The Entropy Pump

by Yahtzee . (Download, Walkthrough)
1st Chzo Mythos game

I remember the days well when adventures, along with strategy and RPG games, ruled the PC. Then slowly strategy became RTS, RPGs died and then did adventures. RPGs got revived, only to have a second, long, long death sequence, while adventures never got commercial successful again, as in their heydays. But in the freeware community everything is well, possible the best source of new old school adventures.

5DaS is one of them. While the plot is nothing original, a group of people imprisoned in a haunted house, with someone going around murdering one after another, what makes it so excellent is the execution. IMHO for adventures the writing is the most important part of the game, and Yahtzee certainly has a way with words, soon every character becomes alive and the story, despite it’s lack of originality, grabs you and never lets you go, until you have solved the last mystery. The puzzles in the game were also well done and there wasn’t even one WTF moment, every solution to every puzzle made logical sense, even if I had moments where I felt a bit at a loss what to do next.

Rating: 5/5

made by Teo Mathlein . (Download)

The city of Imdahl is under siege by the company empire, but they withstand the enemy force until a plague kills its population. Left is a young boy who gets the chance to make everything right using a time travel portal that allows him to enter the city in spring, summer, autumn and winter (and the player to see the same city in four different stages), and find a way to stop the plague before it breaks out.

Sunset Over Imdahl’s main strength are the graphics, it is one of the most beautiful freeware games I’ve ever seen. The gameplay on the other hand is a bit weaker, mostly it consist of simple fetch quests and some annoying mini-games (I really hated the bat thing, nearly made me stop playing). But while the gameplay is limited, it’s just fun to explore the city in each season and look at those beautiful screens. Really, really eye-catching, the rain in autumn for example, I just loved those little details. One aspect I found disappointing was the ending. When I found out who carried the plague, I expected a Donnie-Darko-like ending, but the real ending was much weaker and really pointless IMHO.

Rating: 3/5