The Day I died

This sixth game in the Alex and Paul series continues where the last one left off. You’re (still!) trying to rescue Paul, now imprisoned on a secret base on the planet Mercury.

It’s not necessary to have played the earlier games in the series before attempting this one, but I recommend doing so, as there are a number of references to things which have happened in the prequels.

Unfortunately, like in the prequels, implementation issues are rife. As is customary for the series, we have the usual ‘guess the verb’ situations, but, in addition, we now also have plainly buggy behaviour. And I believe it’s possible to unwittingly put the game into an unwinnable state (which logically shouldn’t be unwinnable).

There are several actions which you really need to read the author’s mind to figure out (one of which basically requires you to have played a different, and completely unrelated, game (Spoiler - click to show)Kerkerkruip – though this is hinted at in the object description).

But it’s not all bad! This is a longer game, with a number of puzzles (some of them timed), and several of which make sense – though they are made more difficult by implementation issues. It also takes place in a new (if not wholly original) setting, and, luckily, there are fewer spelling mistakes than in the earlier games. I also very much liked the surprise ending, and look forward to playing the next game(s) in the series.