Review shoma 4/5 · Jan 21, 2024
Unique-looking point-and-click game. It's based on a comic book Salammbo that retells the events of the Mercenary Revolt (241–237 BC) but in a space fantasy setting.
The game, however is further stylized as to appear as if it takes place not just on a different planet, but in a dark, desolate world where the sun barely shines and the inhabitants …
Unique-looking point-and-click game. It's based on a comic book Salammbo that retells the events of the Mercenary Revolt (241–237 BC) but in a space fantasy setting.
The game, however is further stylized as to appear as if it takes place not just on a different planet, but in a dark, desolate world where the sun barely shines and the inhabitants don't always resemble humans.
In the center is Salammbo, daughter of the carthaginian officer who falls in love with the leader of the mercenaries. You play as Spendius, an escaped slave that finds himself in the mercenary camp. You have nowhere to go, and so with the help of your gift of gab you start a chain of events that changes the fate of the city and the mercenaries.
The artstyle is absolutely stunning and every location drips with atmosphere. I found the general gameplay enjoyable. You search for items, apply them in the right place or wear them as clothes to progress. However, there were a few puzzles that made no sense to me so I had to use a walkthrough. Sometimes orienting yourself in the environment can prove difficult, since there's no proper 3D camera here, it's you classic point-and-click technology, like Myst 10 years before it, but somewhat upgraded.
I really liked the story and the world. Despite the source material being a love story, you play as an outsider that fights for survival with his wits and courage.
It is definitely a high-budget production, but perhaps due to most of the resources going into the art, the interactive elements of the gameplay (shooting, etc.) are somewhat underwhelming, but the general exploration is handled very well. The company making the game did go bankrpupt and a different studio had to finish, so it's sort of understandable.
It's on Steam, but it requires some tinkering on modern PCs, of course. Drop the contents of the Zip-file in the directory and you should be good:
https://github.com/narzoul/DDrawCompat/releases (the Zip without the "debug")
It's a must-play for fans of the genre, and despite not really knowing much about point-and-click quests, I would dare to say that it's one of the best, and also one of the last of its kind before this type of games died.
