It’s pretty surprising that it’s been over a decade since the iconic comic series, The Adventures of Tintin, has appeared in games – the goofy characters, larger-than-life adventures, and adorable sidekick dog seem like they’d make for the ultimate all-ages adventure game. But this is a missed opportunity that developer Pendulo Studios plans on correcting with its upcoming video game adaptation of the classic story: Cigars of the Pharaoh, and from the hour I played so far, it’s incredibly impressive just how faithful and enjoyable that adaptation is shaping up to be. Whether it’s the cartoonish and colorful environments, creative puzzles, or memorable minigames, this is definitely one for adventure game fans to keep a close eye on.
The thing that immediately slapped me in the face in my first few minutes with Cigars of the Pharaoh is just how devoted it is to the comics that inspired it. Going frame-by-frame through Tintin’s opening moments, as I was able to do using a physical copy of the comic provided to me, shows just how shockingly meticulous it is in its reconstruction. The developers are clearly huge fans of the beloved story, and I can see this game introducing the recognizable reporter to a new generation of youngsters, as well as delighting longtime readers in search of a nostalgia hit.
But despite following so closely to an established tale, there was still a whole lot of adventure game goodness packed into the demo I played, as I split my time between chatting with notable characters like Professor Sarcophagus and Roberto Rastapopoulos, and solving puzzles as I unraveled the secrets of Pharaoh Kih-Oskh. It’s sorta like a Telltale game except instead of making depressing, gut-wrenching decisions, I was hanging out with a cartoon dog and helping wacky characters with their weird problems, like one guy who got his head stuck in the railing of a ship and needed me to wax his noggin loose.
But the real meat of the adventure were the puzzles, and especially once Tintin’s odyssey leads him inside an ancient egyptian tomb, there are plenty of entertaining conundrums to tackle, like one where I had to use sand to trick a pressure plate, a la Indiana Jones, and another where I had to manipulate tiles to the correct orientation. Not many puzzles I played were particularly challenging, plus there were a few that were so cliche I’d basically solved them the moment I entered the room, like one where I had to move mirrors around to reflect beams of light and open a door (still not sure why every game feels like they need one of those), but this adventure is pretty obviously aimed at a younger audience, so maybe that’s not a huge deal. Besides, what they lacked in challenge or originality, they seemed to make up for in variety – I don’t think I played the same type of puzzle even once, which certainly kept things interesting.
“What’s an adventure game without a little unexpected adventure?”
Beyond puzzles, I also got to see some pretty cool action sequences, like one where Tintin has to fly a plane through dangerous terrain that fans are likely to remember from the comics, and another I wasn’t allowed to record where I played as Snowy the dog himself and had to use stealth to avoid notice and help Tintin out of a sticky situation. These epic scenes definitely helped change up the pace of the demo and made for some of the most exciting parts of my time with Cigars of the Pharaoh; what’s an adventure game without a little unexpected adventure, after all?
After a few failed attempts to adapt Tintin to video games, Cigars of the Pharaoh seems like it might finally succeed in doing so, which is awesome news for longtime fans and adventure-loving players alike. I’m excited to see more as it develops!
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