Review Fix Exclusive: Lost Horizon Impressions

For as long as PC games have existed, the point and click genre has always had a welcome home. Taking advantage of the mouse, these games often relied on great stories to fuel the action, with gamers forced to search every nook on cranny on the screen to find clues to advance in the often-epic adventure.

Created by Deep silver, the same company that made the super cool “Secret Files: Tunguska” a few months back, “Lost Horizon” continues the brand’s budding legacy of making exceptional games in this almost forgotten genre. Even though the preview only allows a few hours of gameplay, “Lost Horizon” looks to pick up right where Secret Files left off and in the process, delivers the goods.

Simply put, the face of “Lost Horizon,” Fenton Paddock, has the potential to be one of the coolest new characters in the video game world. Part Dr. Who, James Bond and Indiana Jones, Paddock’s antics are essential to enjoying the game and a blast to watch. Feeling like a great movie that you can control, Paddock gets himself into a ton of trouble over the course of the game and it’s up to you to help him through it.

If dealing with Nazi’s and Chinese gangs wasn’t enough, Paddock is a bit of a ladies man as well. A nice spin on the genre, “Lost Horizon” separates itself from Secret Files by making Paddock’s conversations and the outcome of them, pivotal to advancing the game. One instance of this is found early on, as Paddock bets a club owner friend of his that he can get a sexy singer’s room key after just one conversation. Taking a page from the great movies of yesteryear, “Lost Horizons” has a noir feel to it, with Paddock playing the role of the good-looking and intelligent detective, hell-bent on adventure.

Speaking of good-looking, the backgrounds and character models here are full of life and color, making it perhaps the prettiest point and click adventure to date. Improving the cinemas from Secret Files, Deep Silver has proven that they are dedicated to not only keeping this genre alive, but making it a viable one in today’s gaming landscape. Regardless of if you’re a huge fan of the genre or not, after a few hours with this title, it’s almost impossible to put down, as you end up caring for the characters the same way you would an RPG.

Because of that, “Lost Horizon” is an eye-opening experience.

Set for a mid-September release date on PC, this title looks like it can and will surprise.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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