Pirates, missing dads, mystery, what more could you ask for? These are the things you’re walking into with Willy Morgan and the Curse of Bone Town from developer ImaginaryLab and publisher Leonardo Interactive. There’s some definite weirdness afoot here, and it’s at least partially Willy himself. Willy Morgan doesn’t take itself too seriously and that’s fine, because it’s made for a genre that doesn’t.
Willy Morgan and the Curse of Bone Town is a traditional point-and-click (PAC) adventure. If you’re not a fan of the genre, Willy Morgan won’t make you one. These games originated on old pre-Windows PCs and have endured ever since, a nostalgic gameplay holdover from the early days of gaming. They’re generally filled with off-the-cuff comedy, random item combination that makes no logical sense, and a vast array of quirky dialogue. Willy Morgan is no exception to this, as you’ll see when he uses a dreamcatcher for a bicycle wheel or refuses to smash his piggy bank or puts aftershave in the mop water to freshen it up a bit. Classy!
Willy’s father was lost on an expedition a decade ago and you’ve just now been delivered a letter from him saying that he was in Bone Town. Sadly, your mom is out of town on an expedition as well, so you have to go to Bone Town on your own to discover the fate of your father and maybe even find out the fate of Captain Kidd…Captain William Kidd. Yup, there’s your second Willie! Talking to the townsfolk and exploring every nook and cranny will guide you inexorably through the increasingly improbable plot and maybe even help Willy find his dad…or what’s left of him.
From a technical standpoint, Willy Morgan is a decent PAC. By hitting the B button on the Switch, every interaction point on the screen is highlighted, making it much easier to search through the complex artwork that constitutes the bulk of the game. The Y button brings up the item menu, allowing you to view or interact with anything in your inventory and combine items with each other or your surroundings. This is the bulk of gameplay and as PACs go, it’s a clean and elegant system. Eliminating the time-consuming search for interactivity points really streamlines the gameplay and keeps things moving along at a better overall pace than one might expect, which is a definite positive. Once you unlock it, there’s also a fast-travel map that really saves some time and is an absolute godsend in navigating the maze of streets that Bone Town consists of.
When transferring gameplay to the Switch on the go however, things get a little weaker. Willy Morgan is one of the few games that’s touchscreen enabled and still better docked than undocked. It’s difficult to tap the right tiny area of the screen to select what you want to do and the gear function that appears when using the touch interface is noticeably more challenging to work than the button selections. Honestly, you’re probably better off skipping touch functionality entirely in this one unless you have super tiny fingers. Other than the interface, the game plays quite well in undocked mode though.
Visually, Willy Morgan manages to channel a vibe that’s in line with both old Tim Burton movies and something out of a Double Fine game like Psychonauts; a pleasantly creepy over-exaggerated style that fits the mood, music and design of the game quite well. The visual polish is high here, and it’s definitely a highlight of the game. The music is quite solid as well, pairing with the off-beat humor and accompanying the general weirdness in a way that feels utterly natural. In both audio and visual aspects, Willy Morgan is an absolute delight.
Sadly, puzzle design, scripting, and overall pacing fall more than a bit short. Let’s talk about the script first. It’s apparent that the game was translated to English rather than written in it. The dialogue is occasionally clunky and weird, not at all how some of the characters would naturally speak. However, this is a bit of a quibble rather than an issue, and overall, the translation is pretty great. The plot on the other hand, is thin and more than a bit ridiculous with over-the-top villains who can’t seem to stop a young boy who can’t drive yet and some plot devices and dialogue from various characters that leave you wondering about whether everyone in Bone Town has permanent brain damage. While Willy Morgan tries to be funny, most of the gags and silliness fall a bit flat and by the end of the game, chances are you’ll be skipping more than a bit of dialogue and chatter. It’s unfortunate, as it’s obvious that the devs tried really hard here, but there is such a thing as too offbeat and the charm wears thin by the time the credits roll.
As for the pacing and puzzle design, Willy Morgan is a PAC game. And because of the point-and-click nature of the game, you’re collecting objects, matching up their functions, and then utilizing them in various situations. However, by about halfway through, the things you have to do are so complex and non-intuitive that you’re left occasionally scratching your head on how to proceed, especially if you’ve missed one of the many key elements in the environment that are simply lying about with no easily discernible purpose. Without ruining the plot and puzzles, it’s hard to mention any specifics, but suffice it to say that simple logic won’t always get you to the end in this one. By the end of this fairly short game, you’ll be cursing the somewhat chaotic nature of PACs in general and Willy in particular though. Ironically, this isn’t the hardest PAC around either, it’s just that the backgrounds are busy and it’s kind of hard to figure out what will work together and when to combine things.
Willy Morgan and the Curse of Bone Town ends up being a mixed bag. On the one hand, it manages to really feel like a modern throwback to the point-and-click adventures of old with gorgeous design and sound work and a real flair of personality. On the other hand, it feels dated and odd, with some poor logic to puzzle out and a sub-par touch screen interface on the Switch. If it were at the $10 and under mark , this would probably be forgivable but at $20, you’re looking at 3-5 hours of gameplay that might extend another 3-5 hours if you miss a crucial element or don’t see a particular dark alley. That’s not a lot of bang for your buck on a game with essentially no replay value. It’s obvious that ImaginaryLab really put some heart into this one and it’s polished and simply beautiful, but at the same time, it’s just not quite what one might expect these days for a modern point-and-click and the story and characters are simply a bit too weak. If you can grab Willy Morgan and the Curse of Bone Town on sale and you’re a fan of the genre, definitely give it a go. But as it stands, there are probably other point-and-click experiences out there that will end up being a bit more enjoyable to most gamers.
This review was based on a digital copy of Willy Morgan and the Curse of Bone Town provided by the publisher. It was played on a Nintendo Switch in both docked and undocked modes and ran equally well in both. Willy Morgan and the Curse of Bone Town is also available for Playstation 4 and PC on Steam. All screenshots are of actual gameplay.
