And so I was quite pleased to see the release last month of a new videogame called Murder in the Abbey which leans heavily on one of my favorite books and films, The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. In the game, one plays this guy, Brother Leonardo of Toledo.
The game begins with Brother Leonardo bringing his acolyte, Bruno, to the Nuestra Senora de la Natividad Abbey where he is to take up his studies. Upon arrival, Leonardo finds that one of the monks there has died under mysterious circumstances. And so the player is left to wander the abbey to interview his fellow monks, gather clues, and admire all the nice tonsures.
The Disneyesque cartoon style here seems at odds with a murder mystery but, heck, it may just work. It offers a soundtrack in Dolby Surround and an orchestral score by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra which will play as you wander around 20 locations in what is billed as "a complete reproduction of a medieval abbey". (I wonder if you get to hear the monks singing at compline.) To top things off, it looks like they've included the Venerable Jorge!
I think Brother Leonardo is going to find his way into the Library here.
Murder in the Abbey looks to be fun. From the reviews I have read, it's not a groundbreaking title by any means. Rather it's familiar adventure gameplay but that's OK by me. I've been playing Lego Star Wars a bit lately and it'll be nice to sit down with a game that doesn't have stuff blowing up and moves along at a more gentle pace.
2 comments:
This grabbed my eye because coincidentally JM and I played our copy of "Mystery in the Abbey," the Days of Wonder boardgame, just a day ago. Comparisons to Clue sell it short. It's a good little deduction game.
I'd like to play that sometime. I've seen it mentioned on the Net.
I went out and bought Murder in the Abbey but, unfortunately, I can't get it to run on my PC. It crashes at the same point each time now. Hopefully their tech support people have a suggestion or issue a patch soon.
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