With Sydney forced back into rather a long lockdown (only recently ended! -Ed), MEGHANN O’NEILL has been grumpy, which has had the unexpected consequence of this collection being a little more diverse than usual. She certainly enjoyed all of these games, she just didn’t have the patience for longer times spent engaging within a single genre. If you find you want to flit agitatedly between horror and stealth, adventure and puzzles, all of these games are a great choice. Oh, and she totally had to cancel her snow holiday, so there’s a game for that, too.
THE TELWYNIUM: BOOK ONE
DEVELOPER Powerhoof PRICE Name your own price
AVAILABILITY Released WEBSITE https://powerhoof.itch.io/the-telwynium
My very first impression of The Telwynium: Book One was, “Aah, my eyes.” But I had computers in the 80s, they can’t scare me. Dave Lloyd, of Powerhoof, says, “The aesthetic is Sierra’s SCI-0 engine, EGA with dithering.” No kidding! It’s like Conquests of Camelot and the early Quest for Glory games. The next thing I noticed was that ambient forest sounds are panned, creatively, left and right. It’s weird to be transported (perfectly) to a bygone era by one aspect, yet removed from it by another. There are more such dissonances, but I quickly grew to love them all.
If I tried to explain to my kids why games like King’s Quest were so immersive for me, as a child, they would think I’d gone silly. I’m not sure I trust even
