As you will know if you’ve been reading for the past few days, I’ve been mulling over what to do for “DOScember” this year on my YouTube channel. I was fairly firmly set on doing another full adventure game playthrough, but hadn’t quite settled on what.
Well, after being recommended the excellent looking The Crimson Diamond, I’m… not going to play that right away. Instead, I’m going to play at least one of the games it cribs extensively from, and a series of adventure games I’ve always wanted to check out but never got around to: the Laura Bow mysteries from Sierra.
I’ve spent a little time familiarising myself with the first game The Colonel’s Bequest this evening, and I think I’ve got a feel for what to expect now. This was a highly experimental game for creator Roberta Williams, and modern commentators tend to agree that it doesn’t quite succeed at what it’s trying to do, but it’s a thoroughly interesting game nonetheless. That sounds like ideal fodder to play, talk about and discuss. Plus, like I say, I’ve wanted to play both Laura Bow games for ages and never made the time to do so.
For the unfamiliar, The Colonel’s Bequest is a mystery-themed adventure game in which you play the 1920s journalism student Laura Bow, who has come along to provide moral support for her friend Lillian while she attends a family reunion of sorts. Said reunion is taking place on the plantation of Colonel Henri Dijon, a former war hero, and is, for maximum creepiness, in the very depths of a bayou in the southern United States.
Upon arriving at the mansion, Laura notes that despite the Colonel announcing that he has left an equal share of his fortune to everyone present (except Laura, obviously), all the family members immediately start being absolute dickheads to one another, and it’s clear that mischief is about to be afoot. What then follows is a curious twist on the usual adventure game formula, where you, as Laura, must wander through the mansion and its grounds, attempting to gather pieces of evidence and knowledge that will allow you to leave the situation 1) alive and 2) with a full understanding of what happened.
The Colonel’s Bequest mostly lacks conventional puzzles, aside from a couple of instances. Instead, the game is mostly about being in the right place at the right time to witness or discover things; the game is split into hour-long Acts, which in turn are split into 15-minute time blocks, and discovering something significant causes time to advance. It’s possible to advance time before gathering important items or speaking with certain characters; indeed, it’s possible to “finish” the game with almost complete obliviousness to what happened around Laura, and you are not penalised for doing so, other than receiving a low “Sleuth” rating in the finale.
What this effectively means is that The Colonel’s Bequest is a game in which taking notes of what happens when, where, how and why is quite important, particularly if you plan to replay the whole thing. Having pieces of evidence or knowledge to ask or tell people about can lead to learning more about what’s going on, and you’ll need to follow all these threads to their various conclusions as much as possible to get the best rating.
I stopped playing for this evening because I don’t want to spoil too much for myself. I suspect my playthrough won’t conclude with me getting the elusive “Super Sleuth” rating at the conclusion of the playthrough, but I’m looking forward to giving it a go anyway. In typical Sierra style, there are some delightful characters involved, along with some fun narration, and this is what I’m really looking forward to: having an excuse to do some silly voices.
Anyway, yeah. So that’s the plan. The Colonel’s Bequest, at the very least. And if I get through that fairly quickly, on to The Dagger of Amon Ra. And if I beat that before December is through, then I’ll look at The Crimson Diamond. After all, I felt like I should probably familiarise myself with the “source material” before jumping into something that is a direct and unashamed homage to it, right?
Want to read my thoughts on various video games, visual novels and other popular culture things? Stop by MoeGamer.net, my site for all things fun where I am generally a lot more cheerful. And if you fancy watching some vids on classic games, drop by my YouTube channel.
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