A Cult Classic Remade for a New Generation
Honestly, Amerzone wasn’t really a game that pinged my radar until I got the chance to play, and review it.
It first came out way back in 1999, created by the late, great Benoît Sokal (based on his own graphic novel from ’86!), and it got pretty great reviews back then. Over the years, it built up a real following and became one of those cult classics people talk about in gaming circles.
So, jump forward to 2025, and what we have here is a full-blown remake in Amerzone – The Explorer’s Legacy. This new version completely overhauls the old nineties pixel-art look with stunning graphics, but impressively, it still keeps most of the original gameplay feeling just right, which is great to see.
A Journalist’s Quest
The story drops you right into the boots of a journalist who’s heading to a remote island off the coast of Brittany. He’s there to try and get an interview with a famous, maybe slightly infamous, explorer named Alexandre Valembois. This guy is known for a trip he took way back into the mysterious Amerzone where he acquired a very special egg from the region’s mythical white birds. It was a pretty shady move, betraying the local tribe who trusted him.
Back home in France, people didn’t really buy his stories, and he ended up being written off as a bit of a fraud. Things kick off dramatically when our journalist arrives at the explorer’s lighthouse – Valembois basically dies right then and there, using his last breath to ask the journalist to take the egg back to the Amerzone people.
A Tale of Intrigue and Exploration
I have to say, I was genuinely surprised by how much I got sucked into this story. It felt different and interesting, kind of like those old-school ‘Boy’s Own’ adventure books from years ago. The writing’s solid, and there are some really well-done cutscenes and good bits of dialogue scattered throughout.
You also find documents as you explore. These fill you in on a lot of the backstory, giving more info on the plot, the people involved, the weird gadgets you find, and other interesting stuff about the world. Plus, the new graphics engine does a fantastic job of telling stories just through the environments themselves – you can really soak up the atmosphere.
First-Person Investigation
Gameplay-wise, it’s all first-person, pulling you right in. But, unlike a lot of modern games, you don’t get that free-roaming movement where you can just wander anywhere. Instead, you move between fixed spots in rooms or outdoor areas. From each spot, you can look around a bit, but it’s a limited view, and then you click on an arrow or an object to hop to the next viewpoint or a different part of the location.
It definitely takes a little getting used to if you mostly play games with full freedom of movement, but thankfully backtracking speeds up in latter moments, helped by the use of some fast travel between certain key places. That definitely helps cut down on potential frustration.
Along the way, you’ll be tackling a bunch of puzzles, taking in that classic adventure game fetch quest thing of finding Item A to progress to Item B and so on. Some of the puzzles are genuinely brilliant though and you might be fiddling with strange, complex machines or lining up 3D patterns on a cool hovercraft thing. Others are more straightforward, like figuring out which object goes where or finding a key to open up the next area.
A Combat-Free Journey
One thing to note is there’s absolutely no combat in Amerzone – The Explorer’s Legacy, and you’re never really in any danger. This gives the game a very deliberate, almost thoughtful pace. It took me a little while, but I eventually fell into its rhythm and quite enjoyed it. It makes Amerzone a world that’s enjoyable just to explore and interact with.
And once you get the hang of the controls, moving around can actually feel quite smooth. You can definitely feel the influence of classic puzzle games here too – the fingerprints of the legendary MYST series are all over it, clearly inspiring Benoît Sokal back in the day.
Stunning Visuals Reimagined
Graphically, the jump from the original is nothing short of immense. It’s night and day, honestly. I went back and watched some old footage, and this is absolutely a full remake, not just a simple touch-up or remaster. The team have created something really decent here – the lighting looks fantastic, the character models are detailed, and the environments are rich and convincing. It’s just a pleasure to look around and explore these places. The cutscenes you trigger as you progress are often really creative and full of imagination, adding a nice touch to the story.
I’m not totally sure how much of the sound is brand new, but the music they’ve used works really well, giving off that epic adventure movie vibe. The voice acting is solid and gets the job done, conveying the characters well, and all the sound effects are crisp and clear.
A Surprising Remake of a Classic Adventure
Amerzone – The Explorer’s Legacy surprises, both with how good the actual adventure is and just how much effort has clearly gone into this remake. People often said the original 1999 version was super difficult, maybe even unfairly so sometimes. This new version doesn’t suffer those problems, offering different difficulty settings to choose from, as well as helpful hints and clues becoming available.
You’ll appreciate what the team behind this have done in putting together such a great adventure. Don’t miss the chance to discover the fascinating world of Amerzone – The Explorer’s Legacy.
Important Links
Amerzone: The Explorer’s Legacy unveiled | New trailer and special edition confirmed – https://www.thexboxhub.com/amerzone-the-explorers-legacy-unveiled-for-xbox-series-xs-ps5-pc/
Buy Amerzone from the Xbox Store – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/amerzone-the-explorer-s-legacy/9MXTN71QMQWK
