8-BIT ADVENTURE ANTHOLOGY: VOL 1
Genre: Adventure Developer: General Arcade , Abstraction Games Publisher: Abstraction Games Platform: PC, Xbox One [reviewed], PS4 Release Date: Oct 31, 2017
We are going way back to the past with 8-bit
Adventure Anthology: Volume 1, which if you
couldn’t guess, takes us back to the days of the 8-bit
era, specifically the original Nintendo Entertainment
System. But those of a certain age will know the
three games in this anthology better as the
MacVenture series, as they appeared first on the
Apple Macintosh before being ported to every
possible system of the time, including that beloved
NES.
What you get in this package is three of the most
famous games in the series: Déjà Vu (1985), Uninvited
(1986), and Shadowgate (1987), strangely the sequel
to Deja Vu is missing from this anthology for
whatever reason. This compilation handles the
games well on modern platforms with faithful
remakes of three of the best 8-bit point & click
adventure games. That shouldn’t be a surprise as
these games came out between 1987-1991.
medieval setting really makes for a difficult game
overall. In fact, I’d say it would be nearly impossible,
even today, to beat the game without a walkthrough
of some kind. Puzzles can be incredibly obtuse and
the implementation of a countdown timer in the
form of lit torches mean exploring isn’t as rewarding
as it should be. Death is common in these games,
but Shadowgate seems to revel in it; the torch
system leading to most deaths.
My favorite of the lot, even today, is the first entry in
the series; Deja Vu. Everything about the game just
makes sense, probably thanks to being a real-world
crime drama that plays heavy on the noir side of
things. Even though the game is seemingly set in the
1920s or 30s, the puzzles still make logical sense.
There isn’t any magic to be had, or even any really
obtuse puzzles to deal with. Of all of the games in
the series Deja Vu would be the one I’d recommend
first and the one that kids back in the days of the
NES would probably actually learn something from.
That said, none of these games are really for kids,
especially Uninvited. Remember, this was the age
before a rating system.
Each game surprisingly holds up well after all of
these years, but some work better than others. The
most famous of the three has to be Shadowgate, but
I found that title to be the most frustrating of the lot.
The game engine and menu system is bar far the
best of the there, having learned and tweaked
things from the first two games in the series, but the
"It’s one of the nicest surprises of
the year for adventure game fans"