I grew up playing point and click games, to this day beating Myst was one of my most satisfying experiences in gaming. There’s a special sense of accomplishment in finishing a game that requires so much thought and virtual exploration. Through the years I’ve lost touch with the genre until recently when I was given a copy of Resonance to review. Resonance is a point and click adventure game developed by Wadjet Eye Games.

In an opening montage before gameplay starts we are shown news stories from all over the world which leads one to wonder if Resonance in fact is dealing with some sort of terrorist attacks. Gameplay begins 60 hours before the gruesome newsreels. Resonance sees you controlling 4 main characters who’s lives are all intertwined by an explosion which causes a brief power outage. This leaves to an unfolding mystery surrounding the death of Dr. Morales. The doctor is never one of the characters you control but two of the main characters you do have direct associations to Dr Morales, Ed is his lab assistant and Anna is his niece. Along for the ride are your other two controllable characters: Ray, a journalist and Bennett, a detective. Often you will need to use more than one character simultaneously to accomplish a task.

Resonance is a sci-fi adventure game, the name is derived from Dr Morales’s secret experiment. Ultimately Resonance is what leads to his demise and offers up the core of the game’s mystery. You along with Ed, Anna, Bennett and Ray will unravel the game’s plot by investigating and piecing together the clues you find along the way. Morales has a hidden vault and you must find it before Resonance ends up in the wrong hands. I really can’t expound much on the plot without giving it away but rest assured if you play Resonance you will not be disappointed. At first the simplest puzzles of the game got me stuck but once you figure out and see how the game works you’ll be on your way to solving a well thought out adventure that proves once again that indie developers are making some of the most intriguing games these days.

As for the puzzles of Resonance, they are not the most difficult I’ve ever come across but some of them will require a great deal of thought. I got stuck a few times but I wasn’t about to give up! One thing to remember is more often than not you either already possess the knowledge or its gotten in the objects you add to your inventory system. There’s a really neat feature in Resonance that allows you to store things in your short-term memory which gives you the ability to talk about anything in the game. Long term memory items are for more important memories that are necessary to help with the completion of the main story. Objects in your inventory are sometimes needed in other areas of the game and you can also pass objects to other characters who may be more suited to handle them. Each character has their strengths and weaknesses when it comes to completing main tasks. In the end there’s multiple endings to be had based on your choices throughout the game.

The voice acting in Resonance is top-notch and since it’s a very narrative driven story it’s nice to have the characters deliver the well thought out dialogue in a professional manner. I won’t lie I’m somewhat of a graphics snob, which is not to say Resonance is lacking in that department but they do have a kind of throwback feel to early 90′s pc games. However once you get into the story and start figuring out how the game mechanics work you barely even notice the pixellated graphics.

My one disappointment was that the game seems short but for the value price of $9.99 one could hardly complain. Maybe it wasn’t even the length of the campaign but more of the feeling that once these characters hit their peak in development and you start honing your skills of playing the game it’s over. Overall I enjoyed Resonance, the story is solid, characters are interesting and the gameplay was great and at times challenging. I know the steam summer sale is currently happening but do yourself a favor and buy Resonance, it’s a bargain at $9.99 on any given day!

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• Resonance Review (PC)(softpedia.com)

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