Winter is officially here, and when the cold and rain comes it's time to stay inside and play some old PC games.
I went down quite the rabbit hole with Herewith the Clues! (1996 Actual Screenshots). It's a murder mystery game for the Amiga that was adapted from a book that is often considered to be the birth of the genre. It was originally written by famed British horror author Dennis Wheatley (To the Devil a Daughter, The Devil Rides Out) in 1939 and not only is it a snapshot of London high society life in the months leading up to World War II, it's also a damn good detective puzzle. Check out my review to see if the game retains this, but a scan of the excellent book and other self-created goodies are in there too. So much so I'd call it my pick of the month.
There's strong competition for that spot, with Aliens versus Predator 2: Gold Edition (2001-2003 Twentieth Century Fox, Lithtech Inc & Sierra On-line), the classic FPS whose rights seem to be stuck in limbo. It came to mind after thoroughly enjoying Predator Badlands at the cinema and being mildly entertained by Alien Earth of Disney+. I'd describe my time with the game similarly to the former than the latter.
We also have Safecracker (1997 DayDream Software), a great first person adventure that has you cracking a bunch of logic-based lock boxes inside an empty mansion. Tellurian Defense (1999 Psygnosis) is an action-heavy flight sim that has you - rather predictably - protect a post-apocalyptic Earth from invading aliens. Lastly, Comedy Central's Sports Shorts (1994 Time Warner Interactive & HBO Downtown Productions) digitises clips from a bunch of 90s stand up acts that's perfect if you want a chuckle or two. Famous fresh-faced comedians like Adam Sandler, David Baddiel and more an appearance before their rise to stardom.
A couple of updates; Alien Anarchy adds a workaround and some saves to get past a crash bug that was apparently present on its initial release back in 1999, and the Pocky & Rocky Collection returns to the Collection Chamber after being removed 'cos some of the game are still sold. They are still available to buy so the newly re-jigged custom menu now links to the store page (with a guide to add them yourself if you have them) while the ones that aren't can still be played. There's a lot added to the package too, so check out the game page or the Game Updates section for a full rundown.
So, November is now over, but Christmas is coming and with it brings the Collection Chamber Christmas Countdown, an advent calendar of twelve games leading up to the day itself. It starts December 14th so don't miss it! I've got some great stuff planned.
