Paradise

    I mentioned it last week or so when I bought two PC game bundles totalling 9 games. Essentially though, there were only two games, the two by Benoit Sokal, Paradise and Syberia 2. Back when Alice and I first lived together, I interested her in point-and-click adventure games, especially those by Sokal. She went on to The Sims and then to Wheel of Fortune on the phone. I don't know if she stayed a gamer or not post-John. I rather hope not; I feel like a bad influence.
    Either way, Sokal makes these lovely, if frustrating games. As I mentioned before, one (or anyway I) frequently has to resort to walkthroughs online. This isn't so much because the puzzles are difficult, but usually because the item you have to act on on the screen is hard to see, or doesn't appear unless you talk to somebody first, or other tricky stuff like that. But in the end, they are fun games. Mostly.
    I appreciate that comparatively few people are likely to pick up a PC game from 10 or so years ago, but somebody might. And I'm certainly not going to write another walkthrough or post a lot of spoilers. But if anyone out there is thinking of playing Paradise, whether because you're a Sokal fan or because you found it cheap, you probably should know in advance that almost everyone you meet in the game winds up dying. This game is not for children. Granted, the deaths are off-screen, but in some ways that makes it worse. Or maybe cheaper. This is the Greek tragedy of PC games. I'm not sorry I played, but the ick factor is noticeable. I won't likely play it again, but I hardly ever play this kind of game again, so that probably isn't a result of the deaths. And yes, I was warned that the game is set during a civil war. But I was kind of expecting to stop the bloodshed. Anyway, there you are. If anyone is surfing about thinking of buying Paradise by Benoit Sokal, just be warned. It's good, it's worthwhile, but it's disturbing and not necessarily in the good, thought-provoking way. Also you hardly get to play with the leopard at all.