I remember enjoying the demo of this game on release, so I picked it up here. What I've seen leads me to believe there is a good game here waiting for people to enjoy it, but it requires a good deal of digging (again, haha) to find. The beginnings of a plot fall unconvincingly flat from cliche (amnesiac hero and royal quests) and poorly executed exposition sequences (slow scrolling text on top of expressionless character faces). The game additionally suffers from some identity issues. Environments are open (well, as open as you can get underground) and present themselves as large spaces to wander and explore, but end up shoving you into narrow linear paths if you want to accomplish anything. Exploring is often rewarded by running into some goblins who will bar the door until you've jogged downstairs to chat with the King. I was lost in one room for maybe 15 minutes, but don't recall finding anything other than a blocked exit. I intend to come back to this game someday, because I think there's something to it, but right now it feels like it's refusing to meet me half way.
It's been years since I played this game, but I still have many fond memories. It has a creative plot, interesting locations and one of the more memorable adventure game characters in my experience (no, not the Antlantean ferryman, but he comes close). Managing to have a witty companion character that avoids being annoying is an impressive feat alone. The game is not without faults of course. This is an FMV game, and suffers from the standard drawbacks of said games: long pointless dialogue sequences, hit and miss acting, railroading, etc. On the plus side, the detailed 360-degree viewable environments were a selling point of the game, and I remember them working quite well. Puzzles can be obscure, but not as opaque as its predecessor Journeyman 2. I'm marking this 3 stars as I think it's not for everyone, it can be slow paced even for an adventure game at times. If you catch this on sale, however, snap it up. It'll be more fun than a pair of pants full of weasels.
Anyone looking for something in the vein of the original AitD is likely to be let down by this entry. It's a good looking game, but quickly devolves into running around a featureless house dealing with uninspired zombie creatures (or worse, the eternally frustrating plant-things). The atmosphere and charm that made the first game or not present. Furthermore, I hit a thoroughly un-workaround-able game-stopping bug partway through Carnby's story (this was playing on the original CD, I cannot say whether the issue exists in GOG's version). I found Cedrac's campaign to be frustrating to the point of unplayability and decided not to continue the game. Thus, though it's been some time and I did not fully experience the game, I don't recommend this to anyone unless they really need another cookie-cutter survival-horror game to play. It may be particularly depressing for AitD 1 fans to see where the series went after RE appeared.
