Lair of the Clockwork God

This was an excellent experience. I laughed out loud, groaned at some lovingly crafted puns, pretended I’m high-brow enough to get some jokes that went over my head, as well as puzzling through both platforming puzzles and classic adventure puzzles. It has everything! Cannot recommend it enough.

Ben & Dan are the creators and protagonists of 2 much-loved cult point and click adventures, 'Ben There Dan That' and 'Time Gentlemen Please!'. These games were noted for their wacky disregard for logic, a library's worth of unique humourous and, yes, very British dialogue, with a dollop of absurdism to boot. The Lair of the Clockwork God, a standalone game in its own right, retains all of these things albeit with a decade's worth of grump and harumph added to the mix. The creativity of some of the solutions goes well past a knowing wink and annihilates the fourth wall entirely - you'll feel the devs enjoyed making that as much as you did solving it. However the real departure from Clockwork God's predecessors is the unique platforming aspect. Controlling Dan you'll have the ability to run, jump, DOUBLE jump and even shoot. This well-realised ambition adds the odd change of pace to a genre that can sometimes feel too pedestrian and too happy to plod along from one puzzle to the next. The technical scope of this sequel really is wonderful too - I could barely believe my eyes when *slight spoiler alert* one puzzle is solved by playing through what is essentially a full game in its own right. You could be forgiven for thinking this game was made by a whole studio. Very occasionally the platforming did tip over into frustrating for me. Whether this was because I was using the keyboard instead of a controller I don't know but luckily our eponymous devs have added the option of a difficulty slider that can be used at any time for the Dan's that just want to get on with the puzzles. All in all Clockwork God is a excellent game and a really interesting unique genre mashup that I highly recommend. But hardcore platformers be wary - Super Meat Boy this is not. It's a point and click adventure with a delicious healthy side serving of platforming action but no one ever bought a main to eat the side dish.

I was a bit worried at the beginning, because the marriage of adventure and platformer mechanics - regardless of how thematically relevant or intentional this might be - feels clunky at best. The characteristically cheeky humour and self-indulgent meta-references you'd expect from a Ben & Dan game are there from the start. But the controls are a bit unwieldy, the platforming feels not as tight. Moreover, the constant need to switch between the 2 characters - and the change of pace this implies - was quickly getting on my nerves. But stick with it!! For one thing, LotCG is quick to add a few quality of life-hacks after its somewhat slow start to make all of this more bearable. And more importantly: It's incredibly funny AND surprisingly imaginative. Not too spoil anything, but all the clever and creative ways Dan Marshall and Ben Ward come up with to poke fun at bizarre gaming tropes, social media, generational divide and even the absurdity of the human condition. Now, there's a mouthful! But I mean it. It relly elevates this game.

If you like humorous point and click adventures then grab this! Loads of laugh out loud moments, and lots of clever puzzles!

This game is just wonderful. I played with a smile on my face from beginning to end. The gameplay reminds me of The Cave, except that you control only two characters: Dan and Ben. Dan is only capable of doing platforming stuff like running and jumping, and Ben is only capable of doing adventuring stuff like talking and combining items, so each of them is useless in their own special way. At each time, you'll have to figure out how to use their abilities to solve each level. The puzzles generally makes sense although the game sometimes messes with you in really funny ways. You have to really think like Dan and Ben to beat the game. But most of all, the humor is just fantastic. This is one of the funniest games I've ever played.