Moebius Empire Rising is a graphic adventure that is said to be the spiritual successor to the very popular Gabriel Knight series. Snarky antique dealer, Malachi Rector is renown for his knowledge about ancient artifacts, specifically his ability to identify counterfeits. His services are acquired by the head of a shadowy US government agency. Malachi is hired to investigate the death of woman in Italy. He is not interested initially but the type of investigative technique he must employ piques his interest. Discovering who her murderer is could be prove useful but Malachi is tasked with finding out what historical figure she has most in common with. This uses one of Moebius’ most interesting and occasionally frustrating gameplay mechanics, profiling characters.
Profiling allows players to fully analyze people and items. It is not optional and often it can move the story along when you think you may be stuck. Characters and objects more integral to the story will have more elements and require more effort to complete. Comparing facts and using the process of elimination primarily with a list of bios of long-dead historical figures or artifacts can get tedious when you have many to choose from. Moebius is definitely a game that will likely be more appealing to someone who has played point and click and graphic adventures from the 90s. It doesn’t look particularly impressive but it is by no means an ugly game and the voice overs are mostly hit or miss.
The beginning of Moebius Empire Rising is a bit slow but it picks up and becomes far more engrossing than the first hour or two might lead you to believe. In many ways Moebius sticks to the look and feel of the genre it is paying homage to, just a little too closely. Graphics are not the end all and be all of what makes gaming experiences enjoyable. However many newer point and click/graphic adventures have retained the core mechanics while making obvious and significant improvements in other areas. Moebius Empire Rising does some of that but not enough.
Recommendation*: Worth a buy on sale – if you have nostalgia for older graphic adventure games
Full Disclosure: This game was provided to GameEnthus by the publisher.
Genre: graphic adventure, point and click adventure
Developer: Pinkerton Road/Phoenix Online Studios
Publisher: Phoenix Online Studios
Platforms: PC
Price: $29.99
http://www.postudios.com/company/games/moebius/
http://GameEnthus.com
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/gameenthus-podcast-video-games/id286435007?mt=2
Scale:*
Worth a buy – paying full price for fans of the series or genre makes sense – often includes a caveat
Worth a buy on sale – not quite full price worthy but close, – often includes a caveat
Rent – rent before buying
No – borrow it if you must play it
Please no – Don’t waste any time and/or money on it
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