When last we saw Professor Samuel Hunt, he was in… umm, let's see, he must have been… uhh… oh, on the island of Madagascar, yeah. You'll have to excuse the forgetfulness, as it's been well over three years since the third "episode" of the planned fourteen-part AGON series was released. Needless to say, you can pretty much throw away any notion of a recognizable episodic model at this point, but don't discount the series itself, as indie Hungarian developer Private Moon Studios still has big plans for AGON.

The newest installment is called The Lost Sword of Toledo, and unlike the first three download-only episodes (at least until they were bundled together in The Mysterious Codex ), the latest game was designed from the ground up to be a full-length adventure sold as a standalone retail product. Sure enough, the result is a decidely longer and more complex game than its predecessors. But although a large step forward in substance for the series, it includes a few small steps back as a reminder that bigger isn't always better.

The stage for Toledo is set by an introductory narration by Hunt, writing home while aboard a train bound for the quaint Spanish town. Having already found two of twelve accursed board games that together will reveal the secret of the mysterious "AGON", Hunt correctly notes that he's become more of a detective than a cultural historian, and never is that more true than when he reaches his new destination. The professor learns that the man he's gone to see has died recently, leaving his only daughter with no inheritance except for a peculiar music box and a disastrously arranged betrothal. Worse still, her true love is currently rotting away in prison, arrested for stealing a family heirloom but wrongfully accused of the act, or so his supporters believe. And so it's up to the newly-arrived visitor to delve into both mysteries in order to save the day.

If it seems the storyline doesn't have much to do with our protagonist pursuing the next board game, that's because it doesn't, and the disparity is surprising. There's a very loose connection established at some point, but it feels tacked on and incidental by then, offered mainly to justify the title as part of the larger AGON series. This makes Toledo easy for newcomers to pick up and follow, but then they will probably be left wondering what the deal is when the board game does finally make its brief and fairly insignificant appearance. There's a written overview of the series story arc available from the main menu, but it's a shame the game doesn't do a better job of integrating it throughout the current adventure.

Whether searching for a board game or lost sword, however, the premise is still pure AGON. You'll wander node-to-node through a handful of locations, talk to key characters in order to glean clues, solve plenty of challenging puzzles, and do lots of reading. Lots and LOTS of reading. Far too much, in fact, and while most of it doesn't need to be read through in its entirety, it's unlikely you'll know ahead of time what is and isn't relevant, forcing you to plod through it all in order to be sure you aren't missing something important. I'm not one of those who believe that any reading is too much reading, simply that enough is enough, and Toledo relies on this particular convention way too often, making the game feel more like homework than fun at times.

When your nose isn't buried in a dusty old book or long-lost expository letter, you'll get do some adventuring legwork as well, although your travels don't take you very far. The entire game takes place in Toledo, but there's little exploring to do, as locations are limited primarily to a few homes, a couple courtyards, and the odd public building. Each location is self-contained, and you travel between them by map as you exit each one. The actual number of places to visit wasn't as disappointing to me as the lack of… shall we say, an exotic nature. One of the draws of the earlier games was their unusual locations, making you really feel as if you were navigating the Arctic tundra or a lush tropical island. Admittedly, I have no clue what early 20th century Spain looked like, but I'd have imagined something a little more distinctive from the "jewel box of European culture" than the areas available in this game. Instead of admiring the town's architecture and absorbing its cultural flavour, we end up in a lengthy section in Toledo's underground sewers. I could be wrong, but I doubt the aqueducts would be listed as a highlight in most travel brochures. The historic statue in the middle of town square, on the other hand, just might be, making it all the more annoying that you can't even view it from the front, to name just one obvious restriction.

The limited choice of locations doesn't mean that the scenery isn't pleasant to look at, thankfully. The backgrounds are depicted nicely, with all the same artistry and attention to detail that returning players have come to expect from the series, and there are even a few nice touches like reflective surfaces showing Hunt as he moves past. On the other hand, the game's engine is starting to show its age. Whereas three years ago the graphics bordered on jaw-dropping, now the fixed-resolution visuals merely hold their own. A few corners have even been cut for Toledo that didn't exist before. In particular, there are no ambient animations in the new game, displaying strictly static screens apart from interactive characters. As is becoming increasingly common, cinematic cutscenes are frequently replaced by comic-styled artwork that's nicely drawn but a fairly jarring change from the game's in-game presentation. The character models also suffer somewhat, being noticeably simpler than the environments and offering little in the way of expressiveness.

A similar criticism of the supporting characters can be extended to the voice acting. While capably acted for the most part (though with a few glaring exceptions), I didn't hear much in the way of authentic-sounding Spanish accents from the locals. The larger issue with the cast, however, is how little they offer the experience beyond serving as periodic story props. You simply move from one to another, asking everybody about everybody else until they've exhausted their minimal usefulness, at which point they'll refuse to even speak with you again until necessary. Professor Hunt himself is once again performed wonderfully by Peter Meikle, his uppercrust-Brit-with-adventurer's-enthusiasm persona shining through. Surprisingly, however, Hunt commits several ethically debatable acts in the game which seem out of character for him. They're hardly earth-shattering moral outrages, but the discrepancy stands out.

Of course, most players attracted to the AGON series are concerned less with the window dressing and more with the heart of the game, its puzzles, and overall this is a strength of the new installment, though once again not without exception. In keeping with the standard set by the earlier games, there are plenty of head-scratchers (and occasional head-pounders) in Toledo, ranging from the simplest of fetch quests to the most obtuse sort of multi-layered clue deciphering puzzles. Some are quite organic, such as a lengthy sequence of home photography development, while others are clearly contrived for the sake of presenting obstacles, like identifying a recent calendar date through a convoluted process of deduction instead of merely asking the first available townsperson you meet. If your response to such a scenario is "where's the fun in asking?" instead of "where's the logic in not?" then Toledo should serve you just fine.