Level-and-click journey video games typically inform foolish, lighthearted tales. For me, the mishaps of the pirate Guybrush Threepwood within the Monkey Island collection come to thoughts. The character of the style — wandering round, speaking to folks, and making an attempt to resolve puzzles — lends itself properly to humor, as each interplay with an individual or object provides a chance for a joke. The Drifter, a brand new point-and-click sport from Powerhoof, cleverly makes use of the format to as a substitute inform a darkish, twist-filled thriller, and it sucked me in like a gripping novel.
In The Drifter, you play as Mick Carter, who you meet shortly after he hops aboard a prepare as a stowaway. Inside moments you’ll witness a brutal, unexplained homicide and be compelled to go on the run, and the story shortly turns into a posh internet of characters, pursuers, and mysteries to poke at.
Mick serves as the sport’s narrator, typically describing what he’s doing in a grim, first-person tone with full voice appearing by Adrian Vaughan. Mick’s tone typically feels a bit heavy-handed and overdramatic, however I loved Vaughan’s efficiency anyway — it actually units a pulpy tone that’s enjoyable to sink into. The sport’s attractive pixel artwork helps, too, and places have dramatic lighting and moody shadows.
This being a point-and-click journey, the first technique to transfer the story ahead is by fixing puzzles, typically through the use of the proper object on the proper place on the proper time. The sport is normally fairly good at suggesting the place it’s good to undergo conversations or by means of an inventory of broader story threads you’re investigating.
Really doing the investigating is simple. I performed The Drifter on Steam Deck, and it has a wise management scheme seemingly impressed by twin-stick shooters that shaves off a number of the clunkiness of old-school LucasArts journey video games. You progress Mick round with the left management stick, however once you transfer the proper management stick, a little bit circle pops up round him with squares that point out issues close by that you may work together with. You may choose stuff you need to have a look at with a press of a set off button. (You may, in fact, use a extra conventional mouse to play the sport, too.)
Greater than as soon as, although, I received utterly caught, and I typically simply brute-forced each merchandise in my stock with each individual I might speak to till I discovered a technique to transfer ahead. I additionally sometimes leaned on on-line guides to determine the place to go subsequent or if I missed one thing whereas investigating. Once I hit partitions, I actually wished there was some sort of direct in-game trace system to offer me a push in the proper path — that is an old-school subject with the style, however a number of trendy video games have figured it out.
Pushing by means of these extra obtuse head-scratchers was value it, although: within the later elements of my eight-hour run of The Drifter, the narrative threads all began to return collectively in some really mind-bending methods. Greater than as soon as, I stayed up well past my bedtime as I raced to determine what would occur subsequent.
I’m glad this story for Mick is over, however a part of me hopes he runs into bother once more so I can cozy up with one other point-and-click thriller.
The Drifter is accessible now on PC.