Murder in the Abbey

Murder in the Abbey may not be entirely original, but it's an adventure with a lot of personality.

Dark middle-ages feel, excellent dialogues and stylish graphics would not put The Abbey above average adventure games. But The Name of the Rose-inspired story makes this experience remarkable. [Oct 2008]

Considering the current drought of the genre, The Abbey is a title which can satisfy adventure lovers, but also those that have had enough of frantic shooting and want a calmer game.

Murder in the Abbey is a classically-structured third-person adventure game with an intriguing setting, a strong story, quality music, and generally excellent graphical presentation. Unfortunately, it’s also got problems that undermine whatever potential fun there is to be had.

Alcachofa Soft managed to produce only a half of a potentially great adventure. And I mean it literally - the two opening chapters are so different than the last two that you won’t believe your eyes.

Murder in the Abbey is ultimately one of those games that is fairly enjoyable to play through yet leaves you with the feeling that something is missing.

At the beginning it looks like investigating, secretly rummaging the abbey and questioning other characters could be fun, but the game turns out to be made of pointless little riddles and requires searching through the same locations over and over again. Why somebody did something doesn't seem to matter at all. The Abbey is not about playing through a story, it's about forcing the player to solve riddles. At least the music by Emilio de Paz is well done.

Murder in the Abbey shines due to its unique graphics, stirring soundtrack, and the care given in telling its somewhat-familiar story. The clunky gameplay has too many problems to make it feel as if it were worth the effort, though, even with the occasional fun moments that manage to creep in.

And so, obviously, Murder in the Abbey (or just The Abbey, as it is known in Europe) is an adventure game to skip.