WaxWorks

Waxworks is a dungeon crawler and roleplaying adventure game with elements of terror developed by Horror Soft and published by Accolade. The title was released for the Amiga and DOS in 1992.

The British developer became famous for the production of the Elvira: Mistress of the Dark series. After the creation of Waxworks, it was renamed Adventure Soft, where it was known for creating titles like the Simon the Sorcerer saga.

The story is about a curse that fell on a family as part of the revenge of a witch named Ixona. After the death of his uncle Boris, the main character inherits a wax museum and a crystal ball. Then, he discovers a letter from his uncle in which he tells him how the family is affected by the millenary curse. This causes that every time two twins are born, one of them will be guided by the path of evil, so the brother of the main character is in danger. To save him, he must use the wax figures to travel in time and defeat the evil twins located at different moments and locations in history. If the player survives all these trips and kills the witch in the last one, the curse will be broken.

The game is a point and click adventure in first-person. It is constituted by different combat and puzzle sections and an experience system that will facilitate the fights and riddles. Except for the last period, where the witch must be killed, any of the eras can be accessed without a specific order. The game eliminates the player's inventory and resets the experience obtained each time the player accesses a new era. This is because being a non-linear game, users could get too much experience in just one period and greatly facilitate what remains of the title.

Each period that the player goes through is made up of a particular theme that executes the domination of one color over the rest. To further accentuate this, this color will have a very high level of saturation while the rest will be opaque and barely distinguishable. This can go unnoticed in some areas like Egypt, where players are used to seeing yellow, or in rooms where the palette is balanced. But this detail is beginning to be noticed in cities like London, where an unjustifiable dark French blue occupies the entire screen. The title also stands out for its excessive use of gore. The protagonist can die in a lot of ways, and the game does not hesitate to show it in detail.

The reviews were generally good. The predominance of gore, the strong images, and the excess of blood took all the attention of the title. This caused a disclaimer to be added that recommended the title only for those over the age of 18.

Waxworks is not only a violent entry but also one that encourages logical thinking and generates tension at all times. If you want to test yourself in all these aspects, you can play this fun but visual experience right now.