Posted on: April 27, 2025

Doctor_Ink20

Games: 16 Reviews: 1

An Impressive Gem!

I'm sort of late on the bandwagon on the Sierra adventures games. I was aware that many of these games had a reputation for being frustrating and obtuse, but The Colonel's Bequest is, in fact, the best experience I've had with Sierra. Maybe starting with the notoriously murderous Space Quest wasn't the best idea, but hindsight is 20/20. Anyway, having just finished TCB for the first time, I'm legitimately impressed by it in all aspects: The attention to graphical detail is incredible, the characters are believable, there's a highly convincing atmosphere about the game (thanks to the solid art direction), and the story keeps you moving and guessing what's going on while never feeling drawn out or confusing. The more you engage with it, you more you get out of it. I find it refreshing to have an adventure game that focuses more on intrigue rather than bizarre puzzles to bring you along. You do actually feel like you're piecing together events as they go down without the game holding your hand, like reading an Agatha Christie story. I now want to hunt out more games that do this sort of investigative gameplay. Then there's setting: I'm a sucker for old mansions in games, but Misty Acres has it all - history, telling background details, secrets and moments of genuine horror that are paced exceptionally well. Easily a top ten game locale for me. I thought I'd be griping about the controls, but not at all. The movement works (tap an arrow to move a direction, tap again to stop), the text parser is a clever interface that makes you to think about how to phrase inputs and gives you plenty of interaction options. On that, the amount of flavour text is unreal and it shows just how the developers thought of the fun small things just like you, the player, might as you explore e.g. attempt to kiss everyone and everything in the game. In conclusion, The Colonel's Bequest is an impressive gem of a game that deserves far more attention today. Especially for mystery lovers.

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Posted on: June 10, 2020

davidbalparda

Games: 192 Reviews: 34

Agatha Christie-like brain-wracker

Complex, well-thought and challenging but not very well-aged. I remember playing it back in the golden Sierra days and this was one of the best explore and verbal command adventures Sierra delivered, and definitely not for casual players. You must have an eye for forensic investigation, detail and exploration to get the full score on the game. I remember I got almost a full score back then: it wasn't easy, but it wasn't impossible either. As in any Sierra oldie, you can get killed easily, in addition to missing stuff as the night progresses, so save often and keep backtrack gamesaves.

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Posted on: December 17, 2022

dacripe

Verified owner

Games: 621 Reviews: 11

Great Game - Not Quite a Sierra Classic

I remember getting The Colonel's Bequest way back in the 90s for my Amiga. It was another Sierra "Quest" game to come out and was developed by Roberta Williams herself, who did the King's Quest series. This game has the same familiar feel of the original 3 KQ games (including graphics). There are a few things though that make this game different. Events happen at certain times or within theatrical acts with the game advancing time when you discover something (like a dead body or an interesting event). This game though seems to punish you for doing some normal things and can be irritating at times. You can play an hour or two after missing something before the game punishes you and ends the game. The Colonel's Bequest is suppose to have an atmosphere like a murder mystery play. It is a good mystery game with you walking around and giving commands in a text box The irritating thing I found with this game is that it has you as more of a passive observer than an actual player that effects anything like in other Sierra games. Also, I did not care for missing certain clues because I accidentally stumbled upon an event that moved time forward. Make sure to save often! At the end of the game, you are give a list of things that should have been discovered so you can make note and play the game again. You are given clues to who is killing whom, but never really solve each murder or see any actually happen. There are two endings, but you are never given an explanation through the game as to which one you should choose at the end (one is the "correct" ending and the other is a "false" one). Overall, I would recommend if you played other old school Sierra games and enjoyed them. If you never have played those games, you might find this one frustrating to say the least. Once you finish TCB, I highly recommend The Dagger of Amon Ra as your next adventure. It is the sequel to this game.

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Posted on: November 24, 2024

thomas.m.magee_019

Verified owner

Games: 22 Reviews: 1

An excellent game

The graphics are beautiful, and the story is very interesting. You have to be comfortable with replaying it a few times. It's not a game for people who don't like to be confused about what to do next. That happens often.

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Posted on: December 2, 2024

jlongoii

Verified owner

Games: 92 Reviews: 1

like zork but different

Iloke it - keep your eyes open for changes - don't cheat just keep banging your head on the desk till you figure it out -- "Happiness comes from the achieving of goals .." Darwin Mayflower

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