In my mind this image slowly takes shape, with the text arriving last.
Julia Minamata
A text parser? Typing “Open drawer”, then “Look in drawer”, then “Get brochures”, in the year 2024, into a computer that can generate a 4K 3D model of the Acropolis on demand? Is that really what it is? The crimson diamond asks of us?
Yes, it is, and solo developer/writer/producer Julia Minamata is right to ask. If you have text-prompt adventures from the likes of Sierra in your mental library (like, say, The Colonel's Legacy)or if you are willing to accommodate the parser, then it will work. The crimson diamond's parser is fairly flexible, accepting a range of nouns and verbs in most cases. You can still use arrow keys and a mouse to move around and click a few handy shortcuts. And the parser has shortcuts, like typing “n” to look at your quest-tracking notebook, or “od” or “oc” for the very common actions of opening a door or cabinet.
There are a lot of cabinets and drawers in this game as it is set in Northern Ontario, Canada in 1914. You are Nancy Maple, a junior geologist eager to do some fieldwork, who is sent by your museum to the mining town of Crimson to investigate a diamond that has fallen from the guts of a river fish. Everything goes wrong during your journey and you must single-handedly investigate this town, its strange inhabitants and visitors, and ultimately a crime that may or may not have anything to do with potential diamonds.
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The tutorial room does a great job of familiarizing you with the controls: arrow keys or mouse cursor for movement and selection, but typing for actual action.
Julia Minamata
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You spend quite a bit of time at the lodge, chatting, looking around, and picking up little things that you know you'll need later.
Julia Minamata
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Cutscenes give the artist new angles to demonstrate his remarkable EGA skills.
Julia Minamata
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The characters in this game are richer than you might remember from times with limited memory. They usually have more than one characteristic.
Julia Minamata
There are a few disclosures to be made. First, Minamata created the EGA-style social avatar for Ars Senior AI Reporter Benj Edwards, who tipped me off to this game's existence. Another is that this is a game that costs $15 on Steam or Itch.io (and is 10 percent off on Steam this first week of release), is made by a solo Canadian developer, features music by the remarkably cool keyboardist Dan Policar, and it evokes some of my earliest, pre-Maniac Mansion adventure game memories. I haven't finished the game either. I'm not going to give it a critical review; I just think more people should know about it.
Release trailer for The crimson diamond
Nostalgia and feelings of cheering for the underdog aside, The crimson diamond looks and sounds great. The creative constraints of an EGA-style color palette and pixel block size yielded some scenes that are simply beautiful to look at. The soundtrack repeats itself in a pleasing, if sometimes deafening, way. Rock Paper Shotgun's Alice Bell played much further into this (around six hours in and nearly or completely done), and her biggest complaint is almost a setback: a few puzzles with obscure solutions, far too easy to miss with word processing and EGA graphics.
I’m excited to see where Nancy Maple’s journey takes her, even if I sometimes have to rack my brain to find the right lines to do the obvious. The game so far has felt like spending time in one of those non-violent mysteries you see on PBS (or CBC), but in a familiar and evocative game format.
List image by Julia Minamata
