Level-and-click journey video games usually inform foolish, lighthearted tales. For me, the mishaps of the pirate Guybrush Threepwood within the Monkey Island sequence come to thoughts. The character of the style — wandering round, speaking to individuals, and attempting to resolve puzzles — lends itself effectively to humor, as each interplay with an individual or object affords a chance for a joke. The Drifter, a brand new point-and-click recreation 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 practice 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 fancy internet of characters, pursuers, and mysteries to poke at.
Mick serves as the sport’s narrator, usually describing what he’s doing in a grim, first-person tone with full voice performing by Adrian Vaughan. Mick’s tone generally 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 beautiful 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, usually through the use of the best object on the proper place on the proper time. The sport is normally fairly good at suggesting the place it is advisable to undergo conversations or by a listing of broader story threads you’re investigating.
Truly doing the investigating is easy. I performed The Drifter on Steam Deck, and it has a sensible management scheme seemingly impressed by twin-stick shooters that shaves off quite a lot of the clunkiness of old-school LucasArts journey video games. You progress Mick round with the left management stick, however whenever you transfer the best management stick, a little bit circle pops up round him with squares that point out issues close by which you can work together with. You’ll be able to choose belongings you need to take a look at with a press of a set off button. (You’ll be able to, in fact, use a extra conventional mouse to play the sport, too.)
Greater than as soon as, although, I acquired utterly caught, and I usually simply brute-forced each merchandise in my stock with each individual I may discuss 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. After I hit partitions, I actually wished there was some type of direct in-game trace system to provide me a push in the best course — that is an old-school challenge with the style, however quite a lot of fashionable video games have figured it out.
Pushing by these extra obtuse head-scratchers was value it, although: within the later components of my eight-hour run of The Drifter, the narrative threads all began to come back collectively in some actually mind-bending methods. Greater than as soon as, I stayed up well beyond 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 on the market now on PC.