It's Winter Sale 2015 and guess what game found its way to my library? I had no idea what it was about, nor read the description, but jumped in, and overall I thought the amount of time spent was worthwhile. I game away with an enjoyable and thoughtful game. The game does a great job engaging you in your character's life so that you're invested in the outcomes of decisions and can share in some of his joys and frustrations (especially frustrations). As another viewer suggested, I finished the game in about 5 hours. The gameplay and story were both interesting. I like the game developer's incorporation of the main character's salesmen-type personality in that you can be rather crafty to get the job done (i.e., persuading, intimidating, etc.). The puzzles were relatively straightforward if you pay close attention to surroundings, though I admit getting through one of the puzzles on blind luck. The atmosphere is excellent, the music was quite good, the dialogue near perfect, and the voice acting pretty good. Interspersed throughout the game are some "mini-games" whereby you are presented with a different interface to accomplish whatever goal is at hand. The game is pretty forgiving (as in, your not falling into death traps left and right as I have tendency to do in other adventure games), though it seems to get more that way towards the end. One thing I appreciated is that spots you can visit were limited to those that were important to progressing the storyline. Again, with other adventure games I've wandered aimlessly for quite some time because the world was quite large and I was quite confounded. All in all, if you have a rainy afternoon and like a good adventure game, grab yourself a beverage (hot or cold) and lose yourself in the 20s in real-estate and, and see how you fare as a footstool...
I wish Bullfrog was still around because they consistently made the most enjoyable and creative games I've played in my life. I haven't bought the GOG version of Populous: TB because I still have the CD, but this is a must have for anyone who loves god-sim games, terraforming, and strategy that does admittedly involve some race to hit hotkeys to start building, but also a well placed spell at the right time. The core game has some pretty challenging scenarios, but once you beat the game, you have to really challenge yourself with the Populous: Age of Chaos mod (Google it for download). Absolutely great game, highly recommended.
