The Order of the Thorne - The King's Challenge

Retro point-and-click adventure with modern quality of life improvements. Very much like King's Quest V-VI in terms of looks and gameplay. Characters with nice big portraits but a bit generic in terms of looks and writing. I did appreciate the fact there were different contestants in the King's Challenge besides you, popping in and out again at different places. Lots of music, mostly good but not particularly memorable. Generally fair puzzles but lots of backtracking (usual for older games of this type). Playing the lute was different than the usual, but I grew quickly tired of it and set it to automatic.

This is a very indie and short point-and-click game with a fairy tale story. You are playing a bard who tries to find the king's wife in a fairy kingdom. Pixel art graphics and childish story didn't appeal to me. I also found the game's map is vast and very confusing; you will spend some time wandering around aimlessly, and the lack of a map with shortcuts causes too much backtracking. Voice actors are also just mediocre or bad. $9.99 USD price for this game must be joke! overall I found this game childish, primitive and boring.

Feels Like 1992, minus the "You Have Died" screen! 🧝‍♂️ As someone who spent my childhood hoarding saves in King’s Quest V and Loom, playing The Order of the Thorne: The King's Challenge on Steam felt like a warm, pixelated hug. Infamous Quests perfectly captured the iconic 320x200 VGA aesthetic and unironic, gentle fantasy tone of Sierra's golden era. The Nostalgia FactorTrue Sierra Atmosphere: The gorgeous hand-painted backdrops look like they were pulled right out of an old DOS box, even offering built-in CRT monitor scanline options! The Bard’s Lute: Instead of standard inventory combinations, solving puzzles by learning and strumming songs on your lute is a phenomenal mechanic that heavily respects LucasArts' Loom. Fairer Game Design: Unlike Roberta Williams' old games, you cannot permanently lock yourself out of winning, and you won’t die unexpectedly just for clicking on the wrong tree. Achievements & Bugs (The Veteran's Breakdown) An Easy 100%: If you are a trophy hunter, you will love this. The Steam Achievements are highly attainable in a single, thorough 4-hour playthrough. Kickstarter Bloat: Some achievements require you to read nearly 40 tedious b…

Short and sweet. Great writing, good puzzles, and a fun experience all around. Well worth a few hours of your time!

It's alright as a nostalgia trip to point and click adventures. I feel like they could have innovated a little though. Can't say I have ideas how.

my eyes!