When Amerzone landed in my inbox, I could hardly believe it. Not only was it only just a few months ago that Microids published a plush, incredibly well-crafted remake of the thirty year old Empire of the Ants, but now they’ve gone ahead and done the same thing with Benoît Sokal’s Amerzone. For those who don’t know who Sokal is; he’s probably best known for the Syberia series — which redefined and rekindled the point and click adventure when it was at its least fashionable, but for Sokal, it all began with Amerzone.
Back in 1999, developers were still exploring all manner of ways to make games look good. The PC and console hardware of the time simply wasn’t capable of running the kind of games we have today, but Sokal clearly wanted to immerse the player in a visually rich experience. To do this, he followed the path set by games like Myst, which used highly detailed and largely static screens to convey the setting, whilst simultaneously saving disk space and processing speed by limiting exploration. This meant that in the original Amerzone, the player would skip from one screen to another by clicking on or around the edge in the direction they wanted to go — up a path, for example.
In Microids’ 2025 remake, this same approach has been adopted. Amerzone is not quite a walking simulator and puzzle game of the sort we now see commonly, but in most cases the transition from one interactive scene to another is fully animated. Entering the lighthouse during the opening few moments, for example, is done first by clicking once to move “up the path” towards it, then once again to move “through” the gate. Once inside you’ll find yourself in a foyer, and you can click up some stairs – which skips you directly to the next room.
I will be the first to admit that I don’t particularly like this style, but I do believe it archives what Sokal would have wanted — by offering a generally beautiful and often atmospheric experience that definitely drives immersion. Whether spooky, sad, cinematic or awe-inspiring, Amerzone generally manages it. This is clearly down to not only modernised, high-resolution visuals, but voice acting and music. My reaction to Amerzone (whatever its actual budget might be) is that it was a very well crafted, high budget experience — much like Empire of the Ants is.
Anyway, moving past the technicalities and onto what Amerzone really wants you to experience — which is the story. Within the opening minutes we learn that our character is a journalist who has been summoned to the home — a lighthouse — of the elusive and often challenging Alexandre Valembois. Upon arrival, Valembois is clearly well past his best, and as he fears that he will be unable to return to the titular South American country of Amerzone, he asks us to do so in his stead.
What follows is a really good adventure game that will test even the most dedicated explorers to the very limits. They don’t make many games like Amerzone these days, and whilst I never played the original game (and indeed I don’t think I even remember its existence), I found myself smiling at the clever, complex puzzles that reminded me every bit of late 90’s adventure games.
Many of the puzzles here are clever and rewarding, but most often in hindsight. You might achieve something without really knowing how, but when you watch the sequence you’ve followed, it makes complete sense. Games designed in this era tended to go one of two ways; Either this way, where super tough puzzles are hidden behind a level of common sense, or the other, where ridiculously abstract puzzles and ideas torment the player and make them throw the controller down in frustration even after a success. I’m glad that Amerzone is the former.
It’s hard to be specific about some of these puzzles without giving away spoilers, so I’ll give fair warning now that this paragraph has an example that might just give a small puzzle away. Early in the game the player will be made aware of the journey they must undertake, and a symbol of that journey will be nearby. By interacting with that symbol, the player can plan the steps they’ll take and in doing so, a puzzle will be unlocked offering useful insight into yet another solution that comes later. You’ll also be rewarded with some of the games rich lore — which is also something that Amerzone does often.
By halfway through the game, I was completely immersed in the world that Benoît Sokal created. The story of Amerzone is both trans-continental, but also local, with characters both at home and in South America that feel real. Again, the music and especially the voice acting help here, with all of the people I met along the way being believable and interesting — whether good, or bad.
The story, which I won’t spoil, is interesting and unusual. Like the world and the setting, it manages to be both completely alien and yet entirely believable. There’s an ecological and important concept to explore, and somehow despite how crazy it seems, it will draw you onwards and forwards. It’s such a 1998 idea that honestly, it seems completely new and unique, and I certainly haven’t seen anything like it in all of the gaming history that I can recall.
Amerzone is only and exclusively a game for adventure game fans, but if you do like this genre, then you’re looking at a fantastic addition to your options list. With challenging puzzles, a fantastic, rich story and world to explore, and brilliant characters and production, there’s little to criticise here. Only the concept itself – of an adventure game based around static screens – is slightly unwieldy, and possibly the high level of challenge that some of the puzzles pose. Even with that said, there is an easy mode to play on, and you can always ask for a hint. From me, Amerzone gets a strong recommendation.
Amerzone – The Explorer’s Legacy will be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC on April 24, 2025.
