The Abbey of Crime Extensum

Things were pretty rough for people back in the middle ages, especially if you had any kind of doubts regarding religion or the men in charge of spreading it. Hence, you only need to think about the Inquisition and the crusades to realize just how much religion meant back in the day. However, the world was big enough to make a run for it if you thought your life was in danger.

The Abbey of Crime Extensum is a retro adventure game designed to come as close to La abadía del crimen as possible, without being an actual clone. In case you are not familiar with it, the game was pretty popular back in the day, although it was also very tough and unforgiving with the players. Now, things are a bit different, but that doesn’t mean you’ll have an easy time figuring things out.

The story puts you in the role of a Franciscan by the name of Fray William of Occam, together with his friend and novice Adso of Melk. Your mission is to investigate a series of murders and bring the responsible party to justice, but the journey is very fun and engaging. Not only that, but you also get to meet a great cast of characters along the way.

As far as the gameplay is concerned, the isometric view allows you to see everything from a comfortable position, without having to rotate the camera. Hence, most of your time is spent walking around, collecting objects and using them to solve the puzzles. It must be mentioned that the movement is done using the keyboard, and it can be a bit tricky to get used to it.

The graphics are about as basic as you would expect, but they are by no means ugly. In fact, every location is as detailed as possible, even if you can’t quite make out what everything is supposed to be. On the other hand, the whole thing should feel extremely familiar for those who enjoyed the original, or even of those who played other adventure games from the same period.

In the end, The Abbey of Crime Extensum is quite fun and engaging, but you need to be prepared for tough puzzles and a different kind of interface. If you manage to get past that, the game itself can provide you with an experience to remember.