Adventure games had all the best characters growing up: George Stobbart. Nico Collard. Guybrush Threepwood. Elaine Marley. Then a few decades later we got Harry Dubois and Kim Kitsuragi. I love adventure games because they consistently do this magic thing where you enter into the minds of these characters. Just like a novel, you can hear what they want and what they struggle with. You hear them think forbidden thoughts and watch them creep into forbidden places.
That’s what makes adventure games the most bookish of games, the most novel-like format for interactive storytelling. But it’s not often—these games are rare, maybe once a decade—where a great story will appear out of nowhere and prove itself as the rightful heir and successor of this whole genre.
Enter stage right: The Drifter.
Last week a childhood rush of excitement hit me at full force from start to finish until I put it down and realized that this little game confidently sits amongst the pantheon of Damn Fine Adventure Games.
And because it’s an adventure game we also get a cast of fantastic characters, too. I particularly love the protagonist, Mick Carter. Mick is a guy who can’t stay in place, who unforgivably abandons everyone he loves. You return home with him after years of running away only to stumble into a murder and a deeply satisfying sci-fi adventure that slowly builds in weirdness over the course of the game.
So if you grew up playing Broken Sword or Monkey Island, and then were awe-struck by Disco Elysium, I reckon this adventure game is going to whisk you off your feet. The writing? Brilliant. Art? Stellar. Animations? Sick as hell.
And the music? Fan-damn-tastic.