The Slaughter: Act One - Acting pretty cool

Point-and-click adventures need to balance somewhere between narrative and mechanics. Stray too close to one or the other and there's a danger that players will lose interest.

The Slaughter just about manages to get it right in its first episode. It's heavy on the story, yes, but the drive to push on and find what happens is counterbalanced by some logical puzzles that don't kick you too hard in the chest.

It's an interesting start for the series, and it'll leave you wondering where things are going to go next. And for an episodic game, that's pretty damn important.

You play a private investigator in Victorian London who ends up embroiled in a serial killer's dark works. Or you can just go and have a few pints in the pub and talk to the surly bartender instead.

After taking a beating in an alley you're taken in by a red-headed woman. Then you escape from the police, before rescuing a dog with an eel on a stick, stealing a child's swing, and having a conversation about different kinds of ale.

Ground fish

The more grounded sections are interspersed with Twin Peaks-style dream sequences. These feature a glowing, grumpy fish, a book shelf, and an inverted bed that's attached to the ceiling. You'll get clues to the ongoing investigation if you pay attention during these interludes.

In fact there's a lot of paying attention to do in this first act. A large chunk of the first hour is spent conversing with other characters.

You can occasionally choose from a couple of dialogue options, but most of the time you're going to be reading the conversation with no control.

The game looks like a throw back to the glory days of the point-and-click, all chunky character models and tappy inventories. It works pretty well too.

On smaller screens it can get a little fiddly, especially if you're trying to combine an object in your inventory with one near the bottom of the screen.

There's a lot of meat on these bones, and the story and characters are enough to push you on to see what happens next.

It's not quite up there with the very best in the genre, but it's got enough going for it that if you enjoy this first act, you'll come back for the second.

The Slaughter: Act One - Acting pretty cool

A clever adventure with a good story to tell, this is an excellent start to the series
Score
Harry Slater
Harry Slater
Harry used to be really good at Snake on the Nokia 5110. Apparently though, digital snake wrangling isn't a proper job, so now he writes words about games instead.