To those nerdy enough to know of him, Tim Schafer is widely accepted as a genius. Along with fellow programmer Ron Gilbert, Schafer fathered the point-and-click adventure game genre, creating classics like Full Throttle,  Day of the Tentacle, and my personal favorite, Grim Fandango.  Once point-and-click adventure games fell out of fashion, Schafer founded a new game studio called Double Fine, and pumped out Psychonauts, Brutal Legend, and smaller releases like Costume Quest and Stacking. Despite almost universal critical praise for their major releases, Double Fine has struggled to match commercial success with critical acclaim, making them a hard sell for publishers. With Broken Age, Schafer and Double Fine jumped the publisher hurdle entirely and raised over $3.3 million on Kickstarter – demolishing their goal of $400,000. With this money they set out to make something the world hasn’t seen in decades: a new (semi) big budget point-and-click adventure game. Now here we are, almost two years since the completion of Schafer’s hyper-successful crowdfunding campaign, and Act 1 of the game is finally upon us. And it’s good. It’s real good.

The game begins by giving you the choice of  two young characters: a boy in space, or a girl in the countryside. The two stories, which you can switch back and forth at will, seem at first to be connected only in theme.  Without ruining any surprises, both characters are in oppressive situations they wish to break out of, which basically makes the whole thing two parallel coming-of-age stories. The game’s sharp writing and quick wit prove up to par with Schafer’s legendary track record. The other characters you encounter intrigued me enough to make me want to talk to every single one until they had nothing else left to say; a process that almost always left me with a smile on my face. The voice acting shines throughout the game, thanks to the talent of A-list stars like Elijah Wood, Masasa Moyo, and Jack Black.

Not looking to be outdone, Nathan “Bagel” Stapley’s art design explodes with color and creativity, and Peter McConnell’s fully-orchestrated original score complements it beautifully. Regardless of whether I was eating part of an ice cream mountain or walking around on a cloud colony run by a cult leader, I always made sure to explore every inch with the volume cranked up. Broken Age may not be the first game to ever try the “hand painted” look, but I can guarantee that you’ve never seen any game that looks quite like this one. The sharp character designs range from adorable to hilarious, and the environments are vibrant and memorable. Enough good things can simply not be said about the art and sound design of Broken Age. It’s charming to an almost ridiculous degree.

Despite my gushing, the game isn’t perfect. Some of the animation seems a little strange and choppy. Characters handing each other items, for example, always looks pretty off. The puzzles generally offer very little challenge;  figuring out what to do shouldn’t prove too difficult as long as you’re willing to walk around and click on everything. In some ways, this problem just comes with the territory of the point-and-click adventure game, but it seems to go a little beyond that in my opinion. Maybe the puzzles were simplified to make the game more accessible, or maybe Double Fine simply didn’t have the money to do as much as they wanted with them. After all, $3.3 million may seem like a fortune, but it’s a drop in the bucket compared to most major game development budgets, which can get as high as $50 million. My hunch, though, is that Double Fine kept the puzzles simple enough to easily complete with a touch screen in preparation for the iOS and Android release of the game later this year. This gripe might be enough to turn off some hardcore fans, but it’s an easily forgivable sin for those looking for a unique game with a fantastic story.

The biggest problem with Broken Age is that it isn’t finished. In typical Tim Schafer fashion, Double Fine ran into budget issues and could not finish the game with the amount of money raised from the Kickstarter campaign alone. Instead of going to a publisher to get the cash to pay for the rest of the game, they decided to release the first part and use the profit to fund what remains of the second part. Don’t worry though, because if you buy Act 1 for the asking price of $25 you’ll get Act 2 as soon as it comes out, no extra money needed. After about four hours of playing, Act 1 ends satisfyingly enough; you’ll want more, but in an “I want to know what happens next!” kind of way, not in a “wait, that’s it?” kind of way, which is what I was concerned about when I heard about the split.

Despite its very few shortcomings, it’s easy to recommend Broken Age to just about anyone. It probably won’t revive the point-and-click adventure genre, but for those who have been waiting for a new Tim Schafer adventure game since Grim Fandango’s release in 1998, your wait is over. And for those who have never played a point-and-click adventure, get on your computers and get out your wallets, because you’re in for a treat.

Overall Rating: ★★★★★ 

What does this score mean?

Broken Age will be available on PC, Mac, and Linux via Steam on January 28th. You can pre-order the game here. Android and iOS versions, along with Act 2 of the game, are due out later this year. 2 Player Productions documented the development of Broken Age. The entire documentary series is currently only available to backers of the Kickstarter campaign, but episode one can be viewed on Youtube for free.

© 2014, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

The ongoing development of this game is unique, even when compared to other crowdfunded point-and-clicks. The episodic adventure began with a Kickstarter campaign that raised about $7,400 from 285 backers. This funded the first episode of the game which can be enjoyed free of charge on the game’s official website. The second episode then began its crowdfunding initiative, this time straight from the game’s web page as opposed to somewhere like Kickstarter or Indiegogo. Once an episode is fully funded, developed, and becomes playable, the episode before it transitions to free to play. Assuming this intriguing model continues to find success for The Game Kitchen, the process will repeat until at least four episodes complete development.

But enough talk of funding and development, what about the game itself? We start with a simple and very disturbing prologue that instantly draws you in and forces you to wonder what in the hell is going on. Without ruining too much, I will say that things begin masterfully. I knew immediately that The Last Door would be a cut above the average web browser-based game and closer to the type of storytelling found in horror adventures like Amnesia: The Dark Descent. The unnerving tone is heightened by an impressive fully orchestrated soundtrack, something I did not expect from such a low budget title. Like Amnesia, the strange story unfolds slowly by exploring and finding letters and clues left in the mysterious house you find yourself in.

The mechanics of the game don’t break any new ground for the genre, but they do their job. Just as you might expect, the player uses the mouse to click around and explore the game’s surroundings. When the cursor hovers over something of interest, it turns into a magnifying glass. Whenever an item can be picked up for use later, the cursor turns into a hand. To use these items, simply click on the one from the inventory you want to use, and then click on the part of the game world you wish to use it on. Again, no surprises here, not that everything in the game needs to surprise its audience. One point of minor annoyance, though, is that whenever an item can be picked up you must first examine it (magnifying glass), and then pick it up (hand). When I first began playing I quickly got stuck because I had examined everything I could find, but didn’t know that I could click certain items again to pick them up. Since there doesn’t appear to be a reason to not nab anything you can, examining and picking up collectable items could be completed in one click, but they aren’t. Again, a very minor problem, but it did cause some headaches for me early on.

The game sports a low-res style that some will find endearing and others off-putting. Personally, I enjoy the sharp contrast of the spooky tone, haunting music, and flat, blurry, blocky visuals. It feels endearingly nostalgic while not feeling overly retro. I imagine the simple look of the game was a necessary choice given the limited budget and small number of developers, but the game does a wonderful job of flourishing within the confines of the style. At first glance things seem primitive, but after spending just a few minutes with the game it becomes apparent that the game’s sensibilities are much more modern than one might expect. I suppose the look of the game might detract from the creepiness for some, but it didn’t for me. I enjoyed more than my fair share of genuinely chilling moments while playing through the released episodes.

In some ways, the appeal of The Last Door is incredibly niche. After all, it’s an old school style point-and-click adventure horror game that you play in a web browser. However, if you hear that string of descriptive words and aren’t immediately turned off, I highly recommend giving it a shot. It’s a brilliantly-crafted, disturbing mystery that deserves to be experienced. The first chapter is free to play, so why not try it out? You won’t regret it.

Overall Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Chapters one and two of The Last Door are available from the game’s official website, and chapter three is currently in development. That’s something you can help along, if you’re interested in that kind of thing.

© 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.