Guard Duty is a new point and click adventure game by small UK-based studio Sick Chicken. What began as a hobby project five years ago went through successful Kickstarting two years ago, and now has seen full public release. I’m pretty sure it’s their first game, but regardless, it’s evident that a lot of heart and effort went into producing this fun, memorable adventure that any fan of the genre should get and play.
Players take the role of Tondbert, a guard of royalty in the small town of Wrinklewood (population of about fifty-two). The adventure wastes no time getting started — it’s Tondbert’s birthday, and he’s on gate duty. Unfortunately, he’s had a few too many to drink and isn’t thinking clearly when a strange, cloaked figure comes to the gate of Wrinklewood and seeks entrance. Easily fooled, Tondbert lets him in and awakens the next day to learn that he’s inadvertently led Princess Theramin to be captured. Not sure where his uniform is and being stung in the face by bees, Tondbert’s day is off to a very rough start.
Like most point-and-clicks, you interact with the game world by examining items, talking with NPCs, and interacting with the world with items held in inventory — all by using the left and right mouse buttons. Guard Duty maintains these tried and true mechanics and controls. With Tondbert’s infinity pouch, any items of interest you come across can be stowed for later use. There are no intra-inventory puzzles, but there are of course times when you will open the pouch to solve a puzzle. The puzzles are well-designed and logical. Around the halfway point, there is a classic ‘lost in the forest’ type of puzzle, but a helpful grid in the lower right of the HUD helps keep you on track, though it alone does not provide all the logic you need to solve the main puzzle in this area. A running ‘to do’ list within the pouch also helps keep you focused on advancing the story should you need to refer to it. If anything, most puzzles are a bit too easy, but I found the design of the puzzles fit appropriately with the charming, light-hearted nature of the game, as well as its length. The entire adventure is on the shorter side, clocking in at about 4.5 hours, but given the price point, very small studio size, and that I believe this is the first game by Sick Chicken, it’s a solid point of entry into the market.
More than just familiar mechanics and good puzzles, Guard Duty also has a presentation quality that well exceeds what I was anticipating. Characters are fully voiced, mostly by one of the main developers, Nathan Hamely (who did a fine job). Tondbert gives charming, clever feedback accordingly when looking at objects and NPCs. Dialog with NPCs is well-written, branching, and more in-depth in a few cases (i.e., when a character describes their backstory) than I expected. Supplementing the voice-acting is the game’s music which adds nicely to the flow and atmosphere. Over thirty compositions were created for the game. Graphically, the old school 320×240 still looks great primarily because there are literally hundreds of animations that give Guard Duty a sense of quality you might not expect for a $10 game.
Guard Duty, for me, came out of nowhere, but instantly became a fun, short experience that I tip my cap to. It doesn’t revolutionize the genre (was never intending to, nor does it need to), it won’t make you suddenly like point-and-clicks if you don’t already (you’re missing out!), and yes, there are many other games in this old genre that have done it better. Nevertheless; for only $10, you can’t really go wrong, and if it supports future endeavors by this studio, all the better.
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