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First things first: If you experience crashes or your PC freezes completely, you need a tiny, tiny patch which is called »4gb_patch« which will solve your problems. That aside, Venetica is a pretty looking game and very entertainig. Dialogues make sense, spells are really useful, there is much to explore, leveling up goes fast. Since I am a very slow player, I had fun for 40 hours, but then it lost me. There is nothing more to buy, nothing interesting to find, and the story isn’t that deep either, that you would eagerly anticipate the end. So I didn’t finish it, but it was really nice until I dropped it.
This is not exactly an action game. You walk, you talk, you sort things out, you solve some puzzles. But, oh, so beautiful this is. I was completely fascinated by the graphics, the pictures followed me even into my dreams. The story as such is decent enough, something to think about, and if you can get into it, you have a few quiet, satisfying hours ahead of you.
Finished it yesterday for the first time in my life, and it was just a great experience. Good story, convincing atmosphere, perfect background music and ambient sound, mostly intuitive solvable puzzles, very good actors in the in-game video pieces. Of course it is not "good looking" by today`s standards, it is a DOS-game after all, but you get used to the granular look pretty fast, and since we who are a bit older now remember how good looking something like this was in it`s time, it looks good anyway. I didn't expect to enjoy the game so much. At first, I just wanted to “check it out.” But then it grabbed me, and in the end, Zork Nemesis will probably be one of the absolute highlights of this year.
It`s basically what you expect if you watch an Indiana Jones Movie: Funny action, old cars, exotic scenery, journeys around the world, a world threatening mystery, a good looking hero and a woman. The puzzles are ok, sometimes you even get a good laugh about a line of text. Speaking of which - besides the one and other good line there is far to much pointless dialogue which isn`t very cinema-like. To much endless explanations about whats going on, about what will happen, about what the hero is doing or why he is not doing what you would like him to do. Fortunately you don`t need to listen to everything, but this could really be better. Besides that it was an entertaining experience.
Really great! Good story, convincing atmosphere, perfect character design, excellent voice acting, interesting cases, nice ending. It`s not a game for inventory enthusiasts, who like to click and combine and rush through the scenes. Things you gather appear only as descriptions in the journal and get used automatically at the right point. There isn`t so much to pick up either. If you want to get something out of this game, you need to like to listen (which really is a pleasure). Save often, because you can cut off opportunities if you choose the wrong dialogue option. On the other hand there is an automatic save at the beginning of each case which you can come back to if you mess it up - which I would say is rather unlikely anyway, if you follow the leads the story prevents you with. I really enjoyed Lamplight City to the very last pixel, even the bonus takes you can access after ending the game are real fun.
The best thing I can say about the game first: the story is poetic and believably told, the characters are thoroughly convincing, dialogs are engaging, there are genuinely poignant moments, and the landscapes are beautiful. More of a visual novel than a puzzle game, it's dramaturgically paced like a good movie, including the meaningful flashbacks. The puzzles are ok, not particularly difficult, more as if the developers from time to time remembered they were actually making a game and not a movie. I really enjoyed this part of the game. What really drove me up the wall, however, was the controls. How is it possible to produce something so unpliable in the year 2022? You never really know where you are or where you're going, and you can't look around properly either. The camera movement is completely arbitrary and it can take five attempts to turn into a side alley because you constantly encounter obstacles that you can't see from the prescribed perspective. To hit the interaction points, you have to stand still in most cases because they constantly change position when you move, and why you absolutely have to use them to go down a flight of stairs is also not really comprehensible. In addition, the game is very, very slow, and the characters always need to take a breath before the next sentence. I can live with that, but sometimes it really takes a lot of patience. Overall, I enjoyed the game. I knew beforehand you need meditative calm for Benoît Sokal's games. The only thing that costs a star is the controls. It`s really awful.
It turned out beautifully! The graphics are - as they were back then - stunning, the scenario is as great as I remembered it. The addition of a notebook where you can capture screenshots and annotate them is a great idea, it saves you from ending up with the whole table covered in paper notes (you still have to make a few handwritten notes, but that's the appeal of these games, after all, it's about writing worlds). I played Riven back in 1997 and again at some point, and I'm thoroughly enjoying being able to go back to it now and experience it in new splendor.
What a beautiful little gem of a game. I love to play puzzle games inbetween, and this is sheer joy. Not that there is a real story, but you have a spiritual guide, a story of development, a lot of not very difficult obstacles to overcome and a satifying reward (aka "progresss") every time you finish a level, which took me between five and fifteen minutes each. Some of the puzzles are very funny, some you could call brilliant - given the limited space - some are a bit to easy, some very few are even annoying (but you can skip if you want). If you like The House of Da Vinci, this should be the right game for you - with all the satisfying sounds and mechanics, only easier and more relaxing.
Nicely drawn, zero stress, a cosy game to please your inner child.
Full of glitches, boring dialogue, pointless walking and insane puzzles - when I bought it then in 2001 I never finished it and I was so angry about everything. And yet - it has really nice landscapes and places and it`s own atmosphere, and when I discovered it on GoG I bought it anyway. If you use a walkthrough it`s some kind of study about nearly everything you can get wrong with games, but thanks to the walkthrough you really can enjoy it.