Unlike most video game players who grew up on systems like the SNES, the SEGA Megadrive or the original PlayStation, my path into gaming was slightly different. My very first video game system was the BBC Micro, (yes, I’m that old!) but my first true love was my Amiga 600+. On that machine, my younger brother and I would play all sorts of different games, but one of my early loves were point and click adventure games.
Classics like Monkey Island, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade – I couldn’t get enough of them. One of my favourites though, was the quippy, attitude filled Simon the Sorcerer, originally by UK Developer Adventure Soft. Now, after a lengthy hiatus and with the original creator’s blessing, the series has returned with a prequel. It’s even bringing Chris Barrie back (most famous for playing Rimmer in Red Dwarf), the original voice actor for Simon from the CD-ROM version of the game. So the question is – have they pulled it off? Is this a triumphant return for the franchise, or something like Simon the Sorcerer 3D, which I’d rather not talk about. Let’s find out in our Simon The Sorcerer: Origins Review.
A New Adventure
This time around, development for Simon The Sorcerer: Origins is being handled by Italian developer Smallthings Studios, and I’m getting this out front and centre. If you’re worried that the series’ sense of dry, British humour is going to preserved, rest easy. They’ve done a really solid job here, and aside from some minor gripes, this is a worthy return of a character and type of game that I used to really enjoy.
As this is a prequel, things start off back in 1993, and our dear Simon is having hard time at school, and is moving to a new house with his mum. He’s not at all happy with the situation, and after a brief tutorial, we’re thrust into another world via the handy appearance of a magic portal.
The tutorial itself walks us through the games systems. The simplification and streamlining of the standard point and click system isn’t too bad at all, even for purists. Gone are the usual list of actions like push, pull, wear, look at, talk to and so on, and instead, things are a bit more contextual.
In Control
I played the game on both Xbox Series X and on PC, and for purists that would only play this sort of title on mouse, that streamlining is still in play, though you’ll still be double clicking around to get Simon moving at speed. On controller, there is no movable cursor. You move Simon with the left thumbstick, and you can hold the left trigger to highlight ‘hotspots’ in the world (Tab achieves the same result on PC). Once held, you can interact with and flip between them with the bumpers, and you can combine items together, as well as interact with Simon himself.
In terms of plot, shortly after we’re thrust through a glowing purple portal, we meet our mentor, the wise wizard Calypso, who informs us of a prophecy. ‘An impudent child from another world will help find the tomes of the First Wizard’. There’s our Mcguffin then, and it works well enough to drive the plot forward.
The series main villain Sordid returns, but he doesn’t look quite how you remember him – this is a prequel after all. It’s also got some other returning characters, including a thoroughly good helping of friendship stew and of course Simon’s faithful dog, Chippy.
Simon himself is as sarcastic and quippy as he ever was, and Chris Barrie’s delivery is just as good as you’d hope. As Simon, you’ll steal money from a church collection box, refuse to unfreeze a magical student because he “looks cooler that way” and complain loudly to the player at being made to do things that he doesn’t want to do. At one point, we force Simon to read and learn a complicated magical language – he wasn’t happy.
You’re a wizard, Simon
As per any good adventure game, over the course of 10 or so hours, we’ll collect items, solve puzzles and explore different locations. Inside our magic hat, we’ll have a magical diary that will display our various objectives, and also a map, so that we can fast travel to different locations. Amusingly, we’ll drop a pin on the map which falls into the real world, which was pretty funny.
To say, show or share much more would spoil the story, so I’ve stuck to either walking around or just the early game here. What I will say is the team at Smallthings Studios haven’t been content to play it safe with Simon the Sorcerer: Origins. They’ve added some new mechanics here, which take a little thinking about.
As with most point and click adventure games, you’ll be solving puzzles and thinking logically for solutions. Most of the puzzles are fairly sensible in that approach, and thankfully there’s nothing as groan-inducing as “Wear Dog” from Simon the Sorcerer II. (That puzzle always bugged me because Simon was rubbish at magic, and the solution to that particular puzzle was that he was suddenly able to turn a dog into a pair of quiet, sneaky slippers.)
In Simon the Sorcerer: Origins, Simon will be able to learn spells, and indeed unlock different versions of his inventory-holding magical wizards hat, which in turn, have an effect on some of the objects inside it. This adds a few extra wrinkles to things and overall, I think they did a really great job with the mechanic.
Friendship Stew
I have a few minor complaints. I’ve never really loved the new art-style, which despite the greater fidelity still feels somewhat less detailed than the pixel-style games of my childhood. Equally, a final sequence very late in the game started to feel a little bit repetitive, but the developers soon won me over with a nice nod back to that same childhood all over again, and for that, I can’t really knock Simon the Sorcerer: Origins too much.
I’ve quite happily played through and enjoyed Simon the Sorcerer: Origins, and for fans of the series, this is genuinely a pretty great return for this 90’s adventure game anti-hero. In many ways, it feels made by a group of fans that loved these classic games, and as such, is made with a fair amount of care and passion. I hope they get to make another one.
Simon the Sorcerer: Origins
Played on
PC & Xbox Series X
PROS
- Amusing writing and voice acting
- A rock solid return of a classic franchise
- Some great brain-teasing puzzles
- New mechanics work well
CONS
- Art-style just isn't my jam
- A late game sequence outstays its welcome a bit
