Thank you Microids for sending us this game to review!

Nicolas Eymerich The Inquisitor - Book 1: The Plague is based on the life of Nicolas Eymerich the Inquisitor General who penned the authoritative book on inquisition, Directorium Inquisitorum. This book describes the various forms that demons can take and how to deal with them.  The games begins with Nicolas being summoned to Carcassone to investigate a nearby village that is rebelling against the church. The previous monk and priest sent months ago have not reported back. 

Given his rank and reputation, this seems like a menial task.  Perhaps there is more to it, and if so, Nicolas must find out what he is getting into before he leaves.  Like many 2D adventure games, you have to gather information from people and collect useful items that will be needed later in the game.  Unfortunately you can only pick up the items once the quest for them has been activated.  Most adventure games let you pick up items at anytime and figure out their purpose later in the game. 

Throughout the game Nicolas can rebuke, bless, or even kill people in the name of God.  While there is a bless option, I was not able to use it in this chapter of the game.  I thought it was funny that he refuses to bless people, but he does bless a dying animal in a cut-scene.  Some of the humor in this game is dark, but there are some silly moments and Easter eggs worth finding.  You can unlock a hidden area if you find and combine a rubber chicken with a pulley and drop it down a hole in the wall.

There is a built in hint system, but I found an online walkthrough to be much more helpful in the more complicated puzzles.  Some of the puzzles in this game require some serious pixel hunting and I wonder how this is handled for the blind accessible version of the game.  Perhaps they are omitted, because even with 20/20 vision I struggled locating vital items and hidden buttons to complete the quests.  There are many sequence puzzles where you have to push different areas in the proper sequence to progress.  Some of these puzzles have twenty or more steps to memorize (or follow along with a guide).

Besides some of the items being difficult to locate, the graphics in this game are dated by today’s standards.  The mouth movements when talking are obviously generic and unnatural. While the voice acting is pretty good, some areas had added echo effects that distract more than add to the scene.

Not surprisingly, like the inquisition, Nicolas Eymerich The Inquisitor - Book 1: The Plague shows Christianity in a dark light.  Nicholas is self righteous and very judgmental of people.  It’s a shame that he thinks he is doing everything on God’s behalf.  There are many occult references and scenes involving demons and death.  Nicolas must thoroughly investigate a corpse to reveal the cause of the death.

While the premise is dark, the game’s story is pretty good.  Nicolas is an interesting character and I wouldn’t want to get on his bad side.   It’s a pity that this game is marred by difficult puzzles and flawed design. Instead of paying $20 for the PC version, I recommend looking into the $3 iOS version if you have an iPad with 850MB of free space.