Wait a minute… the artwork in The Crimson Diamond is so uncannily similar to the style of Julia Minamata that it makes me believe that this is… yes – the debut(?) point and click adventure from an illustrator I follow on X.
I recall watching a video where they shared a behind-the-scenes account of making an adventure game, but Muggins here, with a memory of a sieve, forgot all about it until a thumbnail during the Steam Next Fest. It’s a good job. I’ve got an ID lanyard with my name on it; otherwise, I’d be up Schitt’s Creek.
The year is 1914, and a fisherman has discovered a diamond in the belly of a fish. Naturally, when word gets out, there is a fair share of folk who want to lay eyes on this, in particular, Nancy – you’re character. Her boss sends her out on her first excursion out of the Royal Canada Museum to see the diamond for itself, and from the get-go, there’s more fishy stuff happening outside of the bling bling slippery vessel.
The Crimson Diamond intro moves at a lightning pace to the point where you can’t appreciate the artwork as you’re reading the text (this isn’t a talkie), and man, the artwork is sublime. I’m not a big fan of pixel art, but I love Julia’s style, which is why I follow them on X. Leisure Suit Larry and other classic Sierra feels init?
Nancy finds herself shacked up in a lodge with an array of keyboard commands reminiscent of those Sierra glory days. Press ‘N’ to bring up a notebook and other shortcuts for this text-based adventure. Yes, I did state that it’s a point and click adventure, but like Sonny Bonds and Roger Wilco, you must type in your commands such as ‘look’ before exploring. Clicking on an area won’t work other than walking there (or with the arrow keys), so you need to type. Newbies need not worry – this works really well.
Typing in commands requires extra work and attention to your environment. With games like Police Quest, it was hit and miss as you worked through the verbs and basic vocabulary while being mindful of the evident point system in the corner of the screen. The Crimson Diamond isn’t like this and instead encourages exploration, though we won’t know until the full game whether we’ve missed anything in a scene!
When you get stuck in a decent point and click adventure, other than looking up a walkthrough, you might resort to pixel hunting or triggering hotspots. That’s not available in this demo, so you’ll find yourself typing in ‘look’, then sniffing out keywords or appreciating the artwork and noting something that could be investigated. Despite this being an old school approach that’s arguably dated, it’s refreshing and makes this experience far more immersive. After all, it’s a demo and you want to savour the taste for as long as possible.
In fear of giving anything away or awkwardly talking you through how good the artwork is, see for yourself and download The Crimson Diamond demo while it’s in the Steam Next Fest. I don’t want to hear any excuses about it taking up too much storage or being intensive on your computer. The only thing that’ll be tested is your creativity and eyeballs. For the delicious pixel art illustrations, of course.
