Review: Deja Vu: A Nightmares Comes True!! (1985)

first person view of a detective's door that says "Ace Harding Private Eye" and the silhouette of someone behind the window in the door

This month’s game in the Adventure Game Club discord is Deja Vu: A Nightmare Comes True so I have finally played through that for the first time after it sitting in my backlog for forever. It’s the first MacVenture by ICOM and man, weird game. I’ll mention the stuff I was frustrated with but it’s difficult to get too mad at the game when it’s one of the first point-and-click adventures ever, it’s short, and the Macintosh art really holds up!

The premise of the game is that you wake up in a toilet stall and must find out who you are, what happened to you, and why. In addition to that, you have also been injected with something and have a limited amount of time to find a cure. That’s really all there is to it! You walk around a city and various buildings, occasionally taking a taxi to different regions to do some more exploration, but luckily it’s a pretty small world, since you will need to restart a few times from softlocks and optimizing your path because of the time limit. The time limit is also the source of most of my frustration with the game. It’s not that aggressive of a time limit but every single action takes time off, making it feel like you’re being punished for basic actions in any adventure game like examining objects. That’s right, even looking at an object means time is removed and I have to reload to get that time back. I’m generally a hater of time limits in adventure games anyway because to me, part of the appeal is an adventure game is that I usually have a world to explore and now the game wants me to focus instead on creating an optimal path instead of focusing on the world building. Oh well.

Eventually you do find a cure and can explore more freely. Even without the time limit though, the game still feels a bit tedious because of the verb system. I honestly don’t mind it that much, but there’s parts where it feels like a slog, such as having to pay the cab driver in quarters. But this is where you can tell it’s an early graphic adventure and they’re trying to figure out how to adapt that.

Another part of the game I really disliked is the occasional racist joke and frequent fatphobic jokes. The game cannot get enough of making fat jokes and it really sucks!

What did I actually like about the game? Well, the art is great. Black and white art on the Macintosh is incredibly charming to me and what you see here is great. The versions on the Apple IIGS and NES with color art aren’t bad either. I guess it just comes down to what you like more. The puzzles aren’t usually that difficult either, it’s just a time limit you fight with and busy work with the verbs. It’s also short! That sounds like I’m making fun of the game but I do like short games.

Eventually I want to play the rest of the Macventures. I’ve poked at Uninvited and Shadowgate before and knew of the time limit in the latter, but I guess every Macventure has a time limit? Come on man, just let me vibe and look at the great art.

So who would I recommend this to? I guess adventure game history nerds? It’s not actually painful, especially if you are ok with peeking at a walkthrough, the art is great, and parts of the writing are charming too.

Deja Vu: A Nightmares Comes True is available on Steam and includes the Macintosh and Apple IIGS versions.

Blog Roundup (2024-11-10)

As I mentioned in my indie game roundup, I took a break from posting because of…y’know, and I guess I’m back at it because it takes my mind off things and brings me joy. If you enjoy these, subscribe to some blogs with a RSS feed reader (I use Inoreader) and start your own blog! Doesn’t have to be anything big, could just be with Zonelets or Bear Blog. We can at least make the web feel less small in 2025.

Photography

Game developer Yaffle now has a blog filled with lots of nice photographs.

I also enjoy the photography posts by Nicky Flowers.

Video Games

Collection Chamber is a great abandonware blog. Every month they upload five games that have been updated to work on modern operating systems.

Rob talks about two side blogs he’s started. Tatwatch is one focused on b-movies and Videogames is focused on video games. All three blogs are great and in my RSS feed reader.

Speaking of Rob, I also liked his review of the upcoming 3D Don’t Die Mr. Robot.

Ephemeral Enigmas wrote about the 1983 Intellivision game Dracula. I’ve really enjoyed this blog for retro games writing, often focusing on console games I’ve never heard of.

Good Old Days also writes about old games I’ve never heard of. This time they have a review of the Atari ST game Simulcra.

Final Fantasy VIII Is the Best is active again. Please follow this one if you’re remotely interested in lots of blog posts defending a game that gets a lot of criticism even from fans of the series.

Aura talks about games they’re interested in but don’t have time for because of IGF.

Harris Powell-Smith put together a list of Choice of Games releases made in October.

Tabletop RPGs

Clayton talks about his process for designing tabletop rpgs.

Binary Star Games writes about process optimization in tabletop rpgs.

Prismatic Wasteland did a thread of posts on Bluesky about people writing on vampires in tabletop rpgs if you’re looking for more ttrpg writing in your RSS feed reader.

Books

Tally recommends some books with creepy houses.

Transfer Orbit lists 22 new SFF books to distract you from a terrible November.

I really like the book reviews by the Lunar Flaneur. This time they recommend the sci-fi novel A Half-Built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys.

Politics

ghoulnoise talks about how there was always going to be work to do.

Molly White tries to answer the question “what do I do now?”

Other Stuff

It’s not a blog post, I just like when cool people interview other cool people. Emily Price talks to Joe Richardson, creator of adventure games like The Procession to Calvary.

It’s not new but this seems like a nice guide to getting into making pixel art.

Indie Game Roundup (Nov. 08, 2024)

It feels dumb writing about video games on my blog after this week but I have to take my mind off things so here we are. This is a bigger one than usual too since it’s been a couple weeks since I’ve done one of these because of….y’know, everything. Maybe something in here will bring you some joy too. If you recently released a game, tell me! I like hearing about this stuff. If you enjoyed this post, pass it on and tell your friends about what indie games you’re excited about, whether it’s through your own blog or social media.

Video Games

There’s a few hours left for the Click-Or-Treat bundle (Itch.io), where you can get a bunch of Halloween games for $9.

AdventureX (Steam) is doing a free online convention and sale. Go check out talks about adventure games and maybe pick up a game.

side view of someone in a dungeon with a goblin

Clarissa the Dogcow lost her job and is looking for additional backing on Patreon to help her finish some of her really cool games. Go check out her post on Mastodon for more details. The world needs more Zelda 2-inspired games.

Indie Tsushin (Site) has announced their Study Buddy jam, where folks learn a new engine or genre or whatever for making a game.

Adam Saltsman released two PICO-8 games for the browser, the rpg Rat Dreams (Itch.io) and the puzzle game Kuiper Cargo (Itch.io).

We got a new issue of the Interactive Fiction and Visual Novel zine ChoiceBeat (Site/Itch.io). Every issue is free and has reviews, previews, and interviews.

Barry Bonds enters the World of MYST (2004) is an interactive story made by Jon Bois, originally published on the comedy website progressiveboink.com. Cecile Richard has remade the game and put it on Itch.io for a new generation of Myst fans to enjoy.

It’s the beginning of the month so we have a new Indiepocalypse (Itch.io).

skeleton grabbing a pumpkin

Airdorf made the very cute browser game Skeleton Game (Itch.io) with their 4 year old daughter. More people should make games with their kids.

ECTOCOMP (Itch.io) has ended and people are voting on the submissions now. Go check out a bunch of interactive fiction games celebrating Halloween.

PROCJAM (Itch.io) also just ended. This one is a jam focused on procedural generation. So like, the kind of AI that isn’t focused on stealing art.

Tallywinkle released her first parser interactive fiction. It’s called Thanksgiving Dinner (Itch.io), a free browser game about Thanksgiving Day.

the pirate Guybrush Threepwood standing by some docks at night

We got a really snazzy looking Monkey Island game called The Booze of Monkey Island (Itch.io).

Johnson. A Plane Man (Downpour) is a found imagery game made from the Ryanair Boeing 737-8200 safety instructions. The game was created by Hyphinett using the neat game making tool Downpour. Free and playable in the browser and the Downpour app.

first person view of a guy with hammer being kicked

BITCH HELL (Itch.io) is a FPS that feels a lot like something made in the Quake era. I don’t really know the engine used (FTEWQ) well enough to tell if it was connected to the Quake engine but it rules. Available for $6.66.

Andrew Plotkin has released two games. Advent Door (Itch.io) is a free browser text parser Advent Calendar game game and The Beyond (Steam/Itch.io) is an interactive comic.

a low poly island with a house

3D Workers Island (Itch.io) is a short horror story in the browser about a screensaver.

a monster in a mask surrounded by campers

Slayaway Camp 2 (Steam) is a puzzle game where you’re a Jason Vorhees-like monster trying to wipe out all the people at a camp. Haven’t played this one yet but I liked the first game.

top down view of an apple walking through the woods

Apples Busy Day (Steam/Itch.io) is a short and cozy game about exploring and helping your neighbors. It looks like a really cute and comforting game if that’s what you need right now.

VERY NOT SAFE FOR WORK PAGE but HARDCODED (Itch.io/Steam) is out. It’s a very queer open world dating sim set in a cyberpunk world. I think it’s great and features some incredible pixel art but AGAIN, THE GAME PAGE IS NOT SAFE FOR WORK.

top down view of a ride being built

Robert’s Spooktacular Ghost Train (Itch.io) is a Pay-What-You-Want game where you build a little ghost themed ride at a fairground.

falling blocks in a Tetris screen, in front of a low res photo of a lake shore

TETRACHROMA (Steam) is a Tetris-like that also block color changing mechanic.

Hesitation (Itch.io) is a short visual novel playable in the browser where you piece together a story by interacting with the items in a small room. Make sure you read the content warnings first. Also check out the developer’s tabletop rpgs on Itch.io.

a space ship dodging lasers

ROGUE FLIGHT (Steam/Switch/Xbox/PS5) looks like a fun arcade space sim. It has a demo too!

Moida Mansion (Itch.io) is a new Lucas Pope (Obra Dinn designer) adventure game that’s playable in the browser and resembles one of those LCD handheld game things.

side view of a demon platform jumping with a weird reflective thing under them

Stardust Demon (Steam/Itch.io) is a Metroidvania featuring some really impressive pixel art and 3D CGI FMV cutscenes. I’m a big fan of resnijars’ other games so this probably rules too. There’s a demo as well if you want to try it first.

Danielle Riendeau made a graveyard building strategy game called Tower of the Dead (Itch.io) for Cosmic Horrors Jam III

Tabletop Games

Escape from Wonderland (Kickstarter) is a tabletop rpg being designed by Turtlebun about trying to escape an amusement park. They’re great. Go check out the Kickstarter or some of their other games on Itch.io.

In The World We Left Behind (Itch.io), play as astronauts trekking across an alien planet. It’s a GMless game for 1-5 players. I think it’s fascinating that it was originally commissioned by a ballet collective?

Unspeakable Gate (Itch.io) is a solo TTRPG in which you take on the role of an artist building a mysterious Gate and becoming more and more absorbed in the reality that lies on its other side. Peach Garden Games has made so many good solo ttrpgs, check them out!

I think this one came out a while ago because I got the Kickstarter reward months ago, so I think this is just new to Itch.io, but The Coven of P.S. 13 (Itch.io) is a GM-less game for 2-6 people inspired by The Craft where you and your coven are planning for a big event occurring on the night of the full moon.