Primordia

How difficult can it be for a robot who doesn’t truly know its core beside the generic codes that built it? Sounds intricate, doesn’t it? Not so much in Primordia, perhaps. It is yet another point-and-click title from Wadjet Eye Games that again proves there is still so much to complement even when a tale leads to several uncertainties.

Primordia is a tale of Horatio Nullbuilt V5 accompanied by his floating sidekick Crispin. They live somewhere in a world where the age of men has long gone; what remains are their creations of A.I. Machines now creating their own species in a city called Metropol is moving towards so-called progress, anarchy if placed down properly. The story starts when Horatio’s peaceful life is ruined by a giant robot who steals the power core from his ship. This core keeps not only the ship alive, but also both Horatio and Crispin. So they must retrieve this core in order to survive. The journey ahead will give them experience they’ve never predicted. Within the towers of Metropol, they’ll attain knowledge they can possibly know and experience losses they’ll never forget.

Gameplay in Primordia remains the same like any other point-and-click adventure game. You can move your character by clicking in directions; it also applies when interacting with characters or objects in the environment. Right click will provide a prebuilt statement and left click is for interacting. As part of your living is scavenging the junks, there is an inventory where you can store repairable items. Later on, you can also combine various items to craft something necessary. Your character will be provided with a Dataport that will store any information you come across, including the map that highlights several locations you can travel. The Dataport also comes in handy for analyzing collected information.

In terms of puzzle, there’s hardly any to find here. Primordia is all about exploring and putting the pieces together. Compared to any other Wadjet Eye game to date, making progress here is tricky. Don’t be surprised if you are stuck several times during the play. There are too many details to watch out and at times, finding a way out seems unlikely. Crispin, however, is very handy in such situations, because during conversations he’ll always give out necessary clues. Don’t be offended by his humorous insults, because you are going to need to very often. But when it comes to finding hidden objects, you are on your own. And at times finding small objects couldn’t get any more tiring.

Dialogs of the game make it somewhat more interesting which reflects of the hard work of the crew. Wadjet Eye lives up to its reputation by providing quality voice-over, which is usually one of the finest parts of their titles I’ve played. What merely killed the game for me though, is how the characters were designed compared to the game’s story. Both Horatio and Crispin felt like men camouflaged as robots. Their approach and ways of interaction never made them look like robots. Not only these two chief characters do that, but most of the supporting characters put up this same impression. When you are an unveiling a story that completely focuses on world of robots, you must expect to see the characters act accordingly. This very fundamental logic is miserably missed by the developer. You might feel a very advanced A.I. age in the beginning, but gradually fades down. So either the characters were given a little too much to be too advanced; which seemed unlikely. That or the combination just didn’t work as intended. Making it worse, the game will offer multiple endings in the end, which give an incomplete feeling.

Despite these shortcomings, Primordia is still a fun game to play. You obviously won’t leave this game unfinished as the story will keep you going till the end. Crispin’s companionship is something that keeps you entertained all the way through and the intellectual gameplay certainly makes the game advisable for the fans of this genre. On the other hand, if hardcore is your style, you might want to give this a second thought.

Sarwar Ron, NoobFeed
Twitter | +SarwarRon