The Will of Arthur Flabbington

I played it through, but be warned, the toilet humor mentioned casually in the description of the game is no joke. Feces are an important part of the story, are at the center of several puzzles and are very graphically picked up and smeared around. I'm not sure who the target audience is, but if that kind of thing bothers you, stay clear of this game.

The game starts off wonderfully. The vintage atmosphere is perfectly captured. The first puzzles are well-balanced. Some game design issues can already be felt, but nothing too serious; everything is more than compensated by original writing and a fun universe. All of this suggests a very successful adventure. All the more so since the game's creator himself praises the quality of his puzzles online (at least on Reddit). I trusted him; that trust translated into the excitement I felt at the beginning... ... and inevitably made my disappointment stronger. From about two-thirds of the way through, the puzzles become tedious, counter-intuitive, and poorly executed. You can already feel it in Act II, when a new mechanic is introduced... but especially in Act III, which is downright painful and sluggish. The result is all the more frustrating given the developer’s ambitions. Without reaching the absurdity of Discworld or the complete lack of usability found in the first two Runaway games, this title does nothing to restore the reputation of the genre. Too bad.

(Follow [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/42150626-Jarl%27s-Game-Treasury/]my curator[/url] for more reviews like this) Puzzle-wise, this is one of the best point & click adventures I've played in recent times. If you've read my other adventure game reviews here on Steam, you might have noticed that I usually say the puzzles were too easy, I rarely got stuck, never had to check for hints, etc. Well, not so in this game. The puzzles here are an actual challenge and remind me of the Lucas Arts classics from the golden age of adventure games. The humor, too, makes this feel like a Lucas Arts game, with lots of stupid jokes across every corner. Not all of them land, but their tone is very similar to the classics. The protagonist is a total douchebag with no morals whatsoever, which some reviews here mention as a negative - but for me, that's exactly what an adventure game protagonist should be! Reminds me of Guybrush in Monkey Island 2 or Simon in Simon the Sorcerer 2. You'll be causing all kinds of grief and inconvenience to a lot of people during the course of the game, and it's hilarious. Gameplay is the classic point & click fare, with one cool unique feature. You have a ghost companion who at some point learns how to possess people, so you can take control of NPCs and make them do or say things to help you solve puzzles. It was quite a fun mechanic to play around with. As for the puzzles themselves, as I said before they're pretty challenging and follow the spirit of classic Lucas Arts games. There's a lot of items, some of which are red herrings that will lead you on the wrong track, and you keep your inventory across chapters - some items from the first will be used to solve puzzles in the last, which is cool. Overall the puzzles felt logical enough, you always roughly know what you have to do, but the solution usually involves solving [i]another[/i] puzzle elsewhere before you can get the thing you need. For example, to solve one puzzle you need to open a window, but first you have to turn up the heat on the radiator, but that's missing its valve so you need a wrench, but the plumber only takes customers in an emergency, so you have to clog the fountain to cause an emergency... Really reminds me of Lucas Arts adventures at their best. You have chains of puzzles where you know what to do but the solution eludes you, and once you finally figure out the first step, you're solving one puzzle after the other which feels very satisfying after a long time of bouncing all those different puzzle elements around your brain. My only complaint would be that the game is quite short. It took me around four hours to finish, you might even be able to beat it in three if you're an experienced adventure gamer. Might take you five or six if you get stuck on some puzzles, but not much more. There's only three chapters, with chapter two being the biggest with the most locations and interconnected puzzles to solve. Chapters one and three have much smaller areas and are therefore easier to solve. Overall I can fully recommend this to seasoned adventure game fans who like Lucas Arts style games and play the genre for its puzzles. Most adventure games these days like to go easy on the puzzles, but this one truly hearkens back to the golden age. Good stuff.

Game thinks it's way funnier than it is, although a couple moments did make me laugh, admittedly. Thoroughly unlikable douche of a main character. The plot is literally about stealing an inheritance. Wow, what a hero. To be fair, basically all the characters are thoroughly unlikable, so, there's some consistency here. Some very annoying puzzle logic, which is something I rarely complain about, because in point n click adventure games, that's kinda the point of the puzzles, but.... I did not enjoy these, and ended up using guides for a lot of it (which I normally don't do in adventure games, but honestly that was probably more just because I didn't like the game). Awful grind achievements for no reason (the entire game takes like 4, 5, 6k steps maybe, and you need TWENTY ONE THOUSAND steps). You have to check all 113 epitaphs or something on 60+ different screens, clicking them all. Why would you do that? What is wrong with you, dev? Impossible to recommend to anyone.

Gut gemacht. Ein nettes Point & Click Adventure wie in den guten alten Zeiten. Die Rätsel sind schon fordernd, aber nicht unmöglich. Womöglich wird man ab und an mal Tipps und Hinweise bei Steam in den beiden hinterlegten Lösungshilfen nachspähen, auch wegen den diversen Errungenschaften. Diese sind auch ein wenig Fleißarbeit, wie xfach irgendwas machen oder essen, anschauen, oder viele Schritte machen, für mich war das etwas zu viel des Guten, auch wegen dem blöden Videospiel. Die Grafik ist schlicht wie in den 90ern, aber dafür hat man gute Sprachausgabe, auch wenn man nur Englisch auswählen kann. Die Geschichte und die Orte sind ganz nett gemacht, man wandert vor allem im 2ten Kapitel auch sehr oft hin und her, so dass das Gefühl einer offeneren Welt entsteht. Die Idee mit dem 2ten spielbaren Charakter ist wirklich gut gemacht, man kann später andere Personen übernehmen und so einige Rätsel lösen. Die Spielhilfen im Spiel selbst sind nur rudimentär, man hat quasi eine Auflistung an Fragen an seinen unfreiwilligen Gehilfen, die dieser auch zu keiner Zeit willentlich beantworten wird, es ist also eher eine To-Do-Liste, damit man nicht ganz verloren herumläuft, vor allem, wenn man später mal nach einer Pause weiterspielen möchte. Alles in allem ist es ein gelungenes Spiel für eher Fortgeschrittene Rätselfreunde, oder die, die dann halt mal ab und zu nach einer Lösung schauen werden. Die Spielzeit war ordentlich lang, der Unterhaltungswert war gut, auch wegen dem schlechtgelaunten Geist, der Preis dafür ist sehr günstig. Läuft problemlos unter Linux. Von mir gibts eine klare Kaufempfehlung. Fazit: geistreiches Spiel ^^ :-)

I really wanted to like the game. It's funny, story is good, graphics are good enough, voice acting is good. My main gripe is that you have to resort to moon logic 90% of the time, especially in chapter 2. It was also frustrating that you can make mistakes and have to back track a lot to retry your solution. The final puzzle was extremely frustrating and I had to resort to a guide, not a great way to end a game.

Quiero ser justo y quede constancia, porque voy a intentar defender esta interesantísima aventura gráfica desde preceptos que, irónicamente, pueden ahuyentar a los jugadores menos versados o con menos experiencia en el género. Antes de acometer el análisis de "The Will of Arthur Flabbington" considero imperativo atender al concepto "moon logic", un término hoy día bastante en desuso, que se refiere a la particular lógica, rebuscada y aparentemente arbitraria, empleada en la resolución de puzles dentro del género de las aventuras gráficas, especialmente las más clásicas, porque hoy día las nuevas contribuciones son bastante más accesibles (incluso con “libros de pistas” dentro del propio juego). Esta denominación alude a situaciones en las cuales según qué resoluciones requieren un razonamiento un tanto abstracto y desconcertante de más, en lugar de derivarse de una secuencia más aparente, lógica y coherente. No siempre ocurre, por supuesto, ni todos los puzles y ardides incurren en ello, pero haberlos, haylos (el de encontrar la tumba es una cabronada sin reservas, por ejemplo). Esta es una de esas aventuras gráficas que exige paciencia (agotar todas las descripciones y líneas de diálogo es fundamental), creatividad y tiempo fuera del juego, a poder ser libreta en mano, analizando posibilidades y concretando o descartando ocurrencias. Y olvídate de resaltar los “puntos de interés” pulsando un botón, por supuesto, porque no hay forma ni falta que hace. Finales de los ochenta, principios de los noventa en vena, vaya. Solo le falta el laberinto de turno. XD. Uno de los aspectos más reivindicables de esta aventura gráfica es pues su adherencia rigurosa a esos cánones más clásicos del género, donde la dificultad de los puzles y su naturaleza puntualmente obtusa se erigen como un tributo respetuoso a los desafíos impuestos por aquellos títulos. Este juego recuerda a aquellos de la era dorada del género, de los años 80 y 90, de Sierra y especialmente de Lucasfilm/LucasArts. Concretamente, diría que este juego se inspira sobremanera en el delirante Sam & Max (de hecho, también son una dupla), incluso en su humor desfasado, en su acepción más positiva. Flabbington es bastante más escatológico, eso sí. El apartado gráfico pixelado del juego merece también una mención especial. Con una estética deliciosamente retro, "The Will of Arthur Flabbington" retrotrae visualmente a los clásicos de siempre, capturando la esencia de una época en la que los gráficos pixelados marcaban un estilo visual de una marcada personalidad, que aquí ha sido meticulosamente recreada, enriqueciendo la experiencia inmersiva del jugador más talludo. Además, el desarrollo del juego en actos (tres en este caso) no es precisamente una casualidad, sino una deliberada estructura narrativa inspirada en algunas de las obras clásicas del género. Este enfoque cómplice, que guía al jugador a través de una progresión narrativa clara y cohesionada (primer acto menor e introductorio, un nudo bastante más extenso y difícil y una conclusión en la que reenfocar lo ya expuesto en actos anteriores), proporciona una experiencia de juego que es tanto desafiante como gratificante y que sabe a añeja, como el buen vino. Sin embargo, aquello por la que yo la ensalzo principalmente puede ser aquello por la que otros la denuesten. Toda esa nostalgia y esa "moon logic" o lógica obtusa de ciertos puzles puede resultar frustrante, incluso para los jugadores más avezados y puede desanimar a aquellos que buscan una experiencia más accesible. En este sentido, el juego se arriesga a alienar incluso a una parte de su público potencial (es un título nada indicado para iniciarse en el género, salvo que no te importe consultar guías frecuentemente), que puede percibir estas mecánicas y/o resoluciones como un desafío importante. En su descargo, también lo eran Monkey Island, LeChuck´s Revenge o Grim Fandango, y no se me ocurre mejor terna.

I find it extremely funny, with smart puzzles, and I really enjoyed played it. Nothing else to say, GG.

Absolutely LOVED this game. Real old school point and click and just a whole lot of fun. Super clever puzzles that are at times tricky but always logical. Great characters and witty dialogue. The game play is really well thought out and there is always something else to do/try meaning it's difficult to get stuck or frustrated with it. The fact you can talk to Arthur to recap events (without getting hints that would spoil the fun) is really helpful if you've had a break from the game for a few days. My only criticism is I wish it was longer - Act 3 is quite short and I was a tiny bit disappointed not to get more game play! Cannot wait for more games by this developer! Although rated playable it plays absolutely fine on Steam Deck, I had no issues.

I wasn't quite sure how this game would play out after the first act, but I'm glad I sticked it out. You play as Jack, who's quite the arsehole, and his unwilling sarcastic ghost companion Arthur (no, not Flabbington...long story). As I traveled through the city on the quest for the treasure mentioned in the titular will, I found the game increasingly funny. Some of the dialogue, especially between the two main characters, was actually chuckle inducing or cringe inducing depending on how bad or silly the joke was. There were parts, especially the aforementioned first act, where I wasn't sure that I'd recommend this but the game as a whole was pretty fun in the end. I'm glad I stuck it out to the end.