The Crimson Diamond is an EGA text parser mystery adventure game where you play as amateur geologist and reluctant detective Nancy Maple. Nancy is born and raised in Toronto, Canada, where she works as a clerk for the Royal Canadian Museum. She dreams of attending university to study geology and min...
The Crimson Diamond is an EGA text parser mystery adventure game where you play as amateur geologist and reluctant detective Nancy Maple. Nancy is born and raised in Toronto, Canada, where she works as a clerk for the Royal Canadian Museum. She dreams of attending university to study geology and mineralogy, and she's prepared to venture into the unknown to achieve her goals!
Follow Nancy as she travels north to the ghost town of Crimson, Ontario to investigate the discovery of a massive diamond in the area. Eavesdrop on conversations to learn more about the eccentric cast of characters who find themselves gathered at Crimson Lodge. Explore the lodge and its environs to evaluate the diamond claim, and maybe solve a mystery or two along the way! The Crimson Diamond is a cozy mystery that encourages reading and engaging in the story over devious arcade challenges.
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If you love the old murder mystery games like the Laura Bow Mystery Series, you will enjoy this game by Julia Minamata – The Crimson Diamond. The art style will give you that sentimental feel of the first Laura Bow Mystery, The Colonel’s Bequest. If you relish the nostalgia of the ‘old games’ -- perhaps taking you back to your childhood – this game will do it for you! It has the requisite feel of an Agatha Christie novel, set in the early 20th century. It even has a parser interface, so that you can question the other characters that you meet, develop your hunches, and write your notes along the way . It’s an observational, detective-type of game, and for those who love mysteries and suspense, you should really give this game a chance. To coin an old phrase: It’s the ‘bee’s knees!’
Roberta Williams – Director & writer of The Colonel’s Bequest, co-founder of Sierra On-Line
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- Explore Crimson Lodge and the surrounding wilderness
- Listen and talk to a cast of characters with different personalities and motivations.
- Uncover secrets, discover hidden areas, solve mysteries!
The Crimson Diamond is a love letter, to those old adventure games that we all enjoyed, so many years ago. Any fan of Sierra's golden era will enjoy this game. The love and passion that went into this game is evident from the outsanding 16-color EGA style art (which is very detailed, I might add) to the music score, to the well written story and intriguing characters. I actually got my copy from itchio and sitting down to play it, brings back nostalgia for the old days, of DOS, my 386 and text parser adventure games. This is a must have for any adventure game fan
The Crimson Diamond keeps all the best parts of 80s parser adventure games and reinvents the annoying bits. Autosaves. A competent parser that accepts shortcuts. Beautiful dithered EGA. A main character who knows her stuff and uses that knowledge. An in-game notebook that keeps track of your progress. Wonderful attention to detail. I could go on and on, but really, you should just hit the buy button and download. Julia Minamata has truly made something special with this game.
This game is great if you're a fan on the old style laura bow games. The music, writing and style are all top notch.
The only downside to this game is that the text parser is a little too clunky, nothing game breaking just a few moments of trying to figure out exactly what the parser would like to to write. This acutally lead to me missing a minor clue to a side plot because I didn't know what to write. I might just be an idiot though.
This game was a lot of fun for me, but I also consider "The Colonel's Bequest" to be one of my favorite games, so if you enjoyed that game, you will enjoy this game. The inspiration is evident in the overall look and feel of "The Crimson Diamond," but there are also modern improvements over the classic, such as an auto-save feature, keyboard shortcuts for exploring and questioning suspects, plus a list of your objectives and clues, so you always know what to do next. You might even learn something about geology and mineralogy along the way. I played this on Steam, as a release on GOG was unknown at the time, and loved every minute of it. Haven't played "The Colonel's Bequest?" It's conveniently available right here on GOG, along with its sequel, "The Dagger of Amon Ra." No go out there and help Nancy Maple solve the mystery!
The Crimson Diamond is a masterpiece for several reasons:
**EMPATHY**
Unlike many detective games that feel cynical, this one makes you genuinely care for its characters. It's hard not to feel deeply emotional when bad things happen to them, probably because the NPCs have detailed motivations, expressive portraits, and a lot of close-ups.
**SECRETS AND CONSEQUENCES**
This isn't just a story-driven adventure; it's a true game with meaningful exploration. There are numerous hidden conversations and pieces of evidence you might miss, making your discoveries and conclusions significant. Even if you don't find everything, you can still reach a satisfying ending, and the game encourages replayability by hinting at missed content.
The story has layers of personal and political problems that lead to moral choices at the end. These made me think about what my own values are. The protagonist's evolution from a mineralogist to a detective allows players to pursue motivations they align with — be it fame and riches, scientific advancement, or a quest for justice the way they see it — and express these choices within the game.
**THE BEST OF THE OLD AND THE NEW**
Despite its classic roots, the game feels modern with its user-friendly onboarding, optional tutorial, and quality-of-life improvements. However, it introduces players to most of the things that made Sierra's games great, for example:
- Dangerous situations can result in character death, like in real life. These moments aren't unfair — they simply require common sense and make everything more immersive.
- NPCs don't just sit in one spot doing nothing. There is some "stealth" and eavesdropping that you can fail at, adding more depth to the experience.
**TL;DR**
The Crimson Diamond is dramatic, immersive, and authentic yet accessible. It's an amazing game crafted by someone passionate about the genre.
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