Hoyle Card Games (2002 Edition). I’ve been craving some good old-fashioned card game action lately—the kind that is best enjoyed with four players around a table and a standard deck of 52 cards. Since that’s not always an option, there’s the computer and a (dumb) AI for you to keep you busy and to learn the ropes of various new trick taking games I wasn’t yet familiar with. One of those collections is the then-popular Hoyle Card Games collection from Sierra On-Line that had a great ...| jefklakscodex.com
Once upon a time, the wealthy who could afford it raised burial mounds called barrows all over the English countryside, waiting to be discovered—and raided—by excavators that call themselves barrow diggers. Thomasina Bateman, daughter of a renowned barrow digger, is raised just like her father: with a trowel in one hand and moist dirt in the other. She is in the process of writing a book on the various famous barrows of the English countryside. When she receives a letter from a mister Sho...| PC on Jefklak's Codex
As always, one day, on the lookout for worthwhile adventure games, Michael Klamerus over at Mastodon suggested to try out The Darkside Detective. That name rang a bell as it’s also briefly covered in my Point & Click Adventure book from Bitmap Books, in one of the last pages, as it’s a fairly recent game, from 2017. The GOG.com gods decided that a sale was in order, and three clicks later, I bought and installed the game. Let’s put on our paranormal investigative hats and see what’s b...| PC on Jefklak's Codex
What is The Secret of Monkey Island anyway? Something you will not discover in this game, that’s for sure. But instead, you’ll find yourself immersed in a goofy but hearty pirate story, full of epic quests, (insult) sword fights, loot, and… undead navigator heads? In the beginning of the nineties, The Secret’s release, the first in many to come, was still largely ignored. Adventure games didn’t sell well, even the later ones, and even if they were reviewed well, probably also leadin...| PC on Jefklak's Codex
It has been since December 2021 that I touched a Monkey Island game: The Curse of Monkey Island. What better way to celebrate the exciting upcoming release of Return to Monkey Island next week than to replay all the other games? Or at least the most revered ones, The Secret of Monkey Island and its successor, LeChuck’s Revenge. Both got a “special edition” fresh coat of paint, just like Day of the Tentacle Remastered, which you might or might not like: we’ll see in a bit what’s so s...| PC on Jefklak's Codex
Floppy Knights: Play Your Floppies (And Cards) Right. When I read Rock Paper Shotgun’s Floppy Knights verdict (a joyful card game that offers more the longer you play), I was immediately sold: a card game (check), a turn-based strategy (check), and something with old-skool floppies? (double-check) The question is: will my brain happily accept this floppy, or will it produce a sector error? Via Jefklak's Codex| jefklakscodex.com
DOOM + DOOM II: Why Choose If You Can Have Both?. I’ve always considered 1994’s DOOM II to be more of an expansion to 1993’s DOOM—a very necessary one, that is: who would want to play DOOM without the double barrel shotgun? I can live without that chainsaw, but the super shotgun, no way. It’s not only packing a punch, rapidly becoming my favourite weapon to put holes though Pinkies, but also inspiring future (retro) shooters to have keyboard slot 3 reserved for that double buckshot ...| jefklakscodex.com
In the Into the Aether 2024 Game of the Year Spectacular podcast episode, Brendon mentioned a small game in his top 10 that piqued my interested as soon as the words tactical and turn-based were uttered, but I initially had trouble finding it: I thought Brendon kept saying Gun Show instead of Tiny Touch Tales’ Guncho. The game is essentially a three-man job lead by Arnold Rauers who blogs about the progress from prototype (e.g. see this early 2022 video on X) to last year’s sales revenue....| Retro Gaming on Jefklak's Codex
Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss, a Playthrough Report. December’s DOS Game Club game was Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss, a role-playing masterpiece from ORIGIN Systems released in 1992 that clearly was lighyears ahead of its time. For reference, this game was released a month before Wolfenstein 3D, and even DOOM a full year later was not able to manage some of the capabilities of the 3D engine (swinging doors, jumping/flying, fully polygonal objects like the benches and shrine, ...| jefklakscodex.com
It’s been too long since I’ve taken another stab at one of my many love/hate relationships; this time arguably the last good installment in New World Computing’s Might & Magic genre: Might & Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer, or simply shortened as MM8. When it was released in 2000, this was the game that introduced me to the sprawling worlds of computer RPGs. Twenty-three years ago, I had no clue what I was doing, but I was most definitely having fun. I never managed to finish it, nor i...| PC on Jefklak's Codex
Kathy Rain: A Forgotten 1995 Point & Click Jewel from 2016. Adventure games are dead—the title of a forum post that pops up every few months since 1996 or so. Then devs reveal a promising title at E3, the hype is real, the tension rises, the game is released, and everybody posts adventure games are dead again. Sure, there are exceptions, such as Gilbert and Winnick’s Thimbleweed Park. But wait, even a year before that release, Kathy Rain popped up, Clifftop Games’ debut no less. A forgo...| jefklakscodex.com
Dungeon Siege VS Diablo 2: an In-Depth Analysis. Next in line after finishing Sacred: whacking my way through endless hordes of Krugs, skeletons, crystal shards, and goblins. How does the original Dungeon Siege hold up compared to the hack & slash king Diablo 2? Via Jefklak's Codex| jefklakscodex.com
What’s there left to say about the grandfather of shooters that started it all back in May 1992? It’s technically not the first of its kind but it’s more than certain the most popular one and generally accepted as the forefather of what some would call the boomer shooter genre. Which brings me to my reason for revisiting the game after finishing Heretic: to take a step back from the DOOM engine and see how the iconic Wolf3D lives up to its name in 2024, together with the DOS Game Club P...| Retro Gaming on Jefklak's Codex
Heretic: a thin-veiled DOOM clone? is printed as a provoking heading on multiple game review magazines of 1994. One of Raven Software’s first games is undoubtedly firmly entrenched in DOOM’s legacy: it’s using the same engine, its weapons are (a bit too) heavily inspired on DOOM, and the gameplay remains largely the same. But let me ask you this: is riding on the wave of one of the best shooters of all time a bad thing? I don’t think so. So grab your magic wands and cast a Wingardium ...| Retro Gaming on Jefklak's Codex
After the eighties-inspired cRPG SKALD, I immediately folded into another eighties-inspired game with a different genre: The Crimson Diamond, a classic Sierra-Online inspired adventure (almost) single handedly put together by Julia Minamata. In this charming EGA-style graphic adventure, you’re slipping into the shoes of miss Nancy Maple, a Canadian graduate mineralogist that is sent to a remote place called Crimson to investigate the possible presence of diamonds. Of course, that’s just t...| Retro Gaming on Jefklak's Codex
The vibe that comes off the SKALD launch trailer perfectly summarizes what you can expect from Anders Lauridsen’s latest dark cosmic horror game: an authentic 8-bit role playing experience flashed on a Commodore 64-like cartridge that somehow was left undiscovered back in the day. Luckily for us, the game comes with a few modern ease-of-play enhancements that makes playing these eighties cRPGs less rough around the corners. In SKALD, you’re a mercenary who was hired to retrieve Embla, a p...| Retro Gaming on Jefklak's Codex
Gobliiins 5: Early Nineties Vibes Almost Included. In case that isn’t yet clear from the theme of this website, I love the quirky Gobliins puzzle adventure games. Gobliins 2: The Prince Buffoon had a massive impact on me when I was just a wee lad; it was my personal Monkey Island revelation. My dad bought the boxed copy back in the day that came with a novel color code lookup copy protection. I didn’t understand most of the English and even though we jotted down every word revealed to us ...| jefklakscodex.com
Goblins Quest 3: Mind-bending, Plot-twisting, Brain-teasing?. In case you haven’t noticed yet, this website partially serves as a homage to the quirky French puzzle adventure series called Gobli(i)(i)ns, where the amount of ‘i’s in Goblins determines the party size. Via Jefklak's Codex| jefklakscodex.com
Jazz Jackrabbit. Are you ready for this? POW! followed by a wonderful amalgamation of a Robert Allen’s tracker music mixed with a bright and colorful menu was more than enough to completely blow away nine year old Jefklak in 1994. Via Jefklak's Codex| jefklakscodex.com
Outlaws: a Classic LucasArts Western Shooter. Before modern incarnations like Call of Juarez and Red Dead Redemption, there weren’t many western shooters out there. In fact, at the time of Outlaws’ release, in 1997, as far as I can remember and as far as the Interwebz tells me, there were none at all. Via Jefklak's Codex| jefklakscodex.com
Plants vs. Zombies (Game Of The Year). The most popular PopCap game everybody and their grandmother played back in the day was certainly the tile-matching browser game Bejeweled. Via Jefklak's Codex| jefklakscodex.com
Pizza Tower: Cathartic Wario Crazyness. Nintendo’s big-butted antihero character Wario was one of the greatest things ever to grace on the Game Boy handhelds, as discussed in the Wario Land retrospective. Via Jefklak's Codex| jefklakscodex.com
FIFA: Road to World Cup 98. E. A. Sports. It’s In The Game!—who doesn’t remember that jaw-dropping introduction? Just in case you do need a reminder on how awesome it was to boot up FIFA Road To World Cup 98 in 1997, here’s a video highlighting all the exciting moments from the beginning to the menu system to the end of a match: Via Jefklak's Codex| jefklakscodex.com
Diablo 2 Twenty Years Later: A Retrospective. 2020 marks the 20th anniversary of the beloved and mostly undisputed hack and slash king, Diablo II. Does it still hold up, twenty years later, compared to modern Diablo clones? Via Jefklak's Codex| jefklakscodex.com
Torchlight VS Diablo 2: an In-Depth Analysis. In 2009, the masterminds of the guys behind Fate and Blizzard North created the near-perfect Diablo game everybody was waiting for since Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. Oh, and it was released within 11 months. Suffice to say that it is worth a long and hard look! Via Jefklak's Codex| jefklakscodex.com
Nox VS Diablo 2: an In-Depth Analysis. Ideated in the 1995 college years of Michael Booth, this intended to be multiplayer focused fast-paced wizard combat game ultimately would wound up to be compared to Diablo II, which was released five months later. Yet, a lot of the likable charm, quickness and quirkiness remained. Is this really a traditional hack & slash game? Via Jefklak's Codex| jefklakscodex.com
Sacred Gold VS Diablo 2: an In-Depth Analysis. Sixteen years after its initial release, I finally managed to take the time to thoroughly inspect Sacred (the Gold release). I’ve always been a big fan of hack & slash games, so let’s take this opportunity to compare mechanics of Sacred VS the undisputed king: Diablo 2. Via Jefklak's Codex| jefklakscodex.com
Lode Runner: The Legend Returns Review. Core mechanics A concept almost as old as Pong, the Godfather of nowadays gaming. You climb up and down little ladders, collecting various forms of loot. And guess what - you’re being chased by blood thirsty (well yeah, sort of) eurhm, red humanoid shaped things. On your way through each puzzle, there are multiple ways of dealing with them. From digging a hole and watching earth grow as fast as it can, squashing the enemy, to picking up little and ver...| jefklakscodex.com
Albion: An Exotic Hodgepodge Soup of RPG Styles. For December’s Dos Game Club playthrough, we played Albion, a 1995 CD-ROM RPG from German studio Blue Byte you might know better from the superb Settlers series. As a fan of PC RPGs, I’ve long known about the existence of the game but never tried it out until now. Via Jefklak's Codex| jefklakscodex.com
Day Of The Tentacle (Remastered). If there is any adventure game that doesn’t need an introduction, it’s LucasArts’ masterpiece Day of the Tentacle (DOTT). And with that, I’ve already spoiled our evaluation of the game: it’s nothing less than amazing. This month, we’ve replayed the remastered edition of the game, which gives it a fresh new coat that… we ended up disliking and brushing aside. Via Jefklak's Codex| jefklakscodex.com
The Curse of Monkey Island: Guybrush Departs From Pixels With Mixed Success. Six years after the highlight of LucasFilm Games, Monkey Island: LeChuck’s Revenge, LucasFilm turned LucasArts finally takes another stab at Guybrush’s piratey adventures in the Caribbean Sea. It took a while because the big corsairs by then had set sail and left the safe harbor of the Lucas Ranch. After Monkey 2, Ron Gilbert started working on kids adventure games (Freddy Fish, Putt Putt, Pajama Sam), Tim Schafe...| jefklakscodex.com