Primordia (Wormwood Studios 2012, for Windows PC)

Graphics: 9/10
Sound: 8/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Overall: 9/10

If anybody thought that traditional adventure games were forever relegated to gaming's past, there have been a lot of strong arguments in favor of the genre in recent years. There's no greater paragon of this genre right now than Wadjet Eye Games, a company that went from a single developer to full-fledged publisher in an impressive four years. In the case of Primordia, Wadjet Eye brought aboard Wormwood Studios, a small, international team who toiled for two years to create their adventure: a point-and-click adventure starring a one Horatio Nullbuilt and a Crispin Horatiobuilt as they explore a post-apocalypic world where humankind has gone extinct and machines reign.

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Primordia enjoys the benefit of resources that fit together like cogs in a machine, though one of those cogs shines brighter than the others, as I'll detail later. The soundtrack for this game is quality, with tracks effective at setting the mood and providing a pleasant bed for exploring scenes. Quality, if not especially memorable; I didn't come away from the game remembering any given track in particular, save for the credits theme. Maybe that's just nature of an atmospheric soundtrack.

The visuals are excellent! Even while set in a post-human apocalyptic landscape, each scene in the game is interesting. Primordia doesn't feature just blast craters and heaps of trash, it portrays an alien landscape gracefully cobbled together from humanity's leavings. The colorful and ornate pieces in the early areas make the Unniic fun to explore, and some of the scenes later on are dizzying in scale and intricacy. Designs for each of the character sprites in the game are certainly more artistic than they are practical, and are all the more eye-catching for it. An unfortunate effect of scaling can make the sprites contrast rather harshly against the smooth backgrounds, but the close-ups of the characters in various cutscenes never disappoint.

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Of course, that's just a shiny veneer for the heft of the game. What's important here is not the engine; if you've played any game developed in AGS, the interface will be familiar, as it doesn't stray too far from the conventional. Additionally, the game doesn't seem to play nice with Steam overlay, and doesn't have a convenient way to play in windowed mode. Never mind that; the great thing here is how Wormwood have refined the traditional formula, shedding the guesswork and tedium, and piecing together interesting puzzles and compelling narrative. The game is nearly devoid of red herrings, each inventory item representing a valuable solution waiting to happen. And if you were fond of brute-forcing dialogue trees in older games, abandon that impulse before starting Primordia. Key interactions can lead to fail states if you mess up too many times, allowing you to continue the game, but shutting doors to better opportunities.

For example: at one point in the game, Horatio finds himself in a position to arbitrate a dispute between two robots over ownership of their creation, a curious mix of custody battle and patent claim. Horatio must prove his logical powers and, therefore, his qualifications to solve their problem, by solving riddles. If he bungles it too many times, they'll disregard him until he seeks outside help. However, if Horatio can manage his way through the puzzles, he'll gain the power to decide rightful ownership. Here arises another consequence: he must choose wisely, since favoring the wrong robot and alienating the other may limit his options later in the game. Thus goes most of the situations in the game, and it creates a sense of impact and gives the player control over the narrative. Granted, the most amount of choice comes at the end of the game, but the best ones are only available to those whose choices are consistently solid the whole playthrough.

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The conversations are, far and away, the best thing about this game. Two voice actors especially notable in the indie games community lend their talents to this game's main characters: Logan Cunningham, perhaps best known for his narration in Bastion, lends his dulcet tones to the protagonist, Horatio. Abe Goldfarb reprises the role of the wise-cracking sidekick in the form of Horatio's creation and dearest friend, Crispin. The dynamic between these characters is fantastic! Their dialogue is natural, well-written, and, quite frequently, hilarious. Such a repartee I haven't witnessed since the Sam & Max games. Even their idle chatter, randomly interspersed in exploration, is a delight every time it crops up.

Neither the excellent dialogue nor the spot-on voice acting are exclusive to Horatio and Crispin, of course. Every line echoes the culture of this machine run society. Conversations are filled with programming jokes and computer references—they've even gone so far as to turn the infamous Blue Screen of Death into a curse, “b'sod”. Some of the game's background lore is just so much paper-thin genre fuel, but it stands as a sufficient canvas to paint on. Each character the player interacts with really stands out, owing to the perfect delivery from each of their respective actors, and just a bit of modulation in post. Not to mention that every character is rarely exactly what they seem at face value, secrets of the past and facets of personality surfacing with a steel shine the longer they converse. For being merely robots built in man's image, this cast strikes me as more human than most of the humans I see in other modern games.

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“I love this game!” I can't recall how many times I repeated that phrase out loud to myself after a particularly funny exchange or clever puzzle. Primordia is a great experience from start to finish. If you're reading this, I entreat thee: play this game! You need to play this game. Right now. It doesn't matter if you're new to retro adventure games or an old veteran, this is not a narrative to be missed. It's available for purchase on the Steam store, or from the Wadjet Eye official page. Go on. I'll wait.

~ Kyle "Kaypar" Parker