A new Simon the Sorcerer game has been released - "Simon the Sorcerer Origins". It is a prequel to the Simon the Sorcerer games.

Have you played the other Simon the Sorcerer games? What do you think about the series?
And do you plan to also play this new one?

There are a few things I can say about this series, but I want to have a simple and unbiased thread introduction, so let's begin.  

Simon the Sorcerer Origins on Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/19398...r_Origins/

I started playing today. I didn't get far, but I'll play it again later.
I like the art style, the whole game looks like a painting. The animations could be better, though.

I don't expect it to be as difficult as the previous game, but we'll see. (Simon 2 is my personal nemesis and I swear I'll beat it someday.)

Have you played the other Simon the Sorcerer games? What do you think about the series?

In general the series is fantastic. I played the first two Simon the Sorcerer games on iPad back in the early 2010s. They still held up really well despite being from the 90s. That theme song from the first game is very pleasant.

Simon the Sorcerer 3D is a game that I've now attempted twice to play. Both times I couldn't manage to get past the first 20 minutes of the game. It's very cringe and awkward in my personal opinion. The graphics look serviceable for 1997, but look completely out of place for a 2002 release date.

I was extremely fortunate enough to purchase Simon the Sorcerer 4: Chaos Happens. They only had it temporarily on GOG for some reason. GOG removed it from the digital store, but still allow people to download the game if they have previously purchased it. The game itself has amazing 3D graphics that I admire. Even though the voice acting is a bit stilted, I do seriously feel that this game did justice to the series. The humour matches the first two games properly.

I've never played the fifth game in the series - Simon the Sorcerer: Who'd Even Want Contact?! The cel shading technique they used looks absolutely mind-blowing! I would love to play it, but as far as I'm aware they never released this game in English.

https://www.eurogamer.net/30-years-later...-this-naff

I don't think it's a review, but Eurogamer was critical of the story

I've never played the fifth game in the series - Simon the Sorcerer: Who'd Even Want Contact?! The cel shading technique they used looks absolutely mind-blowing! I would love to play it, but as far as I'm aware they never released this game in English.

They did, but exclusively through the GamersGate digital portal. Then, due to some kind of rights dispute (I think), the game was pulled and disappeared forever. I reviewed it for Adventure Gamers back in the day and it was pretty good, though I remember nothing more about it now.

As for Origins, it sure is purdy, but even the extended press demo before release didn't really get into the meat of the game, so it wasn't enough to draw any conclusions.

I’ve just gotten to the second chapter, so it's still early, but there are already some things I like and some I don’t. For example, I like how they managed to make Simon a recognizable prick and bastard, even though he’s younger than in the original games - rude yet likable. It’s clear they’re going for the same type of humor. For instance, they break the fourth wall at times - when you talk to Calypso for the first time, Calypso says, "This is a prequel, we don’t know each other yet!"

The graphics are cartoony and appealing enough, though a bit uneven. It feels like they were aiming for fully hand-painted backgrounds in some places, while in others it looks more like Flash-style art, similar to the latest Monkey Island. The animation and character models are also mixed - sometimes good, but the walking animation, for example, is nothing to write home about.

What I’ve noticed so far is that some locations feel quite spacious but have almost nothing clickable. While that can work in Syberia, for example, I don’t think a comedic, cartoony game should do that. For example, would you believe there’s only one clickable object on this screen (a lady)?!:

If there’s only one thing on every screen, that sounds like a lot of trudging around. Yuck!

I have only played the first, second, fourth and fifth title of the Simon the Sorcerer series.
Yes, Simon is a prick, I never really liked the character itself that much (although there may be characters in other games who are "worse").

What I liked about the series is the overall setting, with fantasy, magic and creatures & characters from fairy tales. I especially like to remember the roleplayers in the attic in the second game, as a funny mix with modern pop culture, but other than that, don't remember thaaat much, since it's years ago that I played the games, and I only played them once.

I think I actually should play 1 and 2 again. Still not sure about the newest one. My impressions and expectations from what I have seen so far are still mixed.

Back then when I started working in the ("professional") games industry, I actually worked on the 5th Simon game. I am not proud of that. We only had a few months for the whole development, and we did our best (and crunched) to put everything into this small timeframe. But I enjoyed drawing the concept art for that one.

Years later, I also supported the team who wanted to develop Simon the Sorcerer: Between Worlds. I painted a few backgrounds for that one, but unfortunately the team dissolved, the game was never finished.

I've never played the fifth game in the series - Simon the Sorcerer: Who'd Even Want Contact?! The cel shading technique they used looks absolutely mind-blowing! I would love to play it, but as far as I'm aware they never released this game in English.

If I remember correctly, the game was released in English on DVD, but those games were never really successful and our company went bankrupt shortly afterwards, which is why it got lost somehow. Maybe watch a longplay instead of playing it? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V53Yp1jb2ew
Of course I understand that it's always better to play a game by yourself. What I can say is that this game got very much hate from a few german StS "devotees" when it was released. They were so crazy that they even threatened the devs personally, so I am still cautious with talking about this these days.

After all, I actually hope that the devs of this new game have more success with this game than we had back then.

And thinking about it, I guess I will have a look, even though not too soon. I am happy that they were able to finish their game, and I prefer this hand drawn style over the 3D style of the 3rd, of the 4th and of the 5th I worked on. I would like to make my peace with this series.

I've wanted to play the original Simon for a long time, and I have started it several times over the past few decades. But for some reason, something about it pushes me away and I've never made it much beyond 10 minutes or so of playing every time I've tried. It's a shame, because I know it's regarded as a classic and the newest one does look appealing to me.

I played the first one upon release and *loved* it, then I played the second one upon release and *hated* it. I've tried replaying the first one a dozen times, but apart from Chris Barrie's voice-over and the stunning pixels-arts, I find it to be horribly dated and boring with atrocious moon-logic. These games were slow paced, clunky and heavily relied upon pixel-hunting, trial-and-error, and really bad puzzle design.

I'm *very* luke-warm on this, but will probably buy and play it eventually. It looks pretty and has Chris Barrie. Not *really* sure why anyone would want a Simon game in 2025, but if that's your jam, this should hit that particular sweet-spot.