The Colonel's Bequest
Overview
The Colonel's Request is a graphic adventure from Sierra On-Line that has some interesting mechanics but is not very fun in practice. I'm not sure how it landed on my radar, and was almost considered disallowed for any inclusion here.
Review
Playable through both Archive.org's built in DOS emulator and ScummVM (should you find the files you need, and while the forums will not tell you, it's not hard to find). The game's plot revolves around staying in an old mansion with a bunch of people (excluding Laura) who stand to inherit a fortune, though almost everyone will be killed before the end of the night. Most of the game seems to be stumbling around and picking up information, but death is a constant threat. Have Laura walk toward the deteriorating railings means a fatal fall to the first floor, and should you get to the first floor in one piece, there's an above-average chance that walking in the center of the rug means a chandelier will drop on you. A lot of these deaths are kind of fun—oil a set of knight's armor the wrong way and get split longitudinally, wander into the wrong person and get crushed by an elevator, wander off from the premises and become an alligator's lunch...but because all saves are done manually, it comes off as more frustrating than fun, like the types of surprise deaths that make games like Limbo and I Wanna Be The Guy interesting. If you were actually interested in winning (and not just completing it), there are parts where it's extremely easy to mess up. You can find an old soup bone in the cabinet but you shouldn't give it to the dog until a later act. In Colonel's Bequest it doesn't matter as much unless you're trying to go for a high score, but it reflects the Sierra design philosophy (and by extension, older adventure games) of trying to screw the player as much as possible. Luckily, there isn't a way to get STUCK per se, but if you survive through the night, you can finish the game...at which point an unsatisfactory ending will play and the game will rate you on your detecting skills. (I think I quit after I died. I didn't bother trying again).
Player Notes
This review is derived from the "Games of 2022" list.