It is often said that the internet killed adventure games. There are many who feel that an emphasis on multiplayer experiences and the dissolution of challenge through internet walkthroughs have harmed the genre forever. This is however complete bullshit and I have Dark eye: chains of satinav to back me up. This game much like tell tales walking dead reinvigorates the adventure game genre but where walking dead introduced new and modern elements chains of satinav keeps things old school and despite my fears it works really well.

Photo courtesy of Deep Silver

Like the golden age of lucasarts and sierra this game is all about puzzles. You walk your character through a few screens of non player characters, items and background exposition and find within them a number of obstacles. You have a goal of course and you will never be confused as to what it is, it’s in figuring out the details. That’s where the difficulty emerges. It could be talking your way out of a problem, using an item or combination of items or interacting with the environment. More often than not a single obstacle or mission will require all of these actions. Thats what adventure games are all about, using your head. Your reflexes don’t matter, you don’t need to click on an enemy before your health bar falters or crack off head shots to rack up high score. The only thing that stands in your way is a puzzle. And once you have it figured you’re on to the next one. tell tales walking dead and many other adventure games feature action esque elements, there are definite ways to lose the game. There are no such elements to chains of satinav, you can’t die or lose but you can and probably will get stuck with a particularly devious little brain twister. The game offers two options on startup, a mode that will highlight all interactable items on the screen with the tap of the space bar and a mode that forces you find the intractable shit on your own. Its really not easier or harder its just a matter of preference. For the most part every player will be faced with the same challenge and gladly they are all manageable and do not feature the nasty trend within adventure games to provide ridiculous and obscure solutions.

Photo courtesy of Deep Silver