Trüberbrook 12+

I have to say, I felt a level of immersion in this game that I rarely find with other point-and-clicks. The art direction and animation is certainly five star worthy and it's a fun and quirky sci-fi storyline that's easy to buy into, plenty of interesting characters with a quality voice cast.

Unfortunately, some less than efficient game play and odd glitches near the end left me with less than complete satisfaction. I wish they could give you some text description for items in the inventory, guess they didn't want to have to worry about localization. Hoping there's another title in the works from this developer.

While nicely animated, the gameplay can become tedious. Frequently in order to progress, you have to repeat conversations with characters which is a bit illogical. The mechanics of using inventory items is devoid of any thought. If an inventory item can be used, it is automatically selected for you. Most games of this type require you to figure out on your own which inventory item or combination of items to use in a given situation. Finally, and most frustrating is a rendering bug I encountered as I was just about to complete the game. The bug has prevented me from finishing the game. Watching a walkthrough online, the bug became obvious. At one point Gretchen is fighting with Lazarus and a force field generates around them. When I played the game, the force field was a solid, grid of hexagons. When I watched the walkthrough, the grid is supposed to be transparent. This is essential to the progression of the game. In my case the sequence renders incorrectly and leaves me stranded after playing for several hours. Hopefully the developer does a better job on the next one.

I just completed this game in about 6.5 hours on my new iPhone 12 Pro Max. It was wonderful to find myself immersed in a game and its storyline. The gameplay took me back to the days of Monkey Island, Loom and Grim Fandango. I wish more people made games like this. My experience was completely glitch-free and the hotspot indicators ensured that it remained fun instead of being an exercise in frustration. This is not a game for the ADD generation as it requires thinking, listening and no killing whatsoever to progress. The only part I didn’t enjoy was the seemingly endless series of questions that needed to be answered in exactly the right sequence to escape the sanatorium. I must admit that I needed the help of an online walkthrough for that part. I loved this game and I hope the producers will make more such games. Truly a labor of love and thankfully without any in-game purchases or advertising. For five bucks this is a steal.