80 Days

Inkle's adventure game, {80 Days}, first arrived on mobile devices, before later journeying into the world of PC. It feels at home on both platforms, and can be enjoyed in both short bursts and across extended play sessions. It does, however, work really well on mobile (we've been playing the iOS version a lot), largely thanks to the simplicity of the controls, the accessibility of the concept, and the ease at which one can reconnect with the adventure in hand.

This reworking of Jules Verne's novel, Around the World in Eighty Days, starts off innocently enough. You assume the role Jean Passepartout, a man who has recently entered the service of Mr Phileas Fogg. Before you've had chance to settle into the new role, your master informs you that you're departing for Paris at once. You see, he's made a wager that he can travel around the world in eighty days, and he has every intention of winning this particular bet.

And so off you go on your global adventure, with hardly enough time to pack (and certainly without adequate space in your suitcase), you're on your way to Paris. And so begins an adventure through a steampunk take on the Victorian world, where strange forms of transport are on hand to whisk you from place to place, and where exciting adventures and thought provoking decisions are around every other corner.

As you make your way through Europe for the first time you get to grips with the mechanics that'll govern the whole journey. The story is delivered via text, as if Passepartout was recounting his story via diary entries or the like. However, it's not just a game built around cleverly written sentences, there are other elements that inform and govern the experience.

You can, for example, buy and sell items in different cities for various sums of money, and there's always one place in particular where you'll make a handsome profit for selling an item, that is, if you can get there. Mr Fogg has health that deteriorates during the journey, particularly during more arduous sections, and he needs to be sufficiently well cared for if he is to stay healthy. You also need to manage your finances, and each city has a bank where money can be withdrawn, if you're prepared to wait for it and waste precious days.

Along the way you can explore each stop on your journey and find out more about the place you're visiting and the surrounding area. You can also talk to people while en route, and in doing so open up new possible destinations and alternative paths. It doesn't take long to realise that there's a tremendous number of potential routes to take, and as such there's a lot of replay value on offer. Having said that, there are moments that occasionally frustrate, like when we missed a journey between two cities because we had too many cases full of junk, but we couldn't sell the items quickly enough: given the pressure to complete your journey on time, it's a pain when you're hit with unnecessary delays.

{80 Days} is reminiscent of the choose-your-own adventure novels that many of us grew up reading, and you shape the flow of the adventure by selecting lines of prose or conversation, each one potentially taking you in a slightly different direction. Perhaps the standout element in this whole adventure is the quality of the writing, and there's some powerful moments and evocative descriptions waiting to be discovered. There are a couple of memorable characters in there too, but alas encounters with both fellow travellers and local citizens tend to be fleeting due to the hasty nature of the journey, and as such the game relies heavily on the relationship between master and servant.

The audio and visuals might be relatively simple, but they're certainly well implemented. The overall presentation is good, but this isn't a game built around the promise of lavish graphics or sweeping orchestral scores, this is a game about strong narrative, and the reason it works so convincingly is that, for the most part, the writing is extremely good. Even if there are some moments where there's no interesting decisions to make, surprising moments still appear at regular intervals, and no two journeys will ever be the same.

There's not much in the way of "game" here, beyond elements of trade and planning (financially and in terms of keeping Fogg healthy), and while these elements can at times govern your decision making, {80 Days} mostly relies on captivating storytelling. This won't be suited to everyone, but for a player looking to enjoy a literary experience that offers a range of alternate paths through a compellingly realised setting, this is definitely worth the price of the ticket.