As someone who grew up with point-and-click adventures, it's hard not to feel a pang of nostalgia every time I see a new game like Rosewater rolling into town. Of course, those fond memories are often tempered with childhood trauma instilled by unfair puzzles, deadly staircases, and dead ends that required cycling save slots to avoid unwinnable situations. Thankfully, sins that are rare among the current crop.
Rosewater is an old western road-trip adventure about a mismatched posse (led by a freelance writer, of all things) travelling across alt-universe America. West Vespuccia, they call it here. A troubled land, with revolutionaries and weirdos abound.
Plus apparently some mad science, as the gang set out to investigate the story of aetheric technology gone awry, and some folks that appear to have been disintegrated. So, not your usual western yarn, obviously. But well befitting a classic point-and-clicker.
While Rosewater's aesthetics are thoroughly old-school, replete with that characteristic stiffness that most '90s point-and-click protagonists seemed to be afflicted by (despite some rotoscoped animations), developers Grundislav Games promise a more flexible adventure than its forebears.
Reminding me a little bit of the excellent Unavowed, your gang of buddies and relationships between them provide multiple solutions to problems, potentially opening up new plot branches and multiple play-styles. There are also some random encounters which should give the game a little more replay value than point-and-clickers are primarily known for.
Old-school adventure fans have been looking forward to Rosewater for some time now, with post-apocalyptic romp Shardlight (developed along with Wadjet Eye) and dickensian detective adventure Lamplight City putting the studio on the radar, and Rosewater's demo (which is still available) proving that the indie studio still has the spark.
In the meantime, we've had plenty of other contenders, including recent '80s style gem The Crimson Diamond and excellent Lucasarts-inspired comedy whodunnit Loco Motive, proving that the old-school adventure is alive and kicking. Rosewater is in good company.
Rosewater is out now on Steam and GOG for $20/£16.75, skipping on the customary launch discount in favour of pricing from a simpler age, although Steam does offer some loyalty discounts if you've got other recent adventure releases, including Lamplight City, The Longing and Prim.
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