Foolish Mortals: An artfully nostalgic point-and-click with voodoo at its heart

When it comes to point-and-click games, I have fond memories from my childhood playthroughs of the Monkey Island series. They’re classics, I think every fan of the genre has played them, and they reek of nostalgia at this point. Foolish Mortals is a point-and-click that feels like how I picture Monkey Island to be in my head.

I realize that sentence might not make much sense, but hopefully you’ll understand what I mean in a little while. 

When I think back on my favorite of the series, Curse of Monkey Island, I can guarantee that it looks better in my memories than it would actually look these days on a screen. Foolish Mortals, a point-and-click in development by Inklingwood Studios, is exactly how I picture Curse of Monkey Island in my head, but the story could not be more different.

Voodoo, restless spirits, and fumbled puzzles

If Monkey Island is the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney turned into a video game, then Foolish Mortals has more than achieved their hopes of being the same thing for the Haunted Mansion ride. The game is alive with scenes and references from the South: Voodoo and ghosts are everywhere you look, and the accents are broad. 

In Foolish Mortals, you play the role of Murphy McCallan, a treasure hunter interested in the famed lost treasure of Bellemoore Manor. You wind up on an old riverboat called The Spirit Queen, and inadvertently get dragged into a story of betrayal, voodoo, and restless spirits.

You’ll collect ingredients for voodoo spells, solve puzzles, fumble your way into locations that you shouldn’t be in, and befriend the locals in your attempts to unravel what happened inside the manor. 

Meet the locals

The town in Foolish Mortals is called Deadnettle, and it’s filled with characters just waiting to get into arguments with you. There’s Felix, the Maitre D’ at the Captains Club, voiced by Andy Mack. He initially looks down his nose at you before you cobble together a false captain’s license, but then swiftly changes his tune. Then there’s Evelyn, the single journalist at the local paper, voiced by Leader Looi. She point-blank refuses to let you touch her press but still puts you on the cover of the evening edition. 

There’s also the local friendly fisherman Ned, voiced by Gerald Hill. He will tell you his life story without much prompting, but he’s a friendly sort, and probably the most relatable character you’ll get to meet in the demo. And, of course, there’s Doctor Moray, the local Witch Doctor, voiced by Matthew Curtis. He’s the one who gets you involved in the voodoo madness, and while he talks a lot, you learn next to nothing about him as a person, at least not in the demo. 

If you were a fan of Monkey Island back in the day, then Foolish Mortals is going to pump you full of nostalgia for those old-school point-and-clicks while being graphically up-to-date and crisp. The story is engaging, and if you play the demo, you’ll find yourself feeling quite sad when it comes to an end. There isn’t a release date for the full game just yet, but you should definitely go and play the demo!