Head back to the 1980s with the point and click joy of Unusual Findings

There’s nothing new about pixel-arted point and click adventures; after-all, they’ve been doing the rounds for as long as we care to remember. But that doesn’t mean we don’t sit up and take notice when a new one arrives and today we get the chance to head straight back to the glory days of the 1980s with some Unusual Findings. 

Available today on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC, PS4, PS5 and Nintendo Switch, Unusual Findings is an ’80s inspired point and click adventure in which you’ll be found searching the world for a variety of clues, working with those until you eventually uncover the truth you need. That truth focuses on an imminent alien invasion and so with the world in a whole load of trouble, if you don’t succeed, we don’t know who will. 

With references and throwbacks aplenty, pointing to classics like The Goonies, The Lost Boys and more, there’s an immediate draw about what has been put together with Unusual Findings. That vibe is heightened when you take into account the fact that your decisions make a difference, affecting character relationships and narrative endings. 

A game that focuses on the trio of Vinny, Nick and Tony, in the lead up to Christmas, things start to go from weird to weirder as they realise that their community is fast diminishing. Ultimately though, it’s a sci-fi coming-of-age tale that will play out, all pushed along by those glorious pixel visuals and times when life was all the more simple. 

“Our love letter to the ‘80s and early ‘90s is about more than just paying respects and tickling nostalgia,” said Hernan Lopez, Game Designer at Epic Llama. “In this classic point-and-click framework, players can start their journey in comfortable, familiar surroundings, but just around the corner await surprising plot twists, unpredictable consequences of your actions, and clever tweaks to the tried-and-true genre we adore.”

The key features of Unusual Findings include:

• Follow the Sci-fi coming-of-age story of three friends fighting together against the unknown… things (maybe against some known things too…).
• Utilise “see”, “grab” and “talk” action tokens, take advantage of an inventory to use and combine items in and your wits are all you need to play the game.
• Stylized Pixel art. All the charm of pixel art of the past with more colours, combined with the new visual effects of the future. Some pixels look so real they can almost jump out of the screen.
• Go back to a simpler time where mixtapes were a thing, the Commodore 64 was king, and kids could go play outside at night and the only main thing of concern was the giant KILLER ALIEN trying to get you and your friends.
• The decisions you make affect relationships between each of the characters and thus by extension the puzzles, game progression and story. Choose wisely.
• The most radical music a synthesiser can play. Cool and thematic synthwave music arranged into catchy tunes that are made exclusively for the game to power up the 80s vibes for full immersion.

Our full upcoming review will let you know if the £15.99 asking price is one that is worthy of Unusual Findings. If you want to take a punt whilst that review plays out though, you’ll find the Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S download you need over at the Xbox Store. 

Unusual Findings is on PlayStation, Nintendo Switch and PC through Steam too. 

Game Description:

It’s the 80s and the Christmas is coming, Vinny, Nick and Tony are young and their new cable signal descrambler just arrived. That same night while trying to decrypt a pay per view adult channel, they pick up the distress signal of an alien spaceship crash-landing in the woods near their town… Things only get weirder as they realize that the towering alien is killing very specific members of their community! Explore the world oozing with nostalgia, check the Video Buster Store for clues, challenge other kids at the Laser Llamas Arcades, go learn a new trick at The Emerald Sword comic store, try to get along with the punk looking Lost Guys at their hideout or even dare to ask THE BULL, the quintessential 80s Action hero, for some help! Follow the story that pays tribute to 80s classics like The Goonies, The Explorers, Monster Squad, The Lost Boys, They Live, Terminator, and Aliens among others and a gameplay that combines mechanics of Point and Click masterpieces like Full Throttle with its own unique twist and more. Your decisions do matter, and the way you make these three friends interact with each other increasingly affects their friendship and the whole story, changing the way they solve the game puzzles, the locations they visit, the answers they find, the story, everything. Uncover the truth hidden behind the alien invasion… well sort of. Why here? Why is it killing locals? How can the boys stop it? Will they tune in the adult channel after all? The answers to these and other questions… in Unusual Findings.