A Golden Wake

The game feeling is quite good as well as the technical execution. That's probably why I played it to the end. Apart from that, the story does not really have a climax or an open goal that has to be achieved. It just seems like playing the every-day life of a rather boring character.

As I liked other Wadjet Eye Games a lot, I bought this one without reading reviews etc. For me, this game sadly lacks on the puzzles level (too easy / simple - even if I didn't know, what to do, there where only two or three things to do or click anyway) and on the story level (fragmented story / episodes; the game gave me no real motivation, why I should do something and what's the bigger plan or purpose for what I'm doing). So I can't recommend this one to adventure fans.

Sorry to say but this game is boring me to tears. I love the historical setting, the nicely done pixel art, the voice acting, the environments, but so far the story itself is so bland, so dull that I can not be motivated to continue to play this. It feels almost like homework talking to characters, going thru all the options, having your exploration mapped out in such a linear fashion. There is no stumbling around, no mind boggling puzzles to make you seek out a walk thru... its just conversations, simple fetch quests and a dull persuade feature. However, I am glad to have this in my library just for its art and premise. Perhaps one day I will finish it, but frankly there are many more captivating and just as pretty point and click adventures out there.

A Golden Wake is one of the cartload of point'n'click adventures produced by Wadjet Eye in the last decade. The game takes you to a place that very rarely features in games - Florida in the 1920s. You control a certain Alfred "Alfie" Banks, a real estate agent from NYC who goes to boom-town Miami to make his luck. Production values are high: the game environments are gorgeous with (reasonable) attention to details, and the jazz soundtrack is wonderful and very thematic. The story itself is ...ok? If you like Florida and the Roaring '20s, the game will dazzle you. On the other hand, characters are completely one-dimensional, and stay like that even throught. The gameplay itself is the weakest link in the game: as far as adventure games go, it is perfunctory, with most "puzzles" and "solutions" immediately made evident. Several quality of life perks of the genre are missing (skip animations or switch-screen movements). There are a couple of nice puzzles or slightly innovative techniques (like the persuasion system) that just get swept along. The result is that game feels like a slog, pushing forward to get to a resolution for characters you don't really care for. Do you like Florida, the '20s, and/or want to get your hands in every adventure game ever made? Get Golden Wake. PS: Sadly, a complete lack of a Southern drawl.

An opportunity to create a great game was wasted. The 2D graphics are rich in detail and voice acting is superb as well as the music, but the story and characters are flat. After about 30 minutes into this game, my interest faded. I wanted to like my character, but I didn't. I wanted to like the other characters in this game, but I didn't. And, I wanted to like the story, but it was a losing battle. Since the game lacks humor and charisma, this game will suffer the same fate as the historical references in it; sadly, it will be forgotten.