Game review: AGON: The Mysterious Codex

AGON, which stands for "Ancient Games of Nations", is a multi-chapter adventure game by Hungarian developer Private Moon Studios. Originally distributed online as short individual games, the first three episodes of the planned 14-episode saga have been collected into the first chapter of the story and released in 2006 as AGON: The Mysterious Codex. (The longer fourth episode, The Lost Sword of Toledo, comprises the entirety of the second chapter and was released in the UK earlier this year.)

Uncovering mysteries.

You play the bookish Professor Samuel Hunt, an employee of the British Museum. The year is 1903, and Professor Hunt is about to be drawn out from the safe confines of the venerable museum and his small but cozy office to embark on a journey spanning continents, in search of of an archaeological treasure and the solution to a puzzle only hinted at by a mysterious missive that arrives on his desk and spurs the chase. After some illicit after-hours prowling around the museum itself in the first chapter, Hunt is off to a remote outpost in snow-bound Lapland for the second chapter, and the third sees him braving the jungles of Madagascar in search of the next piece of the puzzle.

The jungle hides its secrets.

Despite the similarities in profession and milieu, Samuel Hunt is no Indiana Jones. He carries no rope or whip, and his feats are mostly intellectual and personal -- talking to people, solving puzzles, fixing things, making friends. The secret of AGON turns out to involve not occult rituals and mystic talismans, but the sheer, simple pleasure of playing certain traditional board games, a humble pastime imbued with magical significance. AGON is a genuine academic adventure, one that actually engages the intellectual spirit rather than merely borrowing the trappings of academia to dress up the balls-out, guns-blazing exploits of a grizzled treasure hunter (looking at you again, Indy). The puzzles are believable and based whenever possible on real-world systems and phenomena. You'll learn real languages and codes, apply real physics to solve these puzzles. None are terribly challenging -- hardcore puzzlers will have to look elsewhere for their mental workouts -- but they are blessedly logical, nothing arbitrary or overly frustrating. Reasonably original, too. There are no convoluted locking mechanisms or sliding puzzles here, thank heavens. The model is generally explore, read, and learn, then synthesize and apply to the world around you. It works.

Out of the library and into the field.

The various environments in the game are absorbing and convincing, with a careful attention to detail that fleshes out the historical and cultural contexts of the period beyond what is strictly needed to accomplish the mechanics of the game. In the Madagascar section, for instance, the game doesn't use the setting as a mere convenient source of exotic jungle backdrops and friendly brown villagers, but acknowledges the historical realities of piracy and changing social values, and incorporates them into the plot. Environmental details like accurate cartography, art reproductions (check out the Waterhouse in the Director's office) and authentic cultural artifacts lend a rare realism to the adventure.

Follow Professor Hunt's globetrotting in the interludes between adventures.

Above all, AGON is an admirably literate game. Bibliophiles will delight at the expansive libraries available for perusal, both in the museum, with its textbooks and treatises, and out in the field where manuals and travelers' journals are found in abundance; some of the books, most of which look like scans or reproductions of authentic period texts, contain hints and information relevant to the puzzles at hand, but many are there just for flavor, and contain several pages' worth of reading just for the fun of it, if the player is so inclined. I, for one, am just as capable of getting my gaming kicks by reading about dead languages or weather patterns or the scientific properties of crystalline formations as by engaging in feats of derring-do, so I very much appreciated the supplemental material. If you have an itchy trigger finger and just want to get to it, most of the reading is non-required, but it's nice to be able to stop and smell the virtual roses all the same.

A sample page from one of AGON's many books. This one is about the history of tea.

I realize this might sound tedious -- more study session than rollicking adventure, too dangerously "educational" -- but that's not it at all. AGON is full of compelling characters and gorgeous locations with plenty to touch and see and do. It ranks with the best adventure games in that regard, bringing lovely artwork, skilled voice acting, solid sound design and some very pleasant music to the mix, creating a well-rounded environment that's as much fun to move around in and explore as any other. There's no single element I would care to single out for particular criticism. AGON comes off as well-crafted, smooth and cohesive. What elevated it to a favorite in my book is the noble design aesthetic that makes this an intellectual adventure rather than just an adventure about intellectuals. It's a nice world, and I am looking forward to exploring more of it in future chapters.

Lapland's beautiful but forbidding terrain.

Where to get it: AGON: The Mysterious Codex is available from Amazon for Windows and Mac.

Where to get help: You can find a complete walkthrough for the game at Adventure Lantern.

Game review: Return to Mysterious Island

We have a lot to thank Jules Verne's 1874 L'Île mystérieuse (The Mysterious Island) for. In addition to being a major inspiration, and also the source of the name, for Myst, it is also the basis for the excellent 2004 adventure game Return to Mysterious Island by Kheops Studio, published by The Adventure Company.

Mysterious and quite lovely.

In the tradition of The Longest Journey, Syberia, and that lesser Vernian adventure Journey to the Center of the Earth, Return to Mysterious Island features a plucky young heroine far from home. Her name is Mina, and she's a resourceful sailor shipwrecked on what turns out to be the Lincoln Island of Verne's novel, which was not destroyed as in the book but only hidden from the world.

Return is fairly short and limited in scope, taking place entirely in a few areas of the small island, and the production values are modest. It is a shining example of near-perfection achieved on a small scale. To advance the action, for instance, where most developers would be tempted to insert a clunky, awkwardly-animated cutscene, Kheops gets the job done very simply and effectively with still sketches and sound effects. The game even includes a viewer for going back to look at the drawings and watercolors you are rewarded with for successful completion of actions. The artwork does more to add character and atmosphere to the game than a cutscene ever could.

Comic-book style panels tell the story.

And the atmosphere in Return to Mysterious Island is generally great. The music is very pleasant, and stayed with me long after I'd finished the game, but many locations stand on their own with nothing but ambient environmental effects. The visuals are nothing spectacular but up to par for 2004, and the island vistas are quite attractive.

One of the really nice aspects of this game is the gameplay itself. With a few exceptions, like door-lock puzzles near the end, the puzzles are almost entirely inventory-based. But wait, don't go yet. This game brings inventory puzzles to a whole new level, even introducing a unique and handy interface for collecting, sorting, examining and combining items. And while you pick up everything that isn't nailed down, you won't end up with a bunch of random objects to be used in illogical, unforseeable ways; you'll have a lot of basic equipment and natural resources that Mina can use her apparently firm grasp of chemistry, botany, and primitive technology to assemble into an array of useful tools and compounds. If you have some familiarity with those fields, too, you should do well. If not, just keep trying different item combinations until Mina adds them to the "assembly" field where you can store works in progress, which will show empty slots for however many items are still missing to create whatever she has in mind. (That makes a battery? Sometimes it's a surprise all the way to the end.) There are two more great aspects to Return's innovative inventory puzzles: created items can often be taken apart so that the components are reusable, and, best of all, there are multiple solutions. Different components can often be combined to create the same item. A length of vine and a short rope might be interchangeable. Either sticks or a flammable fungus can be used as kindling. Any one of several weapons might do the trick, or you could try another tack entirely. The open-endedness makes things a lot more logical, and saves you from banging your head over that one combination you just didn't think of, when you thought of three others that would work just as well.

The multi-tabbed inventory system is very handy.

In addition to the Robinson Crusoe/Gilligan's Island fire-starting and coconut-shell radio stuff, you also get to rummage through the old notes, slides and maps revealing the history of the island, fight robots (there are some action sequences and you can even die, but the game fortunately lets you retry indefinitely and there's nothing to lose), meet a ghost, recruit an animal companion (but a generally inoffensive and occasionally even cute one, so I didn't mind), and eventually even enter the Nautilus itself, where you can admire a gallery of artifacts and curiosities and face a challenging quiz testing your knowledge of ancient cultures, science, and oceanography. I got a particular kick out of that part, which was right up my alley. It struck me then that Return is an especially literate game that rewards you for a bit of smarts, common sense, and even book learning when it comes to Chinese pottery, marine fauna, or the properties of sulfur.

Inside a cabinet of wonders.

In short, I loved and was highly impressed by this game, which has a lot of brilliant elements and essentially no major drawbacks that I could see. It's a small, tight, well-crafted adventure game with smooth mechanics and a compelling story, and I can recommend it without reservation.

Where to get it: Return to Mysterious Island is available from Amazon, and it is also playable on GameTap.

Where to get help: GameBoomers has an excellent walkthrough.

The Deep City

I don't mention it here much, but I'm a big fan of the Myst games, including its latest incarnation, the online multiplayer environment of Uru. For those who are not familiar with it, Uru allows players to experience and take part live in the restoration and repopulation of the city of D'ni, the culture behind all the events in the Myst series. Uru is unique among MMORPGs in that it represents not a fantasy world of swordplay and magical exploits, but an alternate version of reality, set in the present day, where explorers are encouraged to play themselves and suspension of disbelief is maintained at a high level for maximum immersiveness; players (called not players but "explorers") are expected to stay IC ("in-character" or, as explorers perfer to say, "in-Cavern") in all their interactions, and even all the official and promotional material is written from an IC perspective, referring not to an online computer game run by Cyan, but to the restoration of D'ni and the gathering of the "Called" in an underground cavern deep below the New Mexico desert, carried out under the auspices of the DRC, the D'ni Restoration Council.

Despite some funding and development issues at Cyan which have repeatedly hindered and delayed the release of the game, making its future existence constantly in doubt (for a time the game existed only as a single-player game with its online capabilities disabled, then in limited form on player-run shards independent of official support), and the resultant compromises in content and interface that resulted from these setbacks, the game is still worth playing for this unique immersive experience alone. The Cavern, which houses the ancient and majestic city of D'ni (but rigged up with floodlights, generators, canvas sheeting, equipment crates, orange hazard cones, and other trappings of ongoing work), is populated with a mix of other explorers in modern dress, exploring, chatting, and sometimes performing various tasks to aid in the restoration efforts, and NPCs (non-player characters) played by Cyan staffers, who represent various characters involved in the restoration. These NPCs are DRC members and employees primarily, as well as Cyan employees (in the world of the game, D'ni is real and Cyan is the game developer that created a series of fictionalized games based on the real D'ni -- and Cyan notables such as head honcho Rand Miller will often pay D'ni a visit), and others. Whenever they appear, these characters interactively advance the storyline through their conversations, debates, announcements, and Q&A sessions with explorers.

There are two official sites for Uru: there's the Gametap site, which is a basic promotional site with game specs and features and subscription information, then there's the DRC website, which is written IC like everything else, and is a natural extension of events in-Cavern. Explorers and DRC members gather on the DRC forums to discuss the events and politics of the day. There is only one sub-forum for OOC discussion of issues like game bugs, etc., but everything else is as if the explorers retired from the Cavern at the end of the day and went home to log on and catch up on recent events there. In addition to the DRC site, there is a whole slew of explorer-run forums, news sites, podcasts, interest groups and organizations out there, and the blend of in-game, web, and even real-life content (like the cryptic billboards that appeared in New Mexico and other puzzle clues connected to Uru) has led some to describe Uru as more of an ARG than a traditional MMORPG.

I don't usually pump commercial products here, so why am I going into all of this? There are a few reasons -- one, there is more out there than just the free games and other web content I usually promote, and if I like something, the fact that you have to plunk some money down to enjoy it doesn't mean I shouldn't mention it. Two, as I've described, Uru's concept, with its ARG elements and stringent IC-ethos, and the idea that you play yourself in this fantastic setting, is something unique and fascinating, and I think it's worth discussing. Three, due to the rocky financial situation I mentioned, Uru really is in need of players to support it at this point in time, so if I pique someone's interest and maybe even entice a subscriber or two, all the better. (Uru is now hosted on the Gametap subscription service, and there are promotions in place that allow you to try out Uru and enter as a visitor for free, so if you're curious, please, give it a try.)

Four, the real reason -- I just came across this very nicely-done explorer-made documentary series that (as always, IC) sets out to explore the origins of the D'ni society and describe the restoration efforts and the current influx of the Called into D'ni. It's called "The Deep City", whence the title of this post, and this is only the first episode, with more to come. I thought it made a lovely intro to the whole Uru phenomenon, and so I would like to share.

Six Myst-style adventures

These are all first-person adventure games more or less in the style of Myst, meaning that they are all concerned primarily with exploration and discovery, and preferably take place outdoors and are not room-escapers. This is not true for all of them, but they're all very nice games, whatever kind they are.

Terra Realms is a nice little exploration game in classic slideshow format. The first installment online is a plug for the other two episodes, but as always, you can enjoy it on its own. The puzzles are simple, but generally decent. The game site provides its own hints and walkthrough.




Vastáre is another short game with some attractive scenery. Using your senses and objects you find, you must solve puzzles to unlock four different worlds and escape.
There is a walkthrough at the Adventure Games Unlimited forum.




Locus is a simple but very nice-looking game in QuickTime VR. It is extremely short, with easy puzzles like matching and memory games, but its main attraction is as interactive VR art. The game is available to play online, and there is a higher-quality, full-screen version to download. As far as I can tell, the telescope is the end of the game...I can't find anything beyond that to click on, though there's no definitive ending to indicate it's over. If you find something else, let me know.




Kharon4a is a very cool game. It has a sophisticated interface, character selection, an interesting storyline, and multiple endings. You are exploring the four rooms of a futuristic genetics lab in an attempt to save a friend. Along the way you have to learn facts about genetics and DNA, and the workings of your world. The game has a dark, gritty atmosphere, and is accompanied by an appropriately eerie soundtrack. The game is available in both English and Norwegian.
There is a walkthrough at Orgdot.




Archipelago is a nice game by designer Wooly Thinking, which also brings us
Return to the Archipelago and the very cool abstract puzzle game The Dark Room. In Archipelago, you navigate a sizeable panoramic 3-d world to explore an island chain and try to find your way off after a shipwreck. The scenery is made up of simple flash drawings, and the bright, sunny islands have a certain cartoony charm. The game provides its own walkthrough and other documentation.




One Time Never is an interesting and unusual game. Apparently dreaming, you wander aimlessly into encounters with various creatures that you must pass by answering riddles and solving puzzles. Failure to evade traps will cost you life points. Nice locations and jazzy music set the tone for your journey.
There is a walkthrough in the lazylaces forum.




Two of the games that I most wanted to post in today's category no longer exist. Faradise, a game puzzlingly produced by Fa, maker of bath products, was one of the best online adventures I've ever played -- lots of intriguing locations, beautiful graphics, lovely music, interesting puzzles, and a bit of a story -- and now it's gone without a trace. My point is, it's already been created, so what's the harm in keeping it online? But no. Also Endsequence, a great adventure game with really cool visuals which for some reason now only exists in the Hungarian. I have a similar complaint about this game -- the English version was made, so why is it no longer online? I left a pleading message in the guestbook, and maybe if you do the same the creator will consider reinstating it. Or you could just muddle through the Hungarian, which I suspect I may give up and attempt someday.

While I'm at it, I should post some game-site related news... there is a new category in the blogroll called "Online Games" which currently includes Little Fluffy Industries, which daily posts links to all kinds of online games, usually flash puzzles and other great little time-suckers; and lazylaces, which comes up often in my search results for me to know that it was some people with a bit of interest in adventure games, but which I didn't realize until today was a great blog that posts loads of treasures all the time, online games as well as other exciting things.

Also, I've learned that the reason I couldn't access Nordinho, my main resource for adventure game links and walkthroughs, was because they've moved: it's now Nordinho.net, not Nordinho.com. This means that I'll have to change all those walkthrough links in my previous game posts. I won't do that right now, but soon. For now, I have changed the link in the sidebar.

I have also added one new adventure game forum to the list: Adventure Games Unlimited.

And that's all. Next: Even More Samarost-style Games.