A Golden Wake

A Golden Wake matches the product standard that we have come to expect from Widget Eye: solid voice acting, charming music and beautiful pixelated environments. However, unlike its siblings, the game is tedious. There is no excitement, no suspense, no intrigue. There is nothing to reward the player for solving a puzzle, like a funny cutscene or a revelation that takes us a step closer to solving a mystery. The game tells the story of a real estate agent who gets involved in a sketchy project. I understand that they are trying to make it historically accurate, but they could have bent the story a little bit to spice it up and make it something worth playing. The plot and puzzles feel excessively quotidian and frankly, 2.5 hours in, I do not see a reason to continue playing as I am bored out of my mind. If you are interested in the Florida land boom of the 1920's you are better off just reading about it. Probably more educational and a better use of your time than playing A Golden Wake.

An historical adventure game with a great historical backdrop of the roaring 20's and interesting characters based on real life counterparts. You can't go wrong right? Wrong, With so much potential I really was looking forward to playing A Golden Wake. Unfortunately the story never gets interesting and the gameplay isn't any better. It's basically just click the obvious object, then travel from one scene to the other. Your decisions make no bearing on the outcome of anything. It's just a way to progress the story. 2 stars because at least the idea behind the game was a good one.

A Golden Wake attempts to tell a different kind of story than the usual adventure genre fare. It is set in a realistic historical setting and the protagonist has a dramatic arc, a choice that ups the ante for the emotional payoffs of the story. In that sense, the game is a welcome novelty, however the execution falls short. The gameplay is the standard procedural fare of solving puzzles, with some minigames that rely on deduction. The puzzles are very easy and the minigames unfortunately toothless, so there is no incentive to examine their logic in detail. This adds up to a visual novel with busywork, making the demands on the writing even more urgent to keep up player involvement. In my opinion, apart from the novelty of the realistic setting, nothing in the writing rises beyond the perfunctory, there are no surprises and no distinctive character moments. If this was a film, it would be a cookie cutter drama of the late 30s. The only interesting bit is the acknowledgment in game of the fetch quest nature of the protagonist's actions, but this too does not really come up to anything.

Unfortunately, this game was a bit of a letdown. Maybe the quality of Wadjet Eye's previous games have just increased my expectations. The good: Voice acting. The crew was really able to get into their characters. The only hint of emotionless VO was with Merrick. Stability: Previous Wadjet eye games were a little buggy on my Mac. This one was smooth sailing, although it insists on going full screen, making everything very pixelated. The bad: The puzzles. There was very little challenge. In an adventure game, there are always one or two puzzles that make you really scratch your head in order to think up a solution. This didn't have that. I didn't even use the "seller intuition" hint system once. The story is nothing exciting either. The characters have little development. I did share one character's frustration at feeling only like an errand boy, and not actually "doing" anything. There's just no feeling of accomplishment. The time jumps didn't help to tell the story, they just made it more jumbled. If the game is on special, and you just need something quick and casual to do on a weekend afternoon, go ahead and grab it. Otherwise, you might want to steer clear.

When i checked this game, i thought it would be interesting so i gave it a shot to see where it would lead. I finished the game the day after, and i can now say it doesn't add anything to genre. Graphics: Ok for a pixelated adventure. Animations could be smoother. Puzzles: Easy ones and not many. The game is quite linear, dull challenges for a seasoned adventure gamer. Story / Plot: The worst part of the game. I really can't figure out how Wadjeteye produced a game based on a totally local story which i really don't know if it even interests any American (i'm European and i could care less to be honest for the Coral Gables). Characters are boring, there is not a clear scope/goal for the main character, also the ending is totally unrewarding. Music : Good in general, fits to the game. Voice Act: Very good, the best part of the games, the actors are doing the job nicely. In general, it is a game that won't be remembered, and my bet is you won't play it more than once.