Following Freeware: July 2013 releases

This month you can take ill-advised instructions from a talking rabbit or experience the surreal landscape of the world of dreams. A jazz musician finds that his father may have been up to more than he knew, whilst Christopher Columbus turns out to be not quite the hero he is made out to be. And in a pair of linked adventures, a government executive and a post-apocalypse mechanic have lives that seem somehow intertwined. All these await you in this month’s roundup of releases from the freeware scene.
 

The Rebirth/The Reaper

In a modern office block, a government executive worries about his pregnant wife and the war-torn world he is bringing a child into. Just as peace negotiations seem about to bring the war to an end, a bright flash triggers the emergency shutters. What has happened in the outside world, and what has become of his wife and unborn child? Elsewhere in a post-apocalyptic landscape, a man tries to repair a broken pump with whatever parts he can scavenge from the rubble. But a raven is sitting on a nearby tree, a creature he knows to be an agent of the reaper. His companion scoffs at his superstition, but is there something to his beliefs? In both places the portrait, Lady Twiner by Montgomery White, hangs on the walls. Just what exactly links these men?

Released as a matched pair for a One Room, One Week competition, these games from Francisco Gonzalez and Ben Chandler both present short but chilling tales. Whilst the smoothness of the modern office and the devastation of the post-apocalyptic scene present a stark contrast, they are both presented in a semi-realistic style. Characters are all smoothly animated and well-characterised. Both scenes have a wealth of finer detail to bring them to life. The office has a collection of antique vases on the shelves and a drinks cabinet. The war-ravaged landscape has a poisonous-looking sky and a ruined cityscape stretching off in the distance. Both games are matched by powerful soundtracks that match their respective tones.

Whilst made separately, these two short adventures are described as being part of a greater whole. In the short space of both games you get a feeling for the greater setting, with more than just a portrait linking the two. Gameplay uses a simple point-and-click interface, with right-click offering descriptions and left-click interacting. Both games have a small but effectively used inventory, with some items having more than one application. In the office, you will need to find an alternative solution when your hand-print no longer opens the main door. In the rubble, you will need to improvise from available objects to find a way to scare off the feared raven. Both games have a grim tone, with some violence that may render them unsuitable for a younger audience.

The Rebirth/The Reaper can be downloaded as a single zip file from the AGS website.

Ancient Aliens: The Roots of Sound

The year is 1992, and jazz musician Chet Gasbag is pulling in the crowds at the Black Orchid club in Chicago. For Chet, life is good, but with the recent death of his estranged father, he feels the need to get away for a while. But Chet might have left his escape too late. The mysterious Helvetius Foundation are convinced that his father sent Chet vital research documents before he died, and they are determined to get their hands on them at any cost. With the help of his father’s lovely assistant, now Chet is on the run.

The first chapter in a proposed series, this game from Miguel Santos provides an intriguing setup. The graphics are semi-realistic, with backgrounds fully detailed and the characters well-proportioned. Your travels in this initial instalment will take you from the dingy club to an up-market hotel as you seek to avoid the Foundation. The characters are all smoothly animated, with changing expressions to match their moods. There are also more detailed cut-scenes, though these are presented as stills rather than animations. A varied soundtrack plays throughout with mellow jazz changing to more dramatic music when the villains are about.

This first chapter introduces the characters and takes us up to the point where Chet leaves Chicago to follow up on his father’s research. The personalities come across clearly, with Chet being a laid-back womaniser and the Foundation head Rondelle being truly sinister. You will use the AGS standard four-cursor point-and-click interface and a wide variety of inventory to advance your goals, plus a bit of trickery in a simple but clever dialogue puzzle. There is also a disguise puzzle whose components are so blatantly faked as to be a potential nod to Gabriel Knight‘s infamous cat moustache. On a couple of occasions you have to take action in a relatively short space of time, with a game-over if unsuccessful. Fortunately, the time limits are somewhat generous, and the game auto-saves immediately before these sequences, preventing a need for backtracking if you fail.

Ancient Aliens: The Roots of Sound can be downloaded from the AGS website.