What started with pixelated platformers like Shovel Knight has gradually expanded out to the early-3D survival horror goodness of titles like Crow Country and Conscript and is now continuing with point-and-click adventures such as “Whirlight: No Time to Trip.” Whirlight’s developer, imaginarylab, has actually just put out a free demo alongside a brand-new story trailer, so fans of the genre don’t even have to wait to get a good helping of it.
Review: Crow Country
Crow Country is a delightful love letter to its inspirations from the PSX era of survival horror games.
Journeying through Whirlight: No Time to Trip will introduce players to an inventor named Hector who, although brilliant in some ways, has never actually managed to fully realize any of his ideas. At the adventure’s outset, Hector finds himself flung forward nearly thirty years into the 90s. Fortunately for him, he meets Margaret, a young artist who is herself quite smart. As they deal with the situations that keep cropping up around town, they’ll not only have to figure out time travel but perhaps even how to save the entire world.
With time travel readily available, players will have a wide array of scenarios to explore and secrets to discover.
From the outside looking in, it seems like imaginarylab is crafting an experience reminiscent of the widely celebrated Monkey Island games. It’s cartoony aesthetic and the very picturesque scenes shown in the new story trailer have a very similar quality to them, and it looks very much like there’s a heavy focus on comedy and quirky characters.
Gameplay-wise, Whirlight: No Time to Trip looks as though it will deliver on the tried and true point-and-click formula of collecting items and figuring out how best to use them. However, its makers also claim that its collection of riddles and puzzles will require both creativity and logic to solve, so perhaps there’s more here than simply moving items around. The time travel element also shouldn’t be discounted, as it could greatly expand puzzle possibilities if used well.
Beyond these qualities, Whirlight: No Time to Trip will also feature a rich cast of characters to interact with, a supposedly very twisty and entertaining story and an original soundtrack that’ll hopefully enhance each setting players encounter. As stated above, there is afree demo live on Steam right now,so those interested can either try that or just go check out imaginarylab’s other point-and-click title: Willy Morgan and the Curse of Bone Town.
Whirlight: No Time to Trip launches for PC in 2025, with ports to PlayStation, Xbox and Switch to come sometime later.
