The Simon the Sorcerer series, especially the first two games, were a very big deal in the 1990s. Some thirty years later, in honor of that, developer Smallthing Studios released Simon the Sorcerer Origins, which is very faithful to the original material right down to the return of Chris Barrie as the unique voice of the main character Simon.
The hand drawn art style for Simon the Sorcerer Origins perfectly bridges the pixel imagery from the 1990s versions of the games in the series with modern graphics capabilities. This magic trick makes it feel both old and new at the same time. Obviously, a lot of love and care went into this title.
The voice acting for all the characters is excellent and some of the dialogue is quite funny, which I always appreciate. Like the first two Simon adventures, which were the best-selling of the series, Simon the Sorcerer Origins is a point and click adventure. Unfortunately, that aspect of Origins wasn’t given the same update as the artwork, and it takes some of the joy out of playing.
There is such a thing as being too faithful to source material, and I think that happened here. The puzzles in Origins are the same ridiculous, logic-defying puzzles that used to be a big part of this genre. Point and click games have come a long way since the 1990s, and I wish the developers had decided to bring the gameplay of Simon the Sorcerer Origins into the 2020s. I knew this wasn’t going to be the case in the very beginning of the adventure when nothing magical had happened yet, and Simon had to pull out a refrigerator drawer so he could stand on it to take magnets off the top door of the fridge.
Editor’s Note: Check out our GiN interview with the founder of Smallthing Studios!
Why is that a problem? Well, the character is drawn such that he could easily reach the magnets without assistance. Also, anyone with a refrigerator knows you couldn’t stand on a crisper drawer. They aren’t designed for that. Maybe the developers chose to include the stand on the drawer to reach the magnets puzzle to let players know this was going to be an old-school style point and click with puzzles that make little to no sense in the real world. Some people might enjoy trying to figure out the silly combinations to make things work even when they defy good sense, but I’m not one of those people.
For me, Simon the Sorcerer Origins was a lot of walking back and forth trying to come up with silly combos of inventory items to make things happen that could have been streamlined. Now, to be fair, unlike in the 90s, this version of Simon the Sorcerer has a map with fast travel between areas, but honestly that’s not enough. The title is super slow.
You can have Simon run, but he runs slowly. He doesn’t run by default, so you have to hold down the trigger the whole time if you want to slightly speed up all the walking around. I don’t know why developers don’t default to having characters run in adventures like this. I was playing on a PlayStation 5 though, so it might be a better experience on a computer. It’s also available for the PC on the Steam platform, and gamers might have a better time over there with a mouse and keyboard since this was originally a PC-only series. I think point and click games are best played on a desktop computer or maybe a phone or tablet. Consoles aren’t where titles like that shine. The controller just feels clunky when adapted to a point and click adventure.
So, who is Simon the Sorcerer Origins for? It’s for nostalgia buffs and old-school point and click gamers. It’s also for those who appreciate good voice acting, hand drawn art styles, logic-defying puzzles or who want to experience Simon’s unique blend of humor and style one more time.
Who should avoid this title? Impatient people (like me) and puzzle gamers who like puzzles you can actually figure out logically as opposed to just trial and error solutions.
Simon the Sorcerer Origins succeeds as a heartfelt tribute to one of adventure gaming’s most recognizable series. Its art direction, music and voice performances capture the spirit of the original series beautifully, making it feel like a long-lost chapter pulled straight out of the 1990s. Unfortunately, that same devotion extends to puzzle design and pacing that have not aged as gracefully.
For players who grew up on classic point-and-click adventures and relish trial-and-error problem solving, this is a nostalgic delight. For everyone else, it may feel like a reminder of why the genre eventually evolved. Simon may still have plenty of magic left, but Origins proves that sometimes a little modernization can be just as important as faithfulness to the past.
Developers: Smallthing Studios
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Steam, Xbox Series X