Primordia

If the dream of humanity comes true, will there be anyone around to witness it? Condition: Doomsday The world ended decades ago. There seem to be no organic beings left, and even the great machines of the Primordium, the fabled golden age of creation and the reign of Man the All-Builder, are falling into rust and ruin. Our hero is Horatio Nullbuilt, v.5, a robot who has set before himself a rather ambitious task: to restore the world, no more, no less - starting with a majestic airship, the UNNIIC (pronounced “unique” – who needs proper spelling?) lying in the wasteland for as long as anyone remembers. And then an unexpected turn of events sends him and his friend Crispin to chase a formidable enemy across the desolation and even farther away. The game is simply perfect. The writing has a precise rhythm, a perfect cadence brought to life by celebrated voice actors. The setting is fantastical but internally consistent, which is crucial for puzzle solving. It features high-tech tools that work on more-or-less scientific principles, so the puzzles are refreshing in their originality. For once, you will have a plasma torch and a scintillation counter instead of the usual pair of wrench and screwdriver. Hand-painted backgrounds in the baroque railgun-gothic style highlight the stark beauty of the post-apocalyptic world, and it’s simply amazing how evocative and sympathetic pixellized characters can be. Not only they crack tech jokes and color their speech with peculiar jargon; they behave like *robots*, not humans in metal suits. Figuring out a robot’s logic, the goals and constraints of its Artificial Intelligence is just as important as keeping your plasma torch close at hand. “It’s not our property or our problem.” This quote is emblematic of the puzzles, and, indeed, the plot structure of the game. Primordia treats its characters and you, the player, with respect: you won't be doing nonsensical things or picking up random items. It is a game that rewards intelligence, creativity and logic, not lucky guessing and a mastery of web search. And if you’re stuck, you can ask Crispin for a hint. The game does not penalize this – why should you be discouraged from asking a friend for help? The hint system is precise and elegant; and you’ll be delighted by insightful, funny and heartwarming exchanges between characters. (And, of course, the hints contain no spoilers that could have ruined the game’s intricate mysteries.) “One more setting…” By adjusting the graphics settings, you can make Primordia look awesome on a screen of any resolution, without stretching and artifacts. The engine supports letterboxing (5:4), pillarboxing (16:9), windowboxing with integer scaling (any) and, of course, total immersion fullscreen (16:10). It is also playable in a window if you so desire. Primordia does not use unstable external plugins; all special effects are custom-coded by the talented developers at Wormwood Studios, so if you are able to run AGS games on your computer at all, you will be able to play this game. “We are Man’s miracle, Crispin. Let’s hope that’s enough.” The central mystery is *fair*; you can figure it out early (not "guess because you have seen/read/played something similar - it's rather unique), in which case the mystery becomes dreaded anticipation, and the plot *works*: if anything, the little "I see what you did there" details enhance the experience even further. There's a widespread notion that a person must read/watch/otherwise experience specific artworks before he or she dies. And that notion is plain wrong. The time one spends *not having experienced* a great work of art is the time they have wasted. Buy this game now. Primordia has devious enemies, unexpected allies, and indifferent mechanical gods. It’s a game about what it takes to pull civilization from the brink, and what it takes to make you want to push it down. It’s a game about truth and hope, law and duty, justice and vengeance. It’s a game about what it means to be human. (Who’d have thought you need robots for that?) [no professional reviewer disclaimers here – I paid for my copy, thankyouverymuch]