You may not have heard of Little Big Adventure, but if you have, it’s likely you remember it fondly. It popped up on PC in the last months of 1994, then found its way to PlayStation and other platforms. It didn’t shift millions, but it gained cult status for its unique atmosphere, inventive controls, and memorable story of a despot, a rebellion, and a chosen one. Understanding Twinsen’s Quest really means understanding its origins, so it’s worth a recap.
Little Big Adventure was the first game from French studio Adeline Software, followed a few years later by a sequel. Developer [2.21] has brought back some of the original team for this remake — including composer Philippe Vachey, revisiting a memorable theme tune — as well as new creatives drawn from the LBA fan community. Designer Didier Chanfray has said that the Little Big Adventure series was always intended to be a trilogy: now the goal is to remake both of the original games in a modern style, before finally completing the set. Exciting stuff for long-time fans.
Twinsen’s Quest mostly follows the story of the original game, adding on a little prologue and switching a couple of characters around to modernise the damsel-in-distress narrative of 1994. The hero Twinsen starts the story proper incarcerated in an asylum by the evil Dr. Funfrock (seriously). His crime: having prophetic dreams about the end of the world. Twinsen must break free and discover his own role in the prophecy while setting out to rescue his little sister, travelling the planet across a colourful range of biomes, from the streets of Citadel Island to the icy Hamalayi Mountains via the sands of White Leaf Desert.
But what was so magical about this game back in 1994? The first thing to strike you were the graphics. High-resolution (640x480 pixels) 2D isometric backdrops were populated by characterful, low-poly 3D figures. Twinsen was beautifully animated, skipping sportily, tiptoeing about, and throwing weighty punches. The second thing to note was the controls: Twinsen was able to change his mood, enabling different actions. When “normal” he would walk around and chat to people, when “athletic” he would run and jump, an “aggressive” mood enabled fighting, and being “discreet” meant sneaking about, with each footstep sounding out a curious note on a double bass. Ingenious… and now kind of awful.
You see, Adeline originally went with tank controls. Partnered with some fairly tight spaces to navigate, an unwieldy running mode, a dangerously slow walk, and the need to stop play briefly while changing moods – not to mention the loads between separate, non-scrolling screens – the experience was terribly stilted. At the time, it was inventive and new; unfortunately, it now seems like a dead end in the evolution of control schemes. If you’re still clinging onto the nostalgia, have a quick look at a video of the original game and it won’t take long for the rose-tinted glasses to slip off your nose.
All of this is to say that [2.21] had quite a challenge on its hands in revisiting a cult favourite after all this time. Some big design decisions were needed, and they have been made. Tank controls are gone, and it might sound like sacrilege, but the whole mood system is gone, too.
Now, you might expect, you could push the stick a little bit to sneak, a medium amount to walk, and the whole way to run, covering three of your moods instantly. But expect all you like: that’s not how it works. However much you move the stick, Twinsen always runs. Clicking the stick will toggle a walk, but it’s completely useless, and now we’re back to moods anyway! We sought all over the controller for a way to tiptoe about and hear that double bass, but it seems the “discreet” mood has simply vanished. It feels like a missed opportunity, but it must be said that the big call here was allowing jumping and punching without having to switch between special states – and that alone justifies saying goodbye to the eccentric control system of the original.
In the end, then, we have a fairly normal means of navigating the world and the game has to stand or fall on the charm of its exploration and story. Fortunately, these are mostly intact. The new visuals – 3D backgrounds rather than isometric pixels – are all a bit jaunty and jokey compared to 1994. The sound effects were always in exactly that style, full of boings and squeaks, so the visual revamp works. Popping anthropomorphic robot elephants with your magic ball or dodging soldiers’ rifle shots as you charge past is more fun than it ever was. Sadly, it does feel like there are some gaps in the animation – especially how Twinsen just stops dead when you release the stick, jolting back to a standing position.
Progress through the game is mostly a long trail of fetch quests and passing messages from one humanoid rabbit or talking ball-person to another. Finding the last bit of dialogue that will unlock the next section can be infuriating when it involves travelling between multiple locations, and we had our fair share of just-try-everything moments. But the story that eventually unravels is somehow compelling. Combat is not the game’s forte so it’s just as well there isn’t too much of it until later stages. Throwing your magic ball is clunky and unreliable and throwing punches is the same. Platforming is equally poor but equally rare, with jumps being unwieldy and certainly not feeling in any way satisfying.
But the real bad news on this one is that Twinsen’s Quest is severely lacking polish. We hit multiple bugs where we had to reload; various NPCs prompted dialogue then didn’t say anything; Twinsen spent hours of the game asking everyone he met about the Pirate LeBorgne, even after we had solved that part and moved on; critical progress points were easily missable… it was tough going at times.
Conclusion
Little Big Adventure was always a charming and eccentric game. In modernising it, 2.21 had to ditch the trademark control scheme and revamp the wonderful isometric graphics – two major selling points. What remains is still charismatic, but bugs and a general lack of polish hold it back. Both for new players and for original fans, this is a quirky adventure game – but not one that will be remembered for another 30 years.
Comments 28
I remember playing this game when it first came out. I can't remember what it was that really drew me to the game. I thin kit was some kind of technical aspect, but I just can't remember. The game didn't stick with me, so it must have been something shallow. I barely remember playing it. I wonder if it was the 3D treatment. I guess the nostalgia isn't high enough to pick this up given the low rating.
they took the tank controls OUT?! 😰
Ive been waiting for this for years and they ***** IT UP?! there's NO OPTION for normal controls?
I feel like flipping a table. somebody gimme a table. 👺
For those of you not old enough to remember the wild west of PC gaming device drivers pre-Win98, let me tell you, getting a game to run was a chore. The only reason I remember this game is because of how much work I put in for years across several PCs trying to get it to run. Never did. Maybe now's my chance.
As someone who owned and absolutely loved the original game on PC as a kid - man, it's such a bummer that they removed the mood system. That's honestly such a big part of the fun. I even like the tank controls, believe it or not. I think they should have resisted the urge to modernize everything, and stuck as close as possible to the original vision and gameplay, with better visuals. And I say that as someone who is usually cool with drastic changes, but it sounds like they sapped out all the distinctive things that made this such an interesting game.
@naxuu
COMPLETELY AGREE. I'm so disappointed that they ruined our special game 😟
Loved this game and it's sequel as a kid back in the 90's. I recently (earlier this year) replayed both using Exodos, so no need for me to get the remake.
Thanks for the review, if I ever give this a try - not so sure considering the other cons and especially since I think that more could've been done to keep the aspects of the original like the moods while having quality of life features (potentially even as options to let those who played the original play this the way they used to similar to how other remasters/remakes have even toggleable tank controls) - I'll wait for most if not all bugs to be fixed first and foremost!
My neighbors played the original two on their PC's in the late 90s. One of them even said that he wanted to be part of the team developing LBA 3 in the future as an adult. Back then I just said that LBA 3 will be done years before anyone of us reaches adulthood.
And here we are with a new version of the first game and no LBA 3 on the horizon.
Microids are a poor developer. I don't think I have ever bought any of their games, but I know to steer clear of them. 40 years of mediocrity. How have they survived so long?
Edir, I have bought one of their games actually.. Flashback on Switch. I had the original on Megadrive too but that was Delphine/ US Gold.
Should've just ported the Steam versions. Currently they have several QOL features such as support for new game plus and the ability to turn wall damage off.
Meh Microids destroy everything that was good about this game, guess I'll move on and emulate this later instead.
I also have nostalgia for this game, and I'm actually extremely comfortable with tank controls, but I'm OK that they removed them and think that is in fact the smart choice (since, shocker, there may be people who are interested in this game but don't want to wrestle with a prohibitively cumbersome control system), but not keeping the mood system in some form was a misstep to me.
@OorWullie They aren't the developer. They're the publisher. Nonetheless, outside of Syberia: The World Before in 2022, they haven't really published many quality works in a long while.
A game far too much of its own time. Not worth the effort to try to redo it tbh
Ended up cancelling my preorder after I tried the Steam demo some weeks back. Felt really off and unpolished.
Pretty sure that I remember the sequel as being much superior.
@TotalHenshin Yeah, I should have wrote developer/ publisher. I wasn't really meaning this game though, just in general. I'm not a fan.
Long-time fan of the IP but I'll pass, with regret.
Unfortunately, I saw it coming from a distance. A public playtest of ill omen took place only a few months ago: the first impressions were not very encouraging and there was no chance of them fixing it enough without delaying the game, which they did not (Microids I guess...).
Many good intentions, matched by the number of design errors. An overall feeling of misunderstanding of what it means to “modernize a game”: they removed elements with strong potential for innovation (e.g.: the mood system could have been used a la Majora's Mask) and failed to solve certain problems dating back to the time (e.g.: catastrophic jumps).
I cancelled my pre-orders yesterday (Switch and PS5 due to lack of info on version performance).
Yikes!
It never grabbed me as a kid, but it certainly fared better back then.
@Zealv2 @Contes don't get put off by the old demo on Steam. The currently available game is much more pleasant and polished than that old play test. While I agree there's a missed opportunity for the mood system (personally I thought putting a mood pro shoulder button or pro cross button would have worked great), the game gives me the same chills I had as a kid playing the original. I'm almost done with it now and I have yet to trigger any of the bug the reviewer claims to have seen. There still is a little lack of polish, though nothing that can't be fixed with a patch.
Then again the original was at its time still clunky and lacked polished in some areas, despite how we might remember it to be.
I'm having a blast besides the disappointment of the mood system being removed. Looking forward to the second remake. Until then I'll replay the original LBA2, which is still one of my favourite games.
@Luffymcduck your neighbors probably would have done a better job! 😂
Not so much a bargain, then.
If you know, you know.
Played this back in the day, and seem to remember enjoying for the most part at the time.
Was surprised by the news that it was being ported to Switch. Might have been interested for the right price, but not after this review, which I appreciate.
I'm not a believer in bashing games in general, but based on the review, '5 - Average' may be a bit generous.
"Twinsen’s Quest mostly follows the story of the original game, adding on a little prologue and switching a couple of characters around to modernise the damsel-in-distress narrative of 1994."
Couldn't leave well enough alone. The game's either a classic or it's not. If it is such a classic that it merits a remake, it means people loved it as it was. No need to "modernise" the story. It sounds like longtime fans are upset about the removal of the mood system and tank controls as well. Sounds like they modernized too hard.
Shame. As a huge fan of the original Alone in the Dark trilogy, I've wanted to play Twinsen for the longest time, as this was the next game crafted by AITD director Frederick Raynal and composer Philippe Vachey. I was holding out for this remake, but I'll probably just go play the original on GoG.
@naxuu I have to say, I feel the opposite.
For me it was always the visuals which made this game so hypnotizing in the 90s (and so nostalgic today) and the controls which made it utterly unenjoyable. I wish that they had changed the controls but left the cheesy CGI visuals. Or even better: real-time-3D-ified them to match what was pre-rendered in the 90s. This just looks like a completely different game.
I first discovered the game in 2011 thanks to an Australian YouTuber I was watching at the time. I absolutely loved the game. Since then I've managed to get hold of a copy of the PlayStation version, but I also have fond memories of being in school and downloading a DOSbox GUI app to play LBA. I bought the Android version when that became available and I bought both games on GOG years ago. I also backed the symphonic suite soundtrack at the level to own it on vinyl. I've been eagerly anticipating this remake for a while aand I was counting down the days until release. I was not disappointed. The game has improved upon some of the bits that I always felt were off about it (mainly the controls) and it just plays like any game I normally would play. Everything just feels how I'd expect it to feel and some things have been made less cumbersome (looking at you, Temple of Bu). I like the little change to the Grobo that is waiting for the 4th Star Wars film, due to there being a lot more Star Wars films. I won't spoil why though, so others can enjoy it too. I've even ended up making my partner interested in the game, due to my excitement and anticipation in the lead up to release and my enjoyment of the game. I can't wait to see the second game's remake now.
I'm OK with removing the tank controls, but no sneaking around with that exciting tiptoeing? :/ I'm not too pleased with this outcome, might still try it out... We will see, since one of my most magical PC games as a youth.
"We sought all over the controller for a way to tiptoe about and hear that double bass, but it seems the “discreet” mood has simply vanished"
I am pretty sure you can still sneak around. I haven't played the game yet, but I have watched videos and I swear I saw Twinsen sneaking in some of the footage I watched...
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...