The Colonel's Bequest
| The Colonel's Bequest | |
|---|---|
Cover art
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| Developer(s) | Sierra On-Line |
| Publisher(s) | Sierra On-Line |
| Director(s) |
Roberta Williams Chris Iden |
| Producer(s) | Ken Williams |
| Designer(s) | Jacqueline Austin |
| Programmer(s) | Chris Hoy Chris Iden |
| Artist(s) | Douglas Herring Gerald Moore |
| Writer(s) | Roberta Williams |
| Composer(s) | Ken Allen |
| Series | Laura Bow Mysteries |
| Engine | SCI0 |
| Platform(s) | Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS |
| Release | October 1989 1993 |
| Genre(s) | Adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
The Colonel's Bequest is a character-driven graphic adventure game by Sierra On-Line. It was developed for Atari ST, Amiga, and MS-DOS in 1989. It was the first of the short-lived Laura Bow Mysteries series created by Roberta Williams, which used many elements from the game Mystery House and is known for its lack of discernible point system. The Colonel's Bequest was created with SCI0, and employed 4-bit color (16 colors) and a typing interface. Its sequel The Dagger of Amon Ra was released in 1992.
The Colonel's Bequest is one of the few Sierra On-Line adventure games to focus more on the characters than puzzles. Although solving puzzles is required to obtain a high score, it is more important to discover information about the characters' backgrounds and relationships with each other. Regardless of the importance of these elements, it is possible to finish the game without solving any puzzles, discovering many important details about the characters, or even identifying the murderer.
Although some actions are recorded and scored at the end of the game, there is no discernible point system. In order to aid the player in achieving a higher score during their next attempt, upon completion of the game, it reveals hints and information about things that were missed. This implies that the game is intended to be replayed.
The game's characters make plans to be in certain places at certain times, which allows the player to follow them. Characters may get annoyed with the protagonist Laura Bow if they catch her snooping on them or asking too many questions, although this is obvious only in dialogue and the plot is not affected.
Death lurks around every corner, but Laura is almost never threatened by the mysterious villain because she is not related to the Dijon family. Staying consistent with other Sierra adventure games, most deaths experienced by the player occur by accident or misadventures such as falling off a balcony, or being crushed by a falling chandelier. However, the player may be killed by the murderer in the later phases of the game. For example, the murderer's arm reaches out at specific locations and snatches Laura away. In another case, the murderer appears in the darkness and strangles Laura to death. One of the more notable non-accidental deaths occurs when the player simply attempts to shower: the murderer stabs Laura in a reference to the Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho.
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