Lost Horizon Impressions

The Secret Files series has been incredibly successful in Europe, and it's allowed developer Animation Arts to produce a brand new IP. It's called Lost Horizon, and like Secret Files, it's a traditional point-and-click adventure game. We managed to meet with Animation Arts for a guided tour of the game, which starts out in Tibet in 1936.

You play the role of a British soldier called Fenton Paddock, who starts off in China on a mission to find a lost expedition. His journey takes him across the world to countries that include North Africa, Hong Kong, and India as he discovers a Nazi plot to uncover occult weapons.

The game itself revolves around traditional point-and-click gameplay, with dialogue trees, puzzles, and the occasional action sequence. How you talk to characters impacts the outcome of each situation, as we saw when Fenton tried smooth talking a woman in a bar to no avail. We also saw Fenton engaged in a car chase with the Nazis, and the player has to control both Fenton and a character called Kim as she drives the car and he tries to shake the Nazis off their tail.

Lost Horizon looks beautiful, with 3D polygonal characters walking around hand-drawn backgrounds. All of the artwork has been produced in-house, and the car chase we talked about earlier looked great in full 3D. The interface also looks to be well designed, with quests queued up along the bottom of the screen, which is where you can also find hints if you're struggling.

Lost Horizon is set for release next year on the PC.