Foolish Mortals Review
Foolish Mortals introduction with its title that appears in green letters against a background that contains a yellow car driving along a costal road,
David and Sophie Younger, the team behind Inklingwood Studios poured every ounce of their passion, creativity and knowledge into their adventure game, Foolish Mortals. It’s an epic love story filled with romance, pain and passion. At the conclusions of this interactive tearjerker, adventurers learn that love conquers all despite every obstacle we foolish mortals put in its way. Adventurers participate in the story using a simple point-and-click interface. The interface allows adventurers to solve perplexing plot-driven puzzles. Solving them allows adventurers to learn more about the plot of their adventure. Their journey will take them to many different beautifully drawn locations filled with many well animated, fully voiced characters. Foolish Mortals is worthy to stand beside the classics of the adventure game genre.
While playing Foolish Mortals, adventurers inhabit Murphy Mcallan. He’s an auditor who journeys to Devil’s Rock to investigate the whereabouts of a large fortune, or so he thinks. During the course of the story, Murphy learns that the treasure is greater than he ever imagined. Whether he finds it, or not is up to destiny, and the adventurers who control it. All of Murphy’s actions are controlled with mouse clicks; movement, speaking with characters, gathering and employing items and saving and loading the game.
Left-clicking on a spot on screen causes Murphy to move to that spot. Hovering over an object on screen causes its label to appear at the bottom of the screen. Right-clicking on a spot on screen gives its description. Left-clicking on an object causes Murphy to walk over there and pick it up. Using items requires pointing the mouse at the top of the screen left-clicking on an item, moving the mouse over a spot on screen, and releasing the button to use the item. Murphy informs adventurers if they’re successful. Murphy combines items when adventurers left-click on an item and release the button while hovering the mouse over a potential partner. Murphy will report if he’s successful.
Murphy stands defiantly in a dark, dank, place while confronting a sinister ghost.
Murphy learns about his objectives from the characters he meets. Left-clicking on a character causes a list of topics to appear on the screen. Left-clicking on one of them starts a conversation about the selected topic.
Hovering over the gear icon in the upper-left corner of the inventory bar reveals icons for the diary, hotspot indicator, map, and fireplace. Left-clicking on the gear icon activates the menu. Left-clicking on “Save” activates the save menu. It contains many blank squares. Left-clicking on one of them presents adventurers with a “Save” button, and a “Back” button. Left-clicking on the “Back” button returns adventurers to the menu. Left-clicking on the “save” button fills the selected square with a picture that represents the current state of the game. The squares are organized by date and time. Left-clicking on them lets adventurers resume the game at the moment the picture represents. If adventurers left-click on the recap button in the settings menu, they will see a summary of all the experiences Murphy has had thus far. This thoughtful enhancement makes it easy to return to the game after a break.
Besides these basic functions, and the helpful recap Foolish Mortals holds many convenient enhancements that adventurers will appreciate. One that I used most often was the fireplace. Left-clicking on the fireplace brings Murphy directly to the fireplace in Bellmore Manor without having to walk there. He spends lots of time there. More conveniences, such as a list of shortcut keys, are available from the help menu.
Murphy specifically spends his time, in the manor and beyond solving, puzzles. Most of them are inventory object puzzles. In the first chapter, Murphy gathers inventory objects to cast a magic spell. In the second chapter, he uses inventory objects to counteract a curse. The third chapter tasks Murphy with finding three special keys. Chapter four, the finale, Murphy finds something special that he hadn’t realized he was missing.
Three of the well-crafted puzzles are especially noteworthy: A strange stairwell, an intriguing window, and a puzzling song. They are difficult but fit the story well. The stairway is vexing because Murphy must enter doors at specific times, which are dictated by a supernatural clock. It’s difficult to tell what time it is because it can change depending Murphy's position on the screen. Perseverance is key. Devil’s Rock’s church has a window that reveals a secret. Adventurers need to manipulate the design In a specific way. Hints made it a little easier, but I still needed lots of help. The third puzzle is my favorite in the game. Adventurers must answer questions posed by the song, “The Bellmore Boogie.” They answer each question by left-clicking on one of three Tarot cards. The catchy song made it my favorite puzzle.
Murphy struggles to ascend this haunted staircase that is governed by this supernatural clock.
Murphy must alter the design of this window to reveal the secret it protects.
The song is great. The rest of the sound-design is excellent. Especially the voice-acting. Every performance brims with emotion and soul.
Foolish Mortals is an exceptional game. It deserves a place among the classic of the genre. Adventurers shouldn’t miss it. Foolish Mortals is available on Steam and Gog. A Nintendo Switch port is coming soon.
Score 9/10