Return to Mysterious Island

Where else but an adventure game do you take flour, water, a bird’s egg, maple syrup, and a lemon, put them in a kiln, and voila!, instant cake? Thank you, Kheops Studios, for making Return to Mysterious Island, an unofficial follow-up to Jules Verne’s literary classic 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. This is one puzzling adventure that goes beyond Myst clones.
You’re Mina, or rather, the castaway Mina. Your plan was to circle the globe in a small sailing vessel, but chance would have it that a terrible storm washed you away and stranded you on a deserted isle… except for that windmill… and those monkeys… and the Granite House. Fans of the Verne novel will recognize many of the book’s landmarks, including Captain Nemo’s famed Nautilus.
Starving and wasted from exposure, your tasks on the island first involve survival. Collecting items along the beach enables you to devise a plan for making fire, cooking food for Mina, and shooting monkeys. Yes, you shoot a bunch of monkeys. With a slingshot.
The general strategy involves making use of the gathered items and jury-rigging them into magnificently useful objects, or delegating them to your monkey assistant. Most of the puzzles are sensible, and the game’s encyclopedia system includes clues to assist you with some of the more chemistry-heavy solutions. And though there are no bubblegum or mustache contrivances, only a few of the puzzles break character with really stupid solutions.
Though you might spend hours tearing your hair out trying to figure out how to catch a snake, the game’s story feels short. Still, Return to Mysterious Island is a refreshing move away from blue and red books, and doesn’t require anal-retentive attention to detail (read: pixel hunting). Finally.

This article originally appeared in Computer Games Magazine #173