Simon the Sorcerer Origins

I was a kid in the 90s, so one of the first synonyms of video games for me were adventure games. Here I could list the goodness and great nights of racking my brains with the golden age of LucasArts, Sierra Online, or Revolution Software. Characters like the pixelated Indiana Jones from The Fate of Atlantis (and the one from The Last Crusade!), the now so topical for those present and future remakes seeing Paul Stobbart and Nicole Collard from Broken Sword and, of course, the most ridiculous and lovable pirate in the history of the medium in his quest for Monkey Island, Guybrush Threepwood. And while all of these characters have more or less returned to the genre in recent times (Indiana Jones fully involved in action-adventure), a comeback is still missing in my memory. The magic touch of Simon the Sorcerer was missing.

Adventure Soft gave us in 1993 a wonderfully comic story about a lazy and rather blithe teenager named Simon who, as fate would have it, finds a tome in the basement of his house that turns out to be a book of spells, which transports him to a fantasy land. Simon will then have to learn to use magic to return to his world and, in the process, save the magical world from the clutches of the sorcerer Sordid, who is about to take it over. The best thing about that story from 32 (!!) years ago is that in addition to successfully weaving together the best of the humour of better known adventure games like those mentioned above, Simon the Sorcerer took advantage of the fantastic vein to make a thousand and one references to pop culture and all the literature and tropes of the fantasy genre. Simon the Sorcerer was very special to me, it's one of the few stories of the time that I can remember along with most of the puzzles and intermediate steps to progress. You can imagine my delight when I found out that, so many years later, the character was returning (he actually did so in several sequels, none of them particularly memorable) in Simon the Sorcerer Origins, and so I jumped without hesitation through the magical portal on my Nintendo Switch 2.

The first thing that strikes you about this new instalment is, of course, its revamped setting, environment, and character design. Simon is a few years younger here than in the original adventure, and this cartoonish look clashes quite a bit with the character's image, more along the lines of a mischievous, rebellious brat than a somewhat snooty, world-weary teenager. Stages, I suppose. However, I like the background strokes and the modern animated sequences, which are much more abundant here.

The dubbing is a point I've been mulling over a lot, because there are certain performances that are really good, like Simon's own, and others of supporting characters (even prominent ones, like Calypso) that sound much more flat and out of sync with the scene. The script is still good (I'll come back to that now), but it's as if they've been recorded without too many cues regarding the characters' situations, and in this particular adventure game, where the animation aspect has been taken care of and nurtured with so many additional scenes, it loses a bit of magic.

But even with some limitations and other not so bright spots, it's nice to feel the mental challenge of a good adventure game again. The puzzles are devilishly fun and, if you're new to this kind of game, you might struggle with some of them. Usually, if you get stuck on one, you can go through your inventory and try a few more combinations of items, and between that and wandering around to talk to some NPCs or look for some extra items, you're bound to find the solution, but it's always going to require getting into "the zone" of the game: That magical spot where you get swept up in the mood of the game and its universe, where a tentacle (where the hell did it come from?) is used to unblock an instant glue pot, and so on and so forth.

And of course, the references couldn't be missing. The good thing about releasing a Simon the Sorcerer game in 2025 is that many years have passed since the last game, and that means tons of new nods to the players. From references and characters from other instalments in the series to nods to H.P. Lovecraft, Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, Dungeons and Dragons, Monty Python, the list goes on ad infinitum... honestly, I think I'd make a second game just to remember the best of them.

However, just because it's an adventure that evokes 90s classics is no excuse for not making certain quality of life concessions that we've gained over the years. A function to fast-forward or speed up item collection would be great, and while Simon can run around a bit by pressing the A/circle/B button depending on whether you're playing with a Switch 2/PlayStation/Xbox controller, an option to bring up dialogue instantly would have suited him just fine. I also think simplifying the actions with each interactive object makes it shallower. Now Simon directly clicks on the object in question and the required action happens without further ado. That intermediate step of choosing what exactly to do was also a puzzle at times, Adventure soft...

All in all, it is very easy for me to recommend Simon the Sorcerer Origins to all fans of adventure games and of course this series in particular. Its story, humour, and puzzles are worthy of its name, and although I miss certain shortcomings in the final product, it will give you a few hours of fun and nostalgia.