Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness (2021)

Black Geyser is a game that still needs some polishing (and to their credit, the developers have been very quick to respond to the bug reports I've sent), and could benefit from some quality of life improvements. More autosave points would be welcome. Still, there's a lot to admire in this game: a well-developed setting, a world that's big enough to enjoy exploring without being overwhelming (though the results are a little bare bones), and some spells I enjoyed (and a twist on spellbooks that I wish the Infinity Engine games had thought of in the first place). The writing is decent, if perhaps too simplistic for the complexity they tried to introduce. They have some interesting conflicts that are resolved too quickly to be satisfying, or concepts that are intriguing, but superficially developed. The real drawback of the combination of setting and writing is that the world is not as dynamic as it needs to be: the lore is there, but the writing just doesn't catch up to it and reflect how things are supposed to be developing.

I think what it comes down to is that Black Geyser is a love letter to the Black Isle Studios era. (If you played the 1997-2002 games, you're going to find some quiet little tributes to what the Black Geyser team cut their teeth on.) The problem is, they set out to make a game that would be a worthy successor to that era without having a large enough team to fully realize their ambitions. On its own merits, I think Black Geyser would feel a little stronger than it does. But when it's measured against some of the giants it wants to honor, it feels like it comes close to realizing its potential but can't quite clear the bar.

This would be more like a three and a half out of my customary 4, but rounding up feels more suitable than the other way around. I will keep an eye out for GrapeOcean's next game, as I'm very curious to see how they build on their experiences.