From time to time, while browsing sites like itch.o, AGS forums, I come across games that I didn’t notice before, Metaphobia was one of them. This is such a quality adventure game that I have to say that I was surprised to see that it was free. I wanted to share this game with you so that those who have not heard of it will be informed:)
Metaphobia is a mystery detective game created in the style of the classic point and click adventure games of the 90s. First, watch the trailer if you like it (although it’s old):
The animations in the published version of the game are really exquisite, and so are the story and puzzles. The story of Metaphobia was written by Tolga Öcek and David Broček, the drawings and animations are by Tolga, and the dialogue and puzzles are by David. The game’s music features Daniel Kobylarz, who we know from Kathy Rain, another exquisite adventure. Let me add that all the dialogues in the game are voiced.
Especially if you like classic adventure games of old, pixel graphics, Gabriel Knight style stories, you can play this game with great pleasure. You can download the latest version of the game from itch.io .
Current: You can also download the game for free on Steam , this version also includes achievements, which is a good reason to play again.
Let me take this opportunity to share the short review written by dear Ihsan Tatari for the play, maybe we will succeed in attracting your attention even 🙂
– o –
A pinch of Broken Sword, a little Gabriel Knight, a little Fate of Atlantis. Here’s a summary of Metaphobia.
Metaphobia, which starts like a classic political murder investigation, manages to surprise you with its story that branches out in a short time. The son of a famous politician, Richard sets out to solve his father’s mysterious murder. But he soon realizes that his father wasn’t the only politician killed in this way, and he finds himself caught up in a bizarre conspiracy theory. When we talk about corrupt politicians, secret underground organizations, hired killers, things get all the tricky with the involvement of Sumerians and ancient gods.
Honestly, I still don’t understand how this game is offered for free. With the voice-overs of the characters, hand-drawn graphics, story, puzzles and location designs, it is played as if it was a classic that you overlooked at the time and discovered today, almost from the 90s. It gave me a taste of games like Broken Sword, Gabriel Knight, and Indiana Jones: Fate of Atlantis, which I just mentioned. Not on the same level as them, of course; a few clicks down. But if you play, you’ll notice that it has obvious similarities, both in terms of the subject matter and the places we go. It even has a scene reminiscent of a very famous detective-thriller movie.
The puzzles are generally successful. You don’t combine irrelevant objects to do stupid things. All within a certain logic. But sometimes it’s hard to figure out what the game wants you to do. Some puzzles could have been better, for sure.
Other times, the game’s story relies a little too much on chance and coincidence. For example, we go to look for the apartment of a criminal who was caught 30 years ago, and what is it? No one else has sat there in all these years; the apartment is still empty! What luck, what luck. 🙂 Other than these two, I didn’t have many complaints, but when I was playing. Well, there’s no point in overloading yourself with a free game either.
But the biggest surprise was that when the game ended and started to flow with its generic screen, I think I met a Turk named Tolga Öcek among the producers, 🙂 He contributed to the script of the game as well as drawing and animating it. Let me call your hands health here.
Pro:
+ Story and gameplay reminiscent of the classic adventure games of the 90s
+ Serial murders, conspiracy theories, ancient cities, ancient gods
+ Voiceovers are unexpectedly good
+ Eye-pleasing pixel graphics
Cons:
– A bit difficult to understand the logic of some puzzles
– Sometimes things go too luckily
If you like 90s point and click adventure games, Metaphobia will satisfy you more than enough. 7/10
..
