LP: TCB Introduction

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Released in October 1989, alongside the first Quest for Glory game, The Colonels Bequest is heavily inspired by Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None and is something of a remake of Mystery House, one of Sierra's first games released nineteen years prior.

Though still rife with references, as per Sierra tradition, it was supposed to be a bit of a departure from the typical puzzle solving questing of previous games. Colonel's Bequest was to be the first in the Laura Bow Mysteries series of games if it did well enough. Sales were good enough to warrant a second game, but, sadly, not a third. It was also one of the last Sierra games to be mainly keyboard controlled(SCI0), as the point and click system of SCI1 would come out in 1990, though it did incorporate some mouse action.

History lesson complete, let's begin.

Ah, copyright protection. I never played this game myself until a couple years ago, and only knew it existed because I stumbled onto my mother playing it a few years after we got the sequel. As things stand, I have no clue where the box, with whatever goodies came with it, is. It's probably buried under 10+ years of paper and knick knacks along with our Kings Quest games. Fortunately for those who never had, lost, or threw out your box/manual the internet is prepared for these kind of situations and you can find the fingerprint list if you look.

Incidentally, if you make the wrong choice you get this screen and the game closes itself.

While the correct choice nets you further play, so you could conceivably restart the game and guess as many times as it takes. I'm not sure about the original disks, but my version always has the same fingerprint.

Having gotten through that, we get the option to skip the opening cinematic, since you can't load any of your saves until you're in the gameplay portion. One quick “No” and our introduction begins.

Looks like someone is finishing up some legal proceedings. Probably our Colonel in question judging from the signature. Let's leave him to it.

Gah, watch where you throw that thing! That's a nasty paper cut. He's gonna need a new draft now. I don't think knife holes are allowed in legal documents. Wait...is that?

 Oh, it is...

Eugh, and now its dripping all over the title! That's just nasty.

Geez, just how much is there? The title is literally overflowing with blood. It's getting everywhere! Come on! There's not even that much blood on the blade!

Well, that sure happened. Nothing to worry about I'm sure. On with the game! You may have noticed the theater lingo in the earlier screenshots. This game styles itself as a play, with multiple acts and everything. It's not really important in the grand scheme of things. There aren't any forgotten lines or fourth wall breaking outside of what you'd find in any Sierra game.

So here we have the introduction of our characters and their general relationships to one another. Proper story introductions to follow in due time.

Sunburned orange is the new peachy-white, apparently.

Just to note, those squares on Ethel's hat aren't artifacts from poor picture quality. That's actually part of her sprite design.

Well, that wraps up our main cast. Now we can actually start the story.

Next time: Invitations and boat rides.

Fun Fact: Laura Bow's name is a reference to 1920's silent film actress Clara Bow.