raven could only see a future descent into a boring life as a good Dull citizen. Then came the day a dream drifted away from Oneiropolis, the city of dreams, and paused by her bedside. It whispered into her ear about The Book of Living Magic and Raven instantly knew she must leave her mundane home behind and set out to recover this fantastical tome. Little did she know what strange beings, mystical locations and dangerous adventures lay in wait for her on this quest.

Once again Jonas Kyratzes has produced a game that is both fun to play and thought-provoking. The graphic style is line-drawn with simple shading. With the bright colours used, the overall effect is reminiscent of a children’s book, a style that suits the fairy-tale setting well. This is not to say that the illustrations are simplistic, as some scenes such as the market stalls contain a wealth of detail. There is no animation but with the storybook presentation, the static display feels natural. The background music consists of bright and cheerful tunes that complement the graphics nicely.

The setting for this adventure is undoubtedly a surreal one. The first scene includes a Gnarf (Half-Gnome, Half-Dwarf) trapped in a bottle as a result of an unspecified incident with a member of the opposite sex. You’ll go on to meet a lizard barkeeper, monkey and duck stallholders, and a cat running a circus full of performing humans.
Control is point-and-click, with inventory items highlighted for use, and almost every hotspot interaction generates a response. This includes individual descriptions for the various “plants” in the disturbingly literal Forest of Eyeballs. You’ll need to converse with the diverse locals to garner clues as well as make good use of your inventory. There is a significant amount of text to read here, much of it not directly relevant to your quest. However, if you are prepared to put in the time to read it all, there are both fun inventions like the terrible Monsterbeast and thought-provoking tales such as the fate of the Demon Eyeball to be found.

The Book of Living Magic can be played online at JayIsGames.

The Far Corners of the World: Chapter 1 – The Book, The Box and The Key

When they were both young, Jeffrey Carter and his sister Suzie had many wild, imaginary adventures together. When he left home he swore that he would keep in touch. Now, many years later, that promise has long been broken and one day he receives a message from a hospital in London. His sister has fallen into a mysterious coma, leaving a cryptic message behind for him. With her strange letter, an apparently blank piece of paper and a peculiar metal coin the only clues to go on, Jeffrey starts investigating Suzie’s recent activities. The things he discovers, however, may have long-term repercussions for his own life as well.

This first chapter in a proposed new series from Wesray is much more than a teaser, being a substantial game in its own right. The graphics are done in a simple cartoon style, though in a realistic setting. Whilst there are some perspective issues, these are not bad enough to make items unidentifiable or significantly affect gameplay. The main character is reasonably well animated and there are also various background movements as well, such as fish swimming in a tank and a child playing with a portable console. The soundtrack varies by location, with a muted tune for the hospital and a more grandiose piece for a museum. There are also sound effects, including a chime that indicates when the player has scored points by solving a puzzle.

Using the standard four-cursor point-and-click interface, this game sets up what promises to be an intriguing story. The background of the siblings’ close childhood serves to provide a compelling reason to get involved, as does Jeffrey's guilt over failing to keep his promise to maintain contact. The search for the titular book, box and key, as well as the unnatural nature of Suzie’s illness, speak of grand conspiracies that will hopefully be followed through in future episodes. Whilst some obstacles like a broken loudspeaker preventing a doctor hearing a call feel a little contrived, the puzzles are generally well integrated as story-based challenges. There is also amusing follow-through, such as the janitor turning up to fix the same loudspeaker only after the player has resolved the issue themselves. As well as inventory and dialogue puzzling, players will have to think carefully to interpret Suzie’s cryptic instructions. A points system gives regular rewards for puzzle-solving, as well as providing an indication of progress through the adventure.

The Far Corners of the World: Chapter 1 – The Book, The Box and The Key can be downloaded from the AGS website.

The Unicated

In a hospital bed lay young twins Bo and Mal. Bo is the embodiment of all that is good and kind, only wanting to help others. Mal, by contrast, is twisted and evil, his only desire to cause misery, death and destruction. These two distinct personalities would probably have ended up living two very different lives if not for the fact that they are conjoined Siamese twins sharing the same two-headed body. Unaware of their father’s dark reason for bringing them there, they just want to enjoy life their own way. As they set out together to try to achieve their own disparate goals, trouble cannot be far away.

In following the “Evil Twin” theme for the August MAGS competition, Duzz created a game of darkly humorous contrasts. The graphics are done in a Day of the Tentacle-era LucasArts style, though without any distorted backgrounds. Despite being relatively low-resolution, the characters are well animated and their faces have distinct personalities. This is especially true of the twins, with Bo’s wide-eyed smiling face and Mal’s wizened scowl. Accompanying the action are suitable sound effects throughout and a simple background tune.

Puzzle-solving in this game is dependent on the differing personalities of the two twins. In any interaction, including use of inventory, left-clicking uses nice Bo and right-clicking uses nasty Mal. Most puzzles require varying combinations of the two approaches to achieve success, whether through dialogue, inventory use or straight interaction. Even outside of puzzle-solving, it is worth trying out both twins on everything in the game for their amusingly extreme reactions. With Mal’s evil ways and Bo’s innocent response to even the most unpleasant of his brother’s actions, this is undeniably a black comedy. Whilst concluding in a satisfying manner, the ending leaves the possibility of longer sequels open.

The Unicated can be downloaded from the AGS website.

Symon

A paralysed man spends every day in his hospital bed, his view limited to the sweep of his eyes. The only way he can escape his torment is by descending into dreams. Here, in memories of his past and fragments of futures now eternally denied to him, he is free of his bodily prison. Perhaps by rebuilding his childhood bedroom, putting together a nursery for his baby or simply recalling a present for his beloved, he will find some solace.

This game from GambitSq is a melancholy outing, and its graphics use a stylised art form. The backgrounds are desolate misty landscapes with bare trees often drowned in lakes, and restricted, muted colours. The player character, and the object and people with which he interacts, are slightly more brightly coloured but also more simplified as cut-out animations. The music is a mournful piano piece that suits the tone of the game well. This mood is further reinforced by the sound of the respirator-assisted breathing of the player character.

Variety has been built into this game in two different ways. Firstly, there are three different stories to be played out involving three different aspects of the protagonist’s past. Secondly, the puzzles are randomly-generated rather than predetermined. Whilst this does succeed in varying the game from play to play somewhat, the fact that the objectives are largely fetch quests, with the actual mechanics for each storyline being identical, does limit its effectiveness. However, this is more a game to be played for its emotional impact than its mental challenge, and here it delivers. Played on that basis, it is well worth pursuing all three play-throughs necessary to see each background story play out.

Symon can be played online at Kongregate.