Lost Horizon

Posted 2 years ago By - David Slauenwhite

Tibetan mysteries, Nazis, a disgraced British soldier, and all the point and click puzzles you can hope for can be found in Deep Silver’s new Lost Horizon. It’s been over a decade since I’ve sat down to work my way through a game of this genre, and I must say I’ve actually missed this type of game. Working through the scenes to collect the required items and puzzling my way through combining them or placing them in the correct position or sequence. It was often amusing how things came together; yet other times it was frustrating since some answers weren’t as obvious as others. Everything was all rolled up in an interesting storyline about a soldier who goes missing in Tibet and his friend and former comrade-in-arms who sets off to search for him before the Nazis discover both him and the secret he’s come across.

Primarily - as with many games of this genre - it was all mouse work, pointing and clicking my way through to collect or investigate items, scenery, and talk to the various NPC’s throughout the game world. The mouse pointer stood out against most backgrounds and when you hovered over the clickables, pop-up texts would indicate it was indeed something you could click. Unless of course you’re a rusty old fart like me who relies on the “Examine Scene” button to reveal all the clickables in the area. All in all, the controls were as smooth as one could ask for and it was nice to relax and click through things at a leisurely pace.

There’s a wealth of humor in the dialog which kept me chuckling as I worked my way across Hong Kong. The highlight, for me at least, took place in the early stages when I dropped a German fighter plane with a pumpkin. While the dialog was largely well written, the voice acting wasn’t always spot on. I found myself laughing more at the accents rather than the scripting. Overall however, the audio (including the soundtrack and the misguided dialog) suited the time period of the game’s setting.

The artistic style of the characters and settings are well done, with nice scenery and character designs that fit the period perfectly. From the dark nights of Hong Kong and stark whiteness of the mountains of Tibet to the earthy tones of Morocco, the environments are beautiful and the characters suit the various situations they find themselves in. While it’s not top quality/photo realistic in scope, the visuals are not hard on the eyes and end up rather relaxing while you’re pondering the next puzzle. The cinematics make use of the same art style and while they are smoother in animation compared to the rest of the game, it’s not a glaring difference.

All in all I’ve enjoyed my time with Lost Horizon, and many of the puzzles definitely taxed the brain a bit. It’s been a long time since I’ve had to really think my way through a game and for fans of the genre - or anyone looking for something new - Lost Horizon makes for a solid choice. It will get the brain juices flowing and you’ll find yourself engaged enough to learning more of the story. The voice acting could have been better, but in the world of video games that’s nothing really surprising. While it’s not a long journey, it can eat up the hours with some of its less-than-obvious puzzles and brain-benders. Overall however, it’s an enjoyable time to be had and I recommend it for a bit of brain work and relaxing point and click fun.