Fester Mudd: Curse of the Gold - Episode 1

Missing the classic adventure games of the early 1990s like Maniac Mansion, Indiana Jones, Monkey Island, or dozens like them? Want to see the genre that inspired games like the fantastic, story-driven Telltale Games adventures? Just want to play a fun little storyline that requires a little puzzling to work your way through? Fester Mudd: Curse of the Gold is an episodic Wild West adventure that does homage to those old Lucas Arts SCUMM games without the need for a floppy disk drive or emulator. Everything is there, from the user interface to the 16-bit graphics. The only thing missing is the Lucas Arts logo. The story isn't terribly deep but it's fun to play and leaves you ready for the subsequent episodes, which unfortunately haven't come to Steam in the year plus since Episode 1's release. The puzzles involve simple character dialogue and finding out which objects are interactive and how they can be used to interact with other objects. Throw in a few fart jokes and some butt-related humor and you've got the ingredients for success! Except for the fact that this story ends with a "to be continued" that has yet to actually continue (at least on Steam), Fester Mudd is still worth playing. I do think that the price tag, at $10, is pretty high for the 2-3 hours of content and lack of replayability and suggest you look for this one on sale.

Fester Mudd Episode 1 has nice art and good humor, evocative of the old Lucasarts adventure games that are loved dearly by so many. The puzzles aren't too difficult, and there are no situations where a mistake can ruin your game. The music is decent as well. This game has all the components of a thumbs-up. HOWEVER. See that "Episode one" in the game title? As you might assume, that means that this game is only part of the story. It's not the length of a full adventure game, and ends on a "to be continued". Where's the rest of the story? Well... There isn't any more. The development of the remaining episodes was cancelled, so if you play this, get ready to be left hanging. The price (9.99) is also too high for what you get, and I can't help but wonder if this in part led to the game's abandonment. (High price->fewer sales->not enough profit->series axed) This type of situation is one of the reasons I do not support episodic game development. All the makings of a great title are here, but I cannot recommend it because it is simply not a complete game.

A quite charming point and click game with fairly good puzzles and the usual "silly adventure game"-logic so expect quite odd solutions. The jokes and references are mostly good but some fall a bit flat but thats quite hard to avoid. There are a few missable achievements in the game but you will encounter most of them by exploring the game and reading the achievement descriptions for hints (quite hint free). [B]Time to 100%:[/b] ~2 hours

FESTER MUDD: CURSE OF THE GOLD is [...] a love letter to the classic adventure games of the 90s! - from the game's description - and it's TOTALLY true. This is the best thing about the game. And the worst: "The development of Fester Mudd games has been cancelled, and this episode is the only one available" The episode finishes quite well - your brother sent you a message about finding gold, and you arrive to Loamsmouth, where you prepare your journey further after your brother. The episode finishes with you being on your way towards him (ending with a cliffhanger, so obviously just episode 1 of the promised three), so the story is getting your stuff together in the city. And the game is some incredible gem, it's such, such a pity that it's cancelled. Still worth playing, as the episode is concluded, and itself is tons of fun, albeit short. You can meet the local drinking champion, one of the weirdest gun-store owners I've ever came across, see a lake full with farting fishes, prove that forces of law was sinfun in loving delicious donuts before they got named "police", and so much more, crammed into this game. A weird thing that crossed my mind after coming across the third (!) implementation of fart in the game (farting fish, whoopie cushion and end scene) - giggling at a fart like Fester does (Tee hee) is maybe not the most mature joke. But it's funny! People laugh at farts, that's why whoopie cushions exist to begin with! And that's the 90s for me - games and cartoons, when funny didn't had to be mature, but something that was simply funny, and this game perfectly captured the "funny for the sake of being funny" trail of thought while it's genuinely funny - really witty dialogue, great and a lot anachronism in the game (when something's not in it's correct time, like the ID you need to get has barcodes on it). Couple the funny aspect of the game with great and enjoyable soundtrack, sounds of the game similarly presented in good quality, and the game also looks really pleasing. I thought that this is an original *old* game, and to be honest I didn't really wanted to bother with it. But for lucky me it's a newer one, and I'm pretty sure it's also easier than the classics, making the game a fantastic and very well-done entry to the oldschool point and clicks, where you actually had to choose your action as well :) It's such, such a pity that the series got cancelled. I still wholeheartedly recommend it if you can deal with the fact that this episode is quite nicely finished, but the whole story apprently will never will be. Though the price is absurdly high for a 2-3h game - I would recommend you getting for- or below 3$/€

What's the difference between this game and "Day of the Tentacle", "Monkey Island", "Full Throttle", etc... ? The Lucasarts logo. I have a love-hate relationship with Adventure / Point & Click games. I like them but most of them suffer from terrible [b]writing[/b], terrible [b]gameplay[/b] and/or terrible [b]graphics[/b] and in all honesty, Fester Mudd doesn't fail at either. The [b]writing[/b] is superb. Yes, it's an episodic game but the story is well-written enough to interest me in the next episode. Likewise, writing for "western" era can be hard but I feel the devs really pulled it off nicely. The [b]gameplay[/b] is perfect. I rage fairly quickly at stupid gameplay elements (including but not restricted to, clunky UI, unskippable text, unskippable tedious cutscenes, etc...) and I can proudly say nothing made me rage in fester Mudd. The [b]graphics[/b] are top-notch for a retro-style / pixel art point & click adventure. TL;DR 11/10, would bang.

This is an awesome little retro game. The puzzles are complicated enough to be entertaining but easy enough to not put a serious dent on your afternoon. There are many entertaining in-jokes that harken back to the 80s and 90s. I think old-school adventure gamers will likely be the ones who appreciate this game the most, but it is suitable for new players too.

Short and silly, with no sequel in sight. I enjoyed my few hours in this adventure but considering the lack of follow-up, I would look for it in a bundle or at a deep discount (if that ever happens again). [h3]Additional Details[/h3] [table] [tr] [td]Operating System[/td] [td]Ubuntu Linux 14.04 x64[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]CPU[/td] [td]AMD FX-8350[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]GPU[/td] [td]GTX 750[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Technical Notes[/td] [td]No problems[/td] [/tr] [/table]

A nice little adventure game, it's funny and the puzzles aren't too frustrating. Unfortunately, it's quite short and I don't think it's worth the current price. Plus the developers aren't making any more episodes.

Short and slightly funny. The humor doesn't get much deeper than fart jokes. It happens I actually find those a bit hilarious... An easy clear too if you are one of those without much time to invest in gaming and huge, towering backlogs. Good homage to the old PC adventure classics too, I felt right back at home with the interface.

It is a funny game but alas where short (< 2 hours) and they never released the next episodes so it is kinda pointless to play.