Stonewall Penitentiary Demo

Mystery games are designed to keep you engaged for hours without spoiling the fun along the way, which is difficult to do in some cases. Finding the answer to various riddles is exciting when the game in question makes the adventure feel worthwhile, but it doesn’t always work as intended. Hence, it’s not difficult to come up with an interesting video game idea, but it is tricky to design clever gameplay mechanics.

Stonewall Penitentiary is a point & click adventure game with various puzzles to solve and an intriguing mystery to keep you engaged along the way. Although everything looks at least a decade old, the mechanics are pretty well-designed, and the puzzles are actually challenging for a change. On the other hand, this is merely a demo at this point, so it’s not as polished as it could be.

It all begins with the main character waking up in a strange prison cell with no memory of how he got there. As it turns out, he is not alone, because a few other people are in the same situation as him. The one who captured them is obsessed with justice, and his goal is to judge the prisoners and punish them accordingly, although he is not quite fair in most cases.

You start with your hands tied, so the first puzzle is to find a way to get rid of the rope from your hands. After that, many other riddles have to be approached and solved, most of which get you closer and closer to freedom. Dialog is very important as well, because you can influence how other characters perceive you through the things you say and reach different endings.

As mentioned before, the graphics are not much to look at, but they are not terrible either. The characters are designed in three-dimensions, and so are the environments, even if you are not free to move around as you please. The characters are fully voice-acted, and the soundtrack keeps you engaged along the way too.

All things being equal, Stonewall Penitentiary is on the right path to success, especially since the puzzles are quite well-designed and the story as a whole is might interesting. Thus, it’s worth your time if you are a fan of point & click games.