MONTHLY 5 - September 2022

It's a Viking invasion!!!

I've gone nutty for all things Nordic thanks to a memorable but all-too-brief trip to Norway earlier this month. And I couldn't let it slide without playing some games featuring the history and mythology of that spectacular country. The Norse god Thor is on a quest to defeat the evil goddess Hel in the difficult Amiga platformer Fire and Brimstone (1990 Vectordean Ltd & Firebird). In other news, a nameless hero is on his own quest to steal that god's magical mallet in the action-heavy shareware RPG Thor's Hammer Trilogy (1995 Escape Programming). I'm sure the same gaggle of gods will crop up in another RPG; Heimdall (1992 Core Design) playable on almost all systems it released on. On a less mythical note, Vikings: Adventure out of Time (1998 Index+) educades about the real lives of berserkers from the North in an entertaining fashion. Alternatively, Vikings: The Strategy of Ultimate Conquest (1996 1996 Random Games, Inc) attempts the same but as a strategy game complete with a healthy dose of Michael Dorn.

You may have noticed a little sidebar on the right-hand side detailing the most recently updated games. I thought it would be a good thing to keep a track of it here. Two games have been updated since last time. For those having trouble running Disney's The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride - GameBreak and The Museum of Anything Goes, these new packages may help with that. Make sure to read the included ChamberNotes text file included with each install for more information.

If you ever get a chance to visit Bergen, I can't recommend it enough. If you don't, travel on past the jump to discover it in gaming form.

MONTHLY 5 - August 2022

Summer is coming to a close, but what better way to distract from the boredom of the office job/school work/financial crisis than a nostalgic trip to the 90s with a quintet of lesser known gems of the era. My good pal Austin is back with a review of SpaceKids (1995 MicroProse) , a strange supposedly educational title that plays like a wordless multi-path adventure. One adventure game I've always been meaning to play is Escape from Delirium (1995 Virtual X-Perience), a shareware title who wears its LucasArts inspiration on its sleeves. For a more Myst-like adventure, try Titanic: A Mysterious Undersea Adventure (1998 Dosch Design GmbH) which has more to do with an Atlantis-like sunken city than a sunken passenger ship. If you want a little more action, the mech shooter Iron Assault (1995 Graffiti) may be more up your alley or, if you want to drive fast through the British countryside, give Mobil 1 Rally Championship (1999 Actualize Ltd & Magnetic Scrolls Ltd) a go.

That's not all! I've updated a couple of packages too! Azrael's Tear now uses a different fork of DOSBox to help even out its speed (though like the original game, it is still prone to the odd slowdown). I've also updated both the DOS and PlayStation version of Silverload. Among the plethora of changes, the DOS original now includes a scan of the manual while the PlayStation remake now supports mouse control. Head on over to their game pages to download and find out more.

And while your at it, check out August's games by clicking on the links after the jump...

MONTHLY 5 - July 2022

After nearly 2 years of missing it, my luck finally ran out and I caught Covid this month. On the hottest day ever recorded no less. I think a trip to London Film & Comic Con did it to me and you know what? It was worth it. The promised gaming section was a bit of a disappointment (the highlight being a Lady Dimitrescu cosplayer) but everything else was pretty damn cool. Met a few talented artists, got a Gremlins comic signed by Zach Galligan and spent way too much money on memorabilia.

Despite all of this going on, and my usual real-world distractions, I still managed to get some content up for this site (though making time for the YouTube side of things is unfortunately still an issue). For the month of July we have Backpacker: The Lost Florence Gold Mine (1997 Animagination) a long forgotten point-and-click adventure, Get Medieval (1998 Microïds & Monolith Productions Inc) a humurous Gauntlet clone, Jewels II: The Ultimate Challenge (1998 Hoffmann + Associates Inc) a highly atmospheric puzzle adventure, One Must Fall 2097 (1994 Epic MegaGames) which is still one of the best PC-exclusive fighters and Sanity: Aiken's Artifact (2000 Monolith Productions Inc) an interesting action RPG with unique mechanics. Check them out by clicking the links after the jump.

I've also updated Blazing Dragons to run on ScummVM. You can now play this PlayStation adventure game with a mouse making for a much better user experience.

MONTHLY 5 - June 2022

Looks like I missed a month! Dunno where the time went (I'm blaming a rift in the space-time continuum), but here's some games for June. First up is a very adult FMV murder myster starring some recognisable Hollywood types by the name of Blue Heat: The Cover Girl Murders (1997, Orion Pictures Corporation). For something a little more family friendly there's the fun flipper follow up to that Windows pack-in game Full Tilt! 2 Pinball (1996, Maxis, Inc). Ever wanted to live the life of a lion? Then you're in luck 'cos the next game is an educational simulation simply called Lion (1995, Sanctuary Woods). If you want to race in circles in one of the most realistic car sims of the time, then give NASCAR Racing 2 (1996, Sierra On-Line) a whirl. To top it all off, we have an old remake of an ancient platformer designed to make use of those newfangled windows in Thexder for Windows '95 (1995 Sierra On-Line). Head on over by clicking the links after the jump. Enjoy!

MONTHLY 5 - APRIL 2022

'Tis April, and it's time to go back to a Monthly quintet of oldschool PC gaming. Fancy some action? Check out the futuristic shooter Eliminator (1998, Psygnosis). How about a visit to a spooky old mansion? Try Escape from the Haunted House (1997, New Media Generation).  A puzzle-heavy action RPG? We got you covered with Power Sokoban (1999, Nintendo, Thinking Rabbit). Want a movie instead? Watch the interactive kind that is Quantum Gate II: The Vortex (1994 HyperBole Studios). If none of that tempts you, why not abduct some sheep to build tanks in the strangest of real-time strategies, Tankics (1999, Gremlin Interactive, DMA Design). Read on to find out more!

HIDDEN GEMS - TOP 10 STRANGEST RETRO ADVENTURES

 

Have you ever picked up a random game bought from the local game shop or downloaded from a random abandonware blog and be confronted with some of the craziest shit you've ever seen? I have. More than once. In fact, I actively go seeking for them. Some of the strangest games I've ever played fall into the point-and-click adventure category so for your entertainment I've collated 10 of them and arbitrarily rated them from worst to best.

Out of the 10, there are 4 games newly escaped from the Chamber. Placed somewhere on list is Bad Milk (2000 Dreaming Media), DEVO Presents Adventures of the Smart Patrol (1996 Inscape), Who's Fat Lou? (1996 Mediola SRL), and the English translation of Eastern Mind II: Middle Heaven Chu-Teng (1995 Sony Music Entertainment (Japan), Osamu Sato & OutSide Directors Company) . There's also a fair few updates too so check them out after the jump and stay tuned for the rather lengthy video coming very soon...

WATCH THE VIDEO!

MONTHLY 5 - February 2022

Look what we have this February! The month of love ends by meeting the one true Archangel (2002 Metropolis Software House), a fantasy action-adventure with role-playing elements originally published by JoWood. If that doesn't take your fancy, join the cult in Black Sect (1990-1993 Lankhor) a series of dark adventures fan-translated from the language of love (French) into English. Once you're done there, head down into some dungeons with Hexx: Heresy of the Wizard (1994 Psygnosis) where a lot of role-playing is going on. Perhaps the sex-craved antics of the sweet Transvestites from Transexual Transylvania is more up your alley in Richard O'Brien's adventurous Rocky Interactive Horror Show (1999 On-Line Entertainment & Druidcrest Ltd). What better way to end the month than by shooting your load in the vibrant first-person-shooter Shadow Master (1998 Psygnosis).

Not only this, but there are a few updates to announce too! Virtua Cop 2 and Rebel Moon Rising have been updated for better compatibility. Enjoy!