Fenimore Fillmore: 3 Skulls of the Toltecs

Review

It’s the year 1866 in Arizona near the Mexican border, during a time of great turmoil in the wild west, with the cavalry fighting the Indians on the US border, the Juaristas fighting the French on the southern border, and bandits across both lands living lawlessly. The civil war is just ending and our story follows the wild adventure of a veteran of this war, named Fenimore Fillmore (our protagonist), as he gets tied up in a crazy hunt for legendary treasure after he witnesses a robbery and intervenes. He arrives at the edge of the cliff just as the robbers are about to overtake their victim, and shoots near them, scaring them off. He was able to learn of the great treasure, involving 3 golden skulls, from the man who was robbed, before you accidentally cause his demise. Taking his golden skull, you ride off through the canyon, but you are knocked out cold and the skull is stolen from you. This begins our humorous adventure as we chase after the legendary treasure, or 3 Skulls of the Toltecs! 

Released and self-published on Mar 14, 2019, by the developer Casual Brothers, it is an Indie Point and Click Adventure game that is a remaster of the classic 1996 release by Revistronic. The original game was the first Spanish-made title to be distributed worldwide, and is the first installment of the series. It is their 3rd release on Steam; with two of them in the Fenimore Fillmore trilogy. Visiting the website, you will find they do have the 3rd title for the series in the works now. The game does feature a very nice caricature-styled artwork going up to 4K Res. With more than 30 interactable characters, and over 75 items that are utilized in solving the puzzles across 6 locations, you will travel back and forth through the Old West as you solve a multitude of puzzles if you wish to discover the treasure of the Toltecs. It doesn't have any controller support; I am not really sure if controller support is even something useful for point and click games (let me know in the comments below). I more than likely would have used keyboard and mouse anyways as it’s how I have always played them. There are 8 language subtitles and 5 language voice-overs. There’s a setting for multi-monitor systems, multi-video cards, and quality of life settings like v-sync and motion blur and full screen. For audio, there is only master volume, subtitles and enhanced.

We begin our zany adventure witnessing a gang of bandits robbing a coach. We intervene in saving the man, after learning of the treasure he was protecting; you kind of "accidentally" kill him and leave with his golden skull, only to be robbed on the way to town. A couple of monks stumble upon the overturned coach; you wake up and spy on them. From here the actual gameplay begins as you are able to interact with the environment. Each character interaction has multiple outcomes for the dialog. You must figure out the correct alignment of questioning to progress. This can be tricky at times, when characters have many interactions. After finishing with a character dialog, I always double check that my interactions are indeed finished, as you may be presented with a new batch of conversation to engage in. You will collect many items along the way and must discover their uses in order to progress to the story’s conclusion. The game is ported from the classic 2D version but has the same classic control. You have 8 options for interaction with the game, that is split into four sections: Open/Close, Pick Up/Give, Use/Move, and Talk/Look. You must discover how each object needs to be used by listening to the many things you learn while interacting with the people in the game; they will give you clues you need for a different area that you have not been able to figure out. It all ties in to the 6 locations that you will travel back and forth to as the story unfolds.

I did have some issues with the game crashing in one of the locations; sometimes it would crash every 20 or so minutes. Next time I played, I didn't have a problem, and played for hours. Then I would launch again and it didn't want to load my saved game and the title locked up. Tried again later and it played without an issue again. So, it can be a little emo at times. They have released a patch for some of the crashes, but it seems there is still some work to be done. They have stated that it has been a very difficult project to port over from the original 2D version to the modern texture and engines. This resulted in a less than favorable launch for which they have apologized; they have been patching it. If they continue to finish the needed polish, it will withstand the test of time like the original, to become a cult classic. Once I get past the problem areas, the game plays great!

I admit I had a rough start with the title with it crashing, but once the game stops playing with your rage meters and lets you play, it is quite an interesting game. The artwork and humorous comedy, along with a well-built story, made the game for me. The cartoonish caricatured art style is quite enjoyable. And the spaghetti western-like humor keeps the story amusing.
I haven't finished my play-through yet but I do have a good start on finding the treasure of the golden skulls. The game’s interactions do take a little time to figure out, but once you get the basic concept of what the game wants, it can become pretty addictive as you piece more and more clues together and work your way towards the end game. Note: the game does not hold your hand; you must use logic and a bit of luck to figure out how to progress in some areas, as you discover all that there is to find. I have wish-listed Fenimore Fillmore: The Westerner, and await the release of Fenimore Fillmore's Revenge

Review written by DamageInc.for Zeepond.com!