Explore Splittown: A Witty Point and Click Demo

The Steam Next Fest is upon us, and one of the first write-ups is the Splittown demo, a point and click adventure from All-Seeing Eye, currently available to play on Steam.

As IM5 agent Leonard Nimby (Star Wars reference? I kid…), you must recover a shrink ray that your mad ol’ scientist colleague Scotty has created. After a few unsuccessful attempts on some poor hamsters, the shrink ray does the business and ends up shrinking Leonard. However, the device is no longer there after returning to the lab. Mysterious…

Upon loading this, flashbacks of Day of the Tentacle arose – heck, even the credits showed a Max (Sam & Max) sticker that triggered all this nostalgia. I’m pleased to say that it’s not a rip-off and doesn’t attempt to ‘borrow’ jokes and plots from other famous adventures, but it does nail the aesthetic pretty well.

When it comes to Splittown’s artwork, it’s as if there was a get-together featuring the artists of LucasArts, 90s Nickelodeon cartoons, and Salvador Dali got together and did some acid. Presumably. The perspective in the game is unique and very reminiscent of 90s point and click adventures. Honestly, that’s a good thing, but the animation is janky.

Point and click adventures are traditionally known for their high frame rates, but from the outset, I skipped more than with my Spotify playlist. Some animations didn’t work either and were a little ugly. Soz. The good news? The writing is ace. It’s amusing, and as it’s not a talkie, reading the dialogue is a must. Besides, you can deliver it in any voice your mind can create unless it’s rotten from streaming services.

Navigation is the norm – a selection of icons are used to interact with someone/something, but instead of a verb wheel, pressing the right mouse button cycles through the options. This is an early build, so hopefully, this will change, or hotkeys are implemented as I’d imagine pixel hunting or generally getting stuck will result in bumbling through each selection repeatedly until it works.

Impressions are good, and Splittown has made it to that illustrious Steam wishlist. There isn’t a release date yet, so give the demo a whirl and you can do the same thing as me and add it. Right, I’m going to get myself a can of Smack…