This is totally Lydy's fault!!

[dreamshark]

 After I responded to lydy 's post about computer games I found myself feeling nostalgic for all that computer gaming I used to do. I went back and read through my file of notes and personal game reviews (have I mentioned that I am a compulsive documentor) and the next thing I knew I was installing Steam. I had tried it years ago and didn't like the way it bogged down my computer, but that was 10 years and 2 computers ago. Sure enough, it is much less obtrusive now. 

Installing Steam is a lot like discovering Amazon streaming video, except that with Amazon Prime some of the content is free. But even if your original intent is absolutely to stick to the free stuff, it's so tempting to just buy the whole season of Orphan Black RIGHT NOW. I originally told myself I was only installing Steam to see what was available so I could advise Lydy. Yeah, right. Next thing I knew I was downloading Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers. Not the cheap $4 version (it's from 1993, after all) but the new remounted full-motion sound remastered 20-year-anniversary edition. So now I'm replaying that. 

While I was browsing around on Steam I found a surprising number of old favorites still available for under $10, but didn't bite. But I did put some of them on my wishlist, just in case I ever finished GK:SOTF. Then today I got an email from my new BFF, Steam, letting me know that Under a Killing Moon was now marked down 80% (from $5.99 to $1.99) limited time only! Not only that, for $5.99 I could get a 5-pack of Tex Murphy games, including two that I have never played and one that I really liked but could not finish because the computer I was using back in 1998 was too underpowered to handle it. Zow!  So okay, now I own those. And I seem to be logged into Steam again, looking for more things to put on my wishlist. 

Comments

[lydy]

I accept full responsibility.

[lydy]

It looks like GK:SOTF only works on PCs. I am desolated.

[dreamshark]

Now that I'm playing it again, I'm not sure if I'd recommend it to you or not. I'd forgotten how tedious those 20-year-old pixel hunting quests can be. Even though I've played it before, I don't remember every teeny-weeny thing that has to be picked up before you can move to the next day. I'm making liberal use of a walkthrough. I am still impressed with the amount of research the writer (the justly renowned Jane Jensen) did on the voodoo background. The slow, immersive way the story unfolds still grabs me, despite the silliness of having to combine hair gel with a priest collar to... oh, never mind.

It's also possible that you might find Gabriel's casual sexism offensive, although the women he encounters are generally unimpressed with his "Hello, Beautiful" approach and have no problem delivering withering responses. In fact, that's part of the fun of the game. That and watching Gabriel's adolescent cockiness gradually collapse as he slowly realizes what's really going on. It's too old a game to have truly graphic violence, but it's still scary.

Have you installed Steam, or are you just looking for CD-based games?