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 attempting to resolve puzzles — lends itself nicely to humor, as each interplay with an individual or object provides a possibility 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 pressured to go on the run, and the story rapidly 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 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 attractive pixel artwork helps, too, and places have dramatic lighting and moody shadows.
This being a point-and-click journey, the first solution to transfer the story ahead is by fixing puzzles, typically by utilizing the suitable object on the proper place on the proper time. The sport is normally fairly good at suggesting the place it is advisable undergo conversations or via a listing of broader story threads you’re investigating.
Really 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 loads of the clunkiness of old-school LucasArts journey video games. You progress Mick round with the left management stick, however while you transfer the suitable management stick, a little bit circle pops up round him with squares that point out issues close by you could work together with. You’ll be able to choose stuff you need to have a look at with a press of a set off button. (You’ll be able to, after all, use a extra conventional mouse to play the sport, too.)
Greater than as soon as, although, I obtained fully caught, and I typically simply brute-forced each merchandise in my stock with each particular person I may speak to till I discovered a solution to transfer ahead. I additionally often 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 sort of direct in-game trace system to offer me a push in the suitable path — that is an old-school difficulty with the style, however loads of fashionable video games have figured it out.
Pushing via these extra obtuse head-scratchers was price 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 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 obtainable now on PC.
