1954 Alcatraz Preview

The point-and-click adventure genre went a bit quiet for a few years, but with titles such as Double Fine's Broken Age and Telltale's The Walking Dead gaining a lot of attention, it appears that the genre is in the middle of a resurgence. Another company at the forefront of this movement is Daedalic Entertainment who last year released The Night of the Rabbit to widespread acclaim (even earning a whopping 9.5 from GameGrin’s Emsey). With that in mind, there is a fair amount of pressure on the next game from the developers, 1954 Alcatraz, to perform. Thankfully from what I've played so far, the title has the potential to match the team's previous effort.

The game opens with a cutscene that shows a heist gone wrong, resulting in a man named Joe being arrested and sent to prison. After a failed attempt at escaping, he is relocated to the maximum security Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary. This is where the player takes over, and in typical point-and-click fashion, selects replies in conversation trees, picks up items and uses them to solve puzzles.

Things aren't as simple as they seem though, as at any time the player can switch to Joe's wife, Christine, a struggling artist. Having two points of view opens things up from both a gameplay and a story perspective; while Joe sets about making a plan to escape Alcatraz, Christine is free to explore San Francisco in search of money that’s been hidden by her husband before a mobster makes good on his threats of killing him.

After a short time going through Joe's daily routine in prison, he is locked in solitary confinement. At this point, the player is told to switch to Christine who can help to get him released. While most of Joe's puzzles are mechanical and involve things such as shiv-making, Christine's problems are usually based around solving issues for people. For example, in order to get information out of one of her friends, she must first cheer him up by delivering a poem to his boyfriend, leading to their reunion.

Alcatraz seems to have taken a few pointers from The Walking Dead in the story department; the decisions that the player makes in conversations will affect the plot. The extent to which the story can be changed will remain unknown until the full release, but it’s exciting to see more games attempting this approach to storytelling. This optionality extends to the gameplay too, as many of the game’s puzzles have multiple solutions. One example of this is when Christine is trying to gain access to a nightclub, but the bouncer refuses to let her in. Christine can either bribe the bouncer, harass the queuing customers until he gives in, or sneak around the back and pick the lock with a hairpin (if she has one).

One of the most impressive aspects of Daedalic’s games is their incredibly detailed visuals, and Alcatraz continues this legacy with its environments. Each of the game’s scenes are exquisitely drawn and really bring life to the setting. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said of the characters; despite their pedigree for 2D art, the developers have opted for some rather blocky 3D character models. These don’t quite fit comfortably with the intricate environment art, and I can’t help but wish Daedalic had stuck to the 2D visuals which have worked so well in their previous titles.

I encountered a few issues with this early version of the game, such as lines of dialogue looping or not playing at all, but that is to be expected from a pre-release build. However, with exciting twists on the traditional point-and-click game design and an interesting plot, it appears that Daedalic have got another hit on their hands with 1954 Alcatraz.