There are some things that kids just shouldn’t have to put up with. Being transported to some weird dimension full of goblins, dwarves, swamplings, stupid wizards and sleeping giants is definitely one of them.
After escaping a “welcoming party”, Simon discovers that he has been brought on a quest to rescue the wizard Calypso from the evil sorcerer Sordid. In the last 25 years, the ‘Simon the Sorcerer’ game series has made millions of players fall in love with Simon.
Now you can relive the renowned original adventure in a whole new way!
Or that’s what I was lead to believe, From trying out the GoG version (10% off right now compared to the Steam copy). So let’s set this straight with a straight fact.. the original version right now runs better with scummvm than this version on both digital stores does natively. Mouse action is a little clumsy, which I put to the smooth graphical overlay added (which you cannot switch off). Add to that a couple of permanent menu and hotspot icons added to the top corner (to make the game more accessible to newer gamers) and you have enough tweaks to make you wonder if scummvm could have just been used with the original rom with improved graphics as an addon (spoiler – you can for free if you own the original).
Plus sides – you do the option to have both text and speech working at the same time within the games (if you like that sort of thing!) and you do receive a bonus soundtrack which was part of the original’s appeal (alongside the wit that is Chris Barrie), but this overall package feels like a cheap cash grab preying on the older users who remember the Lucasarts and Sierra classics and for who the name still means an enchanting adventure.
Simon The Sorcerer: 25th Anniversary Edition features:
- Totally new, much praised, game play controls that were built from the ground up.
- Hotspot based – no more pixel hunting!
- All-new slick icons and animations.
- Quick actions using right-click.
- Completely new game menus and save/load system
- Four Music options: New stereo recording and the Original music in MT-32, General MIDI or AdLib
- High-end graphics upscaling (xBRZ filter)
- Optional retro settings: play with original graphics, original music and even the original controls
- Multiple languages:
- English voice acting, with the option for adding subtitles in English, Spanish, French, Italian, Russian and Hebrew
- German voice acting or subtitles-only
