Minority Report: MS-DOS
■ DEVELOPER: SIERRA ON-LINE ■ YEAR: 1992
Hareth Al Bustani has been trawling the vaults for these delightful PC oddities
The sequel to 1989’s mystery title The Colonel’s Bequest,
The Dagger Of Amon Ra is a lesser known point-and-click thriller developed by Sierra On-line during the genre’s golden age.
Set in 1926, the game stars former journalism student Laura Bow, who has not only graduated but, much to everyone’s shock, been employed by the New York Daily Register News Tribune. For her first assignment, she is tasked with investigating the theft of the ancient Egyptian Dagger Of Amon Ra from the Leyendecker Museum. Things escalate, however, when Laura begins snooping around at one of the museum’s socialite soirees – a charity fundraiser, where she unearths a string of murders. From severed heads to bodies impaled on porcupines, things continue to escalate, until Laura is able to identify the culprit.
In many respects, Amon Ra can be seen as a spiritual successor to Ken and Roberta Williams’ groundbreaking 1980 title, Mystery House, which pioneered the graphic adventure genre as a whole. However, for Amon Ra, Roberta handed the creative reigns to Bruce Balfour, who previously worked on the cyberpunk thriller Neuromancer and Brian Fargo’s legendary Wasteland. Building on The Colonel’s Bequest’s interface, the game replaces its predecessor’s text-based command system with simple point-and-click mechanics. Typically, asking questions is crucial to solving puzzles, and genre veterans may find it frustrating having to navigate through Laura’s diary to begin each conversation. However, Sierra was still experimenting with interfaces, and the diary is a novel concept.
The game does a wonderful job of worldbuilding, sprinkling tropes from the era across the entire game. With the prohibition in full swing, Laura must first figure out a password before visiting the local speakeasy. Inside, a live band croons through the swinging number, The Archaeologist Song: “I want to marry an archaeologist and keep his artefacts warm.” Meanwhile in the toilets, a flapper eagerly awaits her aristocratic female lover, amused at Laura’s seeming naivety.
The game makes somewhat of a progressive statement by instead opting to star an accomplished woman, and the conservative
1920s context allows for a deeper exploration of this theme. After Laura introduces herself, the police chief comments, “You can’t be a reporter, lass. You’re a girl. The
Trib only hires men.” Though, unfortunately this progress is hampered by the presence of a stereotypical Chinese laundry manager, Lo Fat, who espouses some questionable dialogue.
The game features some brilliant artwork and animations for the time. At the end of the game,
Laura has to answer a series of questions correctly to the coroner to unlock the ‘good’ ending to the game. However, it wouldn’t be a Sierra adventure without the risk of death, and answering these questions incorrectly can lead to a ‘bad’ ending – with Laura being brutally shot to death in her bed.