Stalker

Oh, how I loved Project Avatar, I found it to be a rollercoaster of a video game with a banging soundtrack and a fantastic collision of an escape room and a video game. So when I heard that a new game from the Project Avatar team was available I was most excited to play and we were lucky to playtest the game.

The team at P.A. have excelled with Stalker, using the same world and the same avatar but creating new characters and a detailed and fantastical backstory involving the fabulously named Utya Duck and the dastardly Chickman. I’m not sure what they were imbibing when they came up with the plot, but whatever it was I’m tempted to try it!

Your avatar has to collect a variety of coloured items which are used to make keys and other useful things. He also has three lives, which can be lost by opening traps and succumbing to other perils in the game, but additional lives can be gained by playing the shell game with Chickman, the games Big Bad. This gave our team a dilemma at each point where we had to make a decision…Do we open the box? Do we just run away? Why do we need a tambourine anyway? Invariably, we chose the wrong thing, but the team didn’t care as we were having such a great time finding items and solving the occasional puzzle.

As with the first game they’ve used the game space to maximum effect with multi-level play and lots and lots of rooms. They’ve also created a banging soundtrack with video clips and livestream action which also enhance gameplay.

But the wonderful thing is that as the game can be played differently each time, there is a potential for replaying as the decisions you make throughout the game dictates which areas and which puzzles you see and do. So grab some gamer friends and a few beers/wines and turn up your speakers and enjoy!