The Adventures of The Black Hawk

This is a very good game with some important flaws; however, it gets so many things right, and what it does get right it executes in such a magnificent way, that my rating remains positive. [b][h2]The best:[/h2][/b] I'll keep the good part brief: get this game at full price. This is one of the most high quality Lucas arts styled games I've played. The gameplay, graphics, animations, and puzzles feel straight out from Lucas art. Heck, they might even be an improvement. I'd really like to underline how good the puzzles are. They are all very fair and logic but you'll get stuck thinking how to proceed most of the time. And the answers are usually reminiscent of the answers in Lucas arts games. It just feels like an original LA game up to the puzzle design, it's hard to explain. The overarching story is really engaging and interesting also. [b][h2]The worst:[/h2][h3]***BAD DIALOG***[/h3][/b]So while the direction of the story is great, the dialog is just awful. You know how I complimented the game for being the perfect Lucas arts clone? The one thing it's missing is the humor. Picture a Lucas art game that takes itself too seriously, that paints the evil guys as the biggest pieces of ♥♥♥♥ (and explicitly calls them out on it without any wit or quips) and makes the good guys ramble on about inequality and justice. Like... instead of having a French aristocrat make a funny line lacking self awareness about how the poor should just eat cake instead if they are hungry, you'll find something more along the lines of "haha I'm a French aristocrat who exploits the poor with taxes to throw lavish parties and I enjoy see them starve! I'm better than them!", and instead of humorous comebacks from the main character most the answers are things along the lines of "you'll get what is yours for all the unfairness you've caused!". And these rants are so looong. It's so preechy, unfunny and long that the appeal of talking to every character and exhausting every dialog option feels like torture. I even dare say the dialog feels like the dev is getting really political on a personal level, which would be really weird since it's set around the French revolution. But yeah, the game feels very political, stiff and lacking of funny lines. [b][h3]***UPDATED AFTER BEATING THE GAME: CHAPTER 3***[/h3][/b]Eesh, this chapter is a bit of a mess. You take another character's POV and you have to accomplish your goals by reexamining all the areas you had already covered, which makes the game suddenly feel barren of life and content, giving the impression that they just ran out of money and decided to recycle assets. However... thats not the case! To my surprise there were a bunch of new screens in this chapter, but these had very little to do in them (I can think of at least one that is literally empty). So I think this wasn't a budget problem but a creative choice. Hated this. I specially hated having to re-check items I had already examined before in the old areas to discover what this other character would be willing to pick up and which items stopped being locked. The dialogs in this chapter became quite heavier on the political side (there's even a meta commentary recommending a real life book which the game claims is about living under a fascist regime......), and even had some feminist "jokes" which felt more like preachy whining than actual humor. The dialogs became so dense with useless uninteresting dribble that I literally started spamming through some conversations which I knew weren't relevant to the plot and to my surprise even spamming through them felt like a slog. The beginning and ending of the chapter are pretty good though, its just the middle that felt like a dreadful chore to muddle through in a lifeless world. [b][h2]Minor problems that did annoy me:[/h2][/b][b][h3]***STIFF ENGLISH TRANSLATION***[/h3][/b]I'd also recommend playing it in Spanish as the English translation feels a bit dry and robotic. It's not broken English or grammatically incorrect by any means, just a bit stiff. [b][h3]***TOO MANY TEXT INPUTS TO OPEN AND CLOSE THE APP RUIN THE STEAMDECK EXPERIENCE***[/h3][/b]Oh and a minor complain is that you need to input a keyword from the manual whenever you open the game. Cute the first time, torture down the road. And to quit it you need to type "Y" to quit the game, then again to close the app. So if you're playing this on the steamdeck like I am, opening and closing the game is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ torture. Why do you think I have like 8 hours on it? I just never close it to avoid all that ♥♥♥♥. [b]UPDATE: After an update there's one less quit game prompt, and I found out that you can map Y to a button the steamdeck to make it more bareable... having to input a code whenever you want to open the game is still there though.[/b] [b][h2]***CONCLUSION***[/h2][/b]But yeah, overall it's such a good homage to Lucas art that I gave it a positive rating, but the lack of humor, added to taking itself so seriously, kept me from getting lost in the seemingly perfect illusion this game casts. The game is quite a gem to behold, but due to the bad dialogs, lack of humor, overall preachiness, and most of chapter 3, beholding it once was enough for a lifetime. Was it a fun experience? I'm not sure anymore, but I don't regret having experienced it.

I'm exactly the target market for this game, but I can't bring myself to like it. The dialogues are long-winded and unfunny. The English translation is somewhat awkward and unidiomatic. I could maybe look past that, but the puzzles are honestly not fun. Too many of them involve pixel hunting objects that seem to be deliberately designed to blend in with the background. The overall feel is tedious. That's too bad!

The artwork in this game is beautiful, but the dialogue is very poorly written and long-winded. The worst part, however, is the ridiculous chore of just getting into the game: Opening the game is a It makes you go to the folder containing the game files, pull up a PDF, and find a random word on a random page of the "manual," as if it's an old-fashioned copyright protection control. Then you sit through an incredibly long title screen that is un-skippable .No matter how many times you've played and sat through all of this, it never goes away. I'd love to play the game for the artwork alone, but it's just such a drag to even open that 100% of the time, I just decide to play something else.

The Adventures of The Black Hawk is a delightful throwback to classic point-and-click adventures that stylishly embraces the quirks and limitations of the past. The 9-verb user interface, manual copy protection and other deliberate nods to retro games all contribute to an authentic experience. This game is clearly not for everyone. You'll need a little patience to enjoy it. I've only just started playing, and so far the story is engaging and the puzzles are challenging.

Lo peor de una época Tengo 42 años y he jugado prácticamente a toda las aventuras tanto gráficas como de texto que han caído en mis manos desde que tengo uso de razón, por eso puedo entender que la intención de los autores de este juego era rendir homenaje a los clásicos. Lo que ya me resulta inexplicable es hacer de las peores prácticas de la época la razón de ser de tu juego. Recurrir al "pixel hunting" mas duro a cada paso para crear dificultad de forma artificial es algo que nunca se hizo tan mal como en este juego, ni siquiera en las ovejas negras del género, y que demuestra que para diseñar buenas aventuras es necesario tener una gran cantidad de talento, del que desde luego, los autores de este juego carecen. El puzzle del libro de Indiana Jones o las últimas partes de Simon Sorcerer son una broma comparada con encontrar una tiza en este juego .

On the one hand, I can feel the amount of love that was poured into this and i can appreciate it... On the other hand i feel this is a pretty boring story with way too much not well enough written dialogue... I think that instead of being EXACTLY like an old school game, this should have just captured the feeling while including some quality of life improvements from modern point and click games. For example: a simple right click to open doors has really been the norm for decades now and with the amount of doors in the game it becomes really annoying to manually "OPEN" the doors all the time... Another example is the copyright protection, and yes i was laughing the first time when i thought it was a joke, but when i realized that i actually have to ALT TAB my game, download the manual, check the manual and then go back into the game (takes forever btw) EVERY TIME i start the game, the fun was quickly over... Or the fact that u cannot set dialogue speed... Things like that are sprinkled all over the game that just make u realize u want an oldschool game feel, but not an outdated game... I do not want to give this game a negative review because i think it is genuinely a love project and i want to support this, and i hope that in the future those things (maybe in another game) will get some more thought put into them! Personally i will not finish this game (put more than 9h into it already) but i hope to see either some things patched that really do not need to be like 30 years ago, or maybe even a new game! If u like PnC games there is a good chance u will enjoy this and have some fun, but do not expect anything mindblowing.

I am having a great time with this game. It's just as they say: an adventure game like the ones from the old days. In EVERY way: there's even copy protection! It captures the essence of the era very well and it is a pleasure to walk through the scenarios examining hotspots and solving puzzles with the many objects that we accumulate in the inventory. Great job, guys!

What it got going for it is it looks, sounds and plays like an adventure of old the likes of which it is inspired by. Sadly, the actual game isn't very good. There are way too many, too lengthy dialogues, pixel hunting and a lot of the puzzle solutions don't make much sense. A lot of times, things will not work the first time or seemingly randomly until you try them again with the somewhat problematic concept of the protagonist only doing something if he has a reason to, which works if well-dosed, but it's prevalent here and becomes seriously annoying. You want to take an item, guy says no, you walk three screens away where he learns something and then you have to go back and take the item after all. The puzzles aren't that interesting, either and neither is the story. Not to mention there are deaths most of which come with no warning and if you don't know that or forgot to save ... well, there's no auto-save. Overall, it works well, looks good and isn't all that bad, but it misses good gamedesign to earn a recommendation.

The Adventures of the Black Hawk is a point-and-click adventure game that prides itself on evoking the spirit of the '90s classic adventure games, such as Monkey Island and Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. While it undoubtedly brings back fond memories of pixelated graphics and simple gameplay, it ultimately falls short in several key areas, making it a less-than-satisfying experience for modern players. First, let's talk about the positives. The pixel art graphics are charming and reminiscent of the golden era of adventure games. For those who appreciate the simplicity and nostalgia of retro-style visuals, Black Hawk delivers a solid experience. The environments are detailed enough to capture the essence of the setting, and the character designs are endearing in their own right. However, the art alone cannot carry the game, and unfortunately, there are several issues that detract from the overall experience. One of the most perplexing design choices is the introduction of a code verification system that requires players to enter a code every time they launch the game. The first time you do it, it’s mildly amusing — a quirky throwback to older games that used copy protection in a similar manner. But after the tenth or twentieth time, the charm quickly wears off, and it becomes a tedious task that interrupts the flow of gameplay. The game does not save you from this inconvenience, making it one of the most frustrating aspects of the experience. Another issue is the game's tendency to punish players with frequent and, at times, inexplicable death scenarios. In a traditional point-and-click adventure, mistakes can often be rectified by solving puzzles or choosing different dialogue options. However, The Adventures of the Black Hawk includes death sequences that are triggered by seemingly random decisions. These "gotcha" moments are often hard to predict, and when you do get caught out, you're forced to reload your last manual save and repeat sections of the game. This mechanic quickly becomes a frustrating chore, especially when it’s not always clear why certain choices lead to death. The soundtrack, while competent, leaves much to be desired. In comparison to the groundbreaking iMuse system used in Monkey Island 2 and Indiana Jones, the music in The Adventures of the Black Hawk is repetitive and lacks the depth and variation that would have elevated the atmosphere. The tunes are serviceable but ultimately uninspiring, which further detracts from the immersive experience that such games often excel at. The lack of memorable music only reinforces the sense that the game is trying too hard to recreate something that worked in the past without adding much of its own. Finally, the story is simply underwhelming. While it attempts to pay homage to the point-and-click genre by referencing other famous games, these nods often feel like superficial fan service. The dialogue is full of long-winded conversations that, rather than being witty or engaging, often come off as dull and unnecessarily verbose. The humor is forced and lacking in charm, leaving little to laugh at, which is a major flaw in a genre that relies so heavily on sharp writing and character interactions. In conclusion, The Adventures of the Black Hawk is a game that holds nostalgic value but fails to deliver on many fronts. The pixel art is delightful, but the frustrating code verification system, random deaths, lackluster music, and dull story leave much to be desired. Fans of retro point-and-click games may find something to enjoy here, but for most players, the game falls flat, failing to capture the magic of the classics it aims to emulate.

Can't get this program to run. It asks for a secret word from the manual but: (a) The feature to display the manual doesn't work and (b) You can't exit the password screen to look at the manual which you need to do as the word you need is selected randomly. Hope the rest of the game not as bad as this