Sir William has recently died, of causes still unknown, and been laid to rest in the local cemetery. The game’s name is derived from the dual player-character setup-throughout the adventure you will alternate playing the thief Timothy Moor, a young rogue trying to make his way to a new life in America, and Detective Sergeant Briscol, newly arrived in the English town of Plymouth (circa 1894) investigating his first assignment-a very dark and unsettling series of gruesome deaths centering around the “White Beast,” Sir William Arthur Lewis, a strange young man of great wealth who has been accused of countless murders, all of which remain unproven.

Fortunately, Alter Ego shows that the developers listened to the negative response to that game and actually focused their attention on improving the trouble spots, ultimately producing their best adventure yet, although not without stumbling badly right at the finish line. This is the fifth major adventure produced by the Czech studio, and I had the (dis)pleasure of reviewing 2007’s Next Life, a thoroughly disappointing game with far more negatives than positives. Perhaps you can’t really ask for more from a developer than improvement, and that’s what the dark mystery adventure Alter Ego represents for Future Games-a significant improvement.

Alter ego game hentia