Growing up as a gamer in the 90s allowed me to experience a genre that was almost thought of as being dead entirely, the point and click adventure genre. These were puzzle games that had a huge story component to them. In a way these games reminded me of novels you could actually play. Gabriel Knight, Monkey Island, King’s Quest… all so very good.

Luckily with the rise of indie games and the brilliantly made Adventure Game Studio engine, point and click adventure games have seemingly risen from the ashes unto a world where anybody who is willing to spend some of time can make a fantastic game, case and point: The Journey Down: Over the Edge.

Coming from a background in adventure games, The Journey Down: Over the Edge had an immediate appeal to me that reminded me, in tone and atmosphere, to the early Gabriel Knight games. I can’t say if the games are similar in story as, truth be told, I’m not that far into The Journey Down just yet, however, I can say that this is one fantastically written game. If you’re looking for a intriguing story, give this game a shot, you won’t be disappointed.

Of course, one of the more intriguing things about this game is the fact that it takes the whole “point and click” interface that we all love so much and really focuses it. In games prior, you’d be left fiddling with a look, see, pick up, listen, etc. commands that you’d have to rotate through, not so in The Journey Down where all you need to do is literally point and click. In a way I almost long for the old method as that’s what feels natural to me, however, this new method seems to be a great method for introducing new gamers to the genre.

Puzzles are, obviously, a corner stone of the game as you’d expect with the genre. Fans of games like Monkey Island or Time Gentlemen, Please might be a little disappointed with the puzzles as they’re not as whimsical. Instead, these puzzles are very logical and require, most of the time, for you to analyze each area and truly think about what’s happened and what will happen next. It’s not easy, but oh so rewarding.

Oh and to top it all off, The Jounrey Down: Over the Edge is 100% free, and is merely the first chapter in what is planned to be a long running adventure game series. If you’re at all a fan of adventure games I can not recommend checking this one out enough.

Chapter 2 is scheduled for a release later this year. Download via the link below.

[Skygoblin]

Gameplay Video