Tristam Island Year: 2020 Hugo Labrande System: Various
never played Zork before, I highly recommend you give it a go but try to resist reaching for the walkthrough at the first sign of trouble otherwise you’ll ruin one of the most engaging and absorbing text adventure experiences ever created.
You can’t deny that the commandbased text adventure is back in fashion these days. And with standards higher than ever there’s one new adventure, in particular, that’s caught our eye here over at Castle Fusion. That game is Tristam Island by French interactive fiction author Hugo Labrande.
The game begins with you having survived a plane crash and finding yourself standing on an immaculate beach completely alone and dwarfed by your ocean surroundings. Realising that rescue is improbable, you quickly decide that you’re going to have to explore and get the lay of the land in order to survive.
The game is split into three chapters with the main aim of the first being to recuperate. Exploring the rocky and sandy coastline, you must find a way to obtain and cook a meal to replenish your strength and then find a way to rest. It would help if you also look out for the opportunity to make a new ‘winged’ friend who may be able to provide some assistance in the second chapter of the game.
Rested and your hunger satisfied, you scale the cliffs that lead to the island’s plateau where you’ll quickly discover an abandoned village, radio tower and an ominous-looking white mansion house. Here the game involves a lot of exploring and problem-solving as you attempt to restore power to the village and gain access to the mysterious white mansion. You also start to learn more about the islands previous inhabitants and begin to piece together the story of what may have happened here.
The final part to the game begins once inside the mansion where you’ll discover a strange contraption that blocks the way ahead. Working out how to operate the contraption is the key to unlocking the mansions’ real secret and hopefully finding a way off the island once and for all.
Tristam Island has a staggering number of locations to explore with well-written descriptions. The game also makes full use of the directional compass including NE,