The Adventure Gamer – The Retro Gaming Treasury

Missed Classic: Moonmist – Representation Blues

On June 30, 2020June 30, 2020 By IndieRetroNews

Written by Joe Pranevich I intended to wrap up Moonmist this week by closing out on the three remaining cases then moving quickly to the final rating. I did not make it. When playing and reviewing, I try to come to these games as unspoiled as I can. I learn […]

Game 121: Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist (1993): Introduction

On June 28, 2020June 28, 2020 By IndieRetroNews

by Alex Hello there, dear The Adventure Gamer family. I am back after a long absence to review another game, and another Al Lowe game, but this time it’s not an entry in the Leisure Suit Larry series. No, I’m leaving my polyester pal behind and traveling to the old […]

Game 124: Ecoquest 2: Lost Secret of the Rainforest (1993) – Introduction

On June 24, 2020June 24, 2020 By IndieRetroNews

Written by Reiko Almost four years ago, I covered the original Ecoquest here on the blog, and now we’ve arrived at the sequel: Lost Secret of the Rainforest. Instead of diving deep below the sea, this time we’ll be exploring the rainforest. You may remember that Ecoquest had a bit […]

Missed Classic: Moonmist – Getting a Clue (Won! Once!)

On June 22, 2020June 22, 2020 By IndieRetroNews

Written by Joe Pranevich Welcome back to Moonmist, the Nancy Drew mystery with a bit less Nancy Drew and a bit more Clue. The more I think about it, the more likely it seems that Galley and Lawrence were inspired by the 1985 film starring Tim Curry and based on […]

Missed Classic 86: Moonmist (1986) – Introduction

On June 15, 2020June 15, 2020 By IndieRetroNews

Written by Joe Pranevich As we close on Infocom’s final release of 1986, we turn the page on a new era. As best as I have been able to determine, Moonmist is the final game that was deep under development prior to the purchase by Activision, or at least the […]

Genre Hopping: Ultima VII: The Black Gate (1992)

On June 10, 2020June 10, 2020 By IndieRetroNews

Delivering Our Report We offer our report to Finnegan, and he asks us various questions about the case. The simple point and click nature makes this quite obvious, there are only so many potential answers to each question, and it should be obvious which is the most appropriate answer each […]

Infocom Marathon: Leather Goddesses of Phobos – Part Two

On June 7, 2020June 7, 2020 By IndieRetroNews

Written by Joe Pranevich My six-year old has recently become very interested in space. In the way that six-year olds can pick odd topics to be obsessed with (er… that apple didn’t fall far from the tree), he’s talked so much about Phobos and Deimos lately that I could probably […]

Infocom Marathon: Leather Goddesses of Phobos (1986) – Part One

On May 25, 2020May 25, 2020 By IndieRetroNews

Written by Joe Pranevich Sex sells, but few things market a product better than controversy. Throughout much of the 20th century, it was an adage that a book or a play “Banned in Boston” was guaranteed to sell well elsewhere. Oscar Wilde once said that, “The only thing worse than […]

Eric the Unready – Fair and Fowl – Request for Assistance

On May 18, 2020May 18, 2020 By IndieRetroNews

Written by TBD Eric the Unready Journal Entry #4: I found myself in a fair near a fire-breathing dragon. And the dragon’s protecting the Steak of Eternity. Seems simple enough – just need to cover myself from head to toe in fireproof armor and steal a hungry dragon’s meal. I’ve got […]

Eric the Unready – Secret of the Snooze

On April 30, 2020April 30, 2020 By IndieRetroNews

Written by TBD Eric the Unready Journal Entry #3: My nightmares are filled with turtles – small turtles, tall turtles, elderly turtles, teenage turtles, ninja turtles. Hopefully Lorealle can stay safe while I collect a seemingly random collection of objects… Day 4: Blicester Castle – It’s Only a Model While […]

Asylum II: Stubborn like a mule

On April 23, 2020April 24, 2020 By IndieRetroNews

Written by Will Moczarski Last time I thought I’d made a pretty good run through Asylum II – the game seemed as tedious but a lot easier than part one, that is until I was confronted by one of the guards who told me that my escape was not to […]

Eric the Unready – The Acceptably Decent Underground Empire

On April 19, 2020April 19, 2020 By IndieRetroNews

Written by TBD Eric the Unready Fondor Bindlecrank Journal Entry #2: I’m well on the way to rescuing the princess. My magic banana worked, I think. It took me to the location of one of the items that Bud the Wizard told me I’d need to complete my quest. I […]

Missed Classic 85: Drive-In Adventure (1982)

On April 17, 2020April 17, 2020 By IndieRetroNews

Written by Joe Pranevich Sex sells. Whether you personally consume pornography or not, it is undeniable that whenever a new media technology came along, it quickly adapted for adult entertainment. Pornography influenced the rise of VHS in the 1970s, the early internet in the 1980s, and eventually the broadband push […]

Eric the Unready – As Happy As A Pig In … Let’s Say… Mud

On April 10, 2020April 10, 2020 By IndieRetroNews

Written by TBD Eric the Unready Journal Entry #1: My first real assignment! After defeating the Knight of the Black Pauldron, I was given another important job where I met the most adorable creature I’ve ever seen – I also met a princess!Day 1: How do you like them apples? […]

Missed Classic 84: The Pesach Adventure (1993)

On April 8, 2020April 8, 2020 By IndieRetroNews

Written by Joe Pranevich Happy Passover! For the last five years, we have had an annual tradition of a Christmas adventure, a special one-off look at a festive game for the holiday season. I love playing and documenting these games, but the truth is that Christmas is not a holiday […]

Shadow of the Comet – Final Rating

On April 1, 2020April 1, 2020 By IndieRetroNews

By limbeck The first time I played Shadow of the Comet was probably some time in the late ’90s or early 2000s. I was relatively fresh in RPGs and the Cthulhu Mythos, and still at university. So, a Cthulhu Mythos inspired adventure game definitely looked like just what I needed […]

Game 118: Eric the Unready (1993) – Introduction

On March 30, 2020March 30, 2020 By IndieRetroNews

Written by TBD Eric the Unready is the next graphic adventure game from Legend Entertainment, and the highest rated adventure game ever, according to Computer Game Review. A quick glance at a screenshot shows that it uses essentially the same interactive fiction (with graphics) engine as Legend’s other games, Spellcasting 101, […]

Shadow of the Comet – Won!

On March 24, 2020March 24, 2020 By IndieRetroNews

Written by limbeck And so we arrive at the final showdown. The town itself is cleansed from the four families that were working to bring their evil plans to fruition, but all is not yet clear in the skies over Illsmouth. NARACKAMUS is still alive and the comet’s passing is […]

Asylum II: The Birds, Part 2

On March 19, 2020March 19, 2020 By IndieRetroNews

Written by Will Moczarski At the beginning of my second session I make a list of all possible puzzles I will have to solve. There is, for one, the obvious fetch quest (a): the scientist needs a magnet, a battery and some copper wire. So far I haven’t found any […]

Shadow of the Comet – Social calls

On March 18, 2020March 18, 2020 By IndieRetroNews

Written by limbeck It took me several sessions to finish Shadow of the comet and you will probably understand it from this post (Edit: and the next one. I had to split the post in two). This last part of the game was much more action-adventurey than I could take, […]