The Abbey

Classic point & click adventure game where you investigate a series of murders in an abbey.
As usual you need to speak with everyone, collect, combine and use objects in order to move with the story. There are a couple of very easy puzzles along the way that shouldn't block you too long if you have the needed objects in your inventory.
The graphics are gorgeous for the period, all dialogues are voiced. My only grip is the walking speed in some screens, however you can usually double click to skip a scene or use the map through the M key for direct teleportation.

Pay attention that a remaster / director cut edition of this game is sold on Steam for half the price, may be better to grab it but I didn't play myself so I can't compare.

Unfortunately, it is impossible to play this game on Windows 10. The reason is - developers used a lot of Spanish letters in game files naming, in example ñ.

The game won't even start if you would not fix one of such letters. But there are literally hundreds, if not thousands such files, so you cannot fix them all.

Even though the game looks great, it should not be sold on Steam in such a condition. Refer to forums for details, you've been warned.

A good mystery, however it is very very slow. The characters are interesting and you want to know what happens but you really need patience to get anywhere.

pros

+ well drawn hand-painted background graphics
+ story based on The Name of the Rose and it's quite intriguing. you're investigating some murders in abbey
+ there are some nice orchestral musics
+ generally good quality voice acting
+ interesting side characters
+ well made cinematics
+ there is a map for fast travel but interestingly you can't use nighttime
+ well written dialogues

cons

- slow paced
- few puzzles, with little variety or challenge
- characters can't run and slowly walk everywhere
- game buggy. i couldn't finish game because of a inventory bug.
- there is no auto save
- there are no steam achievements
- there are no cards
- lack of a button which shows hotspots causes pixel hunting

After 2.5 hours of playing without save, game is frozen. i had to stop game's exe with task manager and i lost my all progress. despite intriguing storyline, lack of fun puzzles and slow pace make this game tedious. i really don't want to play again same parts. therefore i give thumbs down for this game.

HIGHLY recommended! It does start out slow but picks up to some grizzly moments, especially in Chapter 4! You are in the 15th century(or something like that) during the Renasaunce period. You are Leonardo de Toledo, (of Toledo) and mentor to a thick-headed but brave apprentice named "Bruno". You have been sumoned here to solve a murder(or several). with an Inquisitor on your tail as you try and solve these mishaps at the abbey. You are an investigator, not part of the Spanish Inquistion but you are not in good standing with them! The beginning starts out slow, but it picks up after Chapter One. lots of underground exploring in Chapter 3 and lots of drama in Chapter 4. nice beginning opening movie and nice closure at the end. Do not pass this up! play this and then go for the Director's Cut too!

I recommend this - mysterious story based on The Name of the Rose, atmospheric sounds, graphic side is cute and it is not too short. On the other hand, slide puzzles should be banned, I hated that part of the game :( The relationship between the main character and his apprentice is kind of abusive and it disturbed me quite a bit.
It is not the best game I played, but it is worth a try.

Great adventure game set in the middle age. A bit like Umbeto Eco's "The Name of the Rose" but different story.
I never met ANY bugs in this game. But I enjoyed the game and the story a lot.

I was dubious at first (as the investigation takes a while to get going) but having just completed the story, I can say that I feel I got more than my money's worth. I really felt like I started as an outsider and came to get to know all the characters at The Abbey. This game wont be for everyone, but if like me you enjoy a slow-paced point-and-click intrigue then give this one a go. You might need to consult a walk-through for some of the more tenuous leaps of 'logic' but the story is solid and fun. Great ambiance. It's a pint sized Broken Sword.

A great little game. For sure, the pace is slow, but I felt this was appropriate. The story is very much about the characters, not random objects. I enjoyed the setting and atmosphere. At the end, I could happily have played another game featuring Leonardo. Something about the period really appeals.

I bought this game at 75% off. There were a lot of mixed reviews but I thought I'd try it anyway. I liked it. It's much like other point and click games. The story was interesting, the graphics were good and it wasn't short. Without giving away anything, the only thing I was disappointed about was that someone else in the game that deserved justice, didn't get it. It's a fun game if you like point and clicks. I'd recommend giving it a try if it's on sale.

A true story-rich point&click adventure game based on the book "The name of the Rose" by Umberto Ecco. Graphics are good and gameplay is smooth (especially if you use double click on exits and map locations to quickly jump scenes - press M when you're outside a location to access the map and also right click to skip cut scenes or fast forward through conversations).

Tags: Adventure - P&C - Point and Click

TLDR: Backtracking oriented in a small environment. Intellectual and memorable but with some stiff puzzles. Requires a guide.

Comes a hair short of being a cult classic. Polished and worthwhile P&C adventure that stands proudly on its own if not as tall as lucasarts, sierra or dedalic offerings.

The Abbey is a charming, cartoony, investigative point and click adventure game. It has an high emphasis on political intrigue, unraveling relationship between characters, motives, and has a strong investigative current through and through. The voice acting is mostly great with only a few blemishes, the graphics hold up very well, the lighting effects are very nice, however even with antialisasing I still had blurred textures, as well as an absence of widescreen.

The game is satisfying with a plot that grips you early enough and keeps you hooked until the end. The lenght is medium to short, but given that lack of variety in locations it seemed just about right.

If you keep a walkthrough handy for the few times you get stuck you will most probably have a wonderful P&C adventure experience, keep frustration to a minimum, be able to enjoy the narrative in a more relaxed manner, and you will probably find that you solve most of the puzzles on your own.

I recommend this for P&C adventure fans, especially if you would enjoy a medieval game that is not centered around fantasy elements or swordplay. Especially if you have a guide lying around. However, the game is not as iconic as the ones you might have grown up with and there is little to no reason to recommend it over them or return to the game once you have beaten it.

Visuals, story, characters and voice acting are all very good, game is certanly memorable in that regard, but two fings are stopping me from recomending it:
1. Missing assets bug, game will crash at certain spots and you will be forced to manualy rename incorrectly named files.
2. Puzzles are mostly fine, but often they are solved by visiting all locations to see if something changed since your last visit or talking to all characters for new dialog option. It becomes tedious realy fast (especialy if you now game can crash on you at any point and force you to repeat all that one again)

My advice: if you are interested in this game - just watch a walkthrough on youtube, you'll get everything that's good about this game and save yourself a lot of frustration

“Books are not made to be believed, but to be subjected to inquiry. When we consider a book, we mustn't ask ourselves what it says but what it means...” ― Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose

The Abbey is the perfect example of encountering a marvelous story where you least expected it. If I remember correctly, I got this game in one of those weekly sales on a ridiculous price like 2 or 3 dollars. Quickly checking up cartoony, a bit cheap looking animations and somewhat grim art work I wasn't expecting much. Looking for a little filler in my life, I decided to give it a try yesterday evening. It was 5 in the morning when I finished the game without a break!

Our story is set during the Middle Ages. Esteemed monk Leonardo del Toledo - an Italian and scholastic Sherlock Holmes, nonetheless - arrives to the Nuestra Senora de la Natividad Abbey to drop off his young novice, Bruno for his study with the local monks. During their journey though, they are assaulted by a hooded figure trying to crush them under a huge boulder in the steep mountain path. After their narrow escape and arrival, the Abbot asks Leonardo to investigate an odd accident that occurred at the abbey the other day, costing a brother of the order his life. The Abbot suspects that the Devil was at work! Wise Leonardo, knowing that there'd be no need for a devil when men's work is at hand in this earth starts his investigation alongside his personal toothache: a genuine idiot of a young boy and his novice: Bruno.

The story is heavily inspired by Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose, a classic murder mystery concerning the Medieval Scholastic Thought, the oppression of the church, the wrath of inquisition and the nature of knowledge. The lore presented within the game to establish the Medieval European setting is way more successful than I'd imagine it to be. Books that characters talk about, historical and religious references they use and the narrative terminology are spot on authentic. Small nuances in the written script - like using the word "ignoramus" rather than "ignorant" as the norm of the era for the educated in Latin - establish a certain dark mood in spite of the cartoony animations, suitable for the setting.

What would surprise me most is that the limited selection of characters residing in this secluded abbey - including our main hero - are wondrously well-written with deep personalities, moral and ethical dilemmas, opinions on philosophical subjects, scars of personal experiences and rich backgrounds! It is a philosophical and theological joy to read their dialogues narrating certain realities of the era with both subtle and blatant remarks. The story itself - and the mystery revolving around it - is well worth experiencing. The plotline and the involving parties' actions are well weaved and complicated; quite satisfactory for a mystery reader.

Graphics are no prize winner, it is possible to observe that much even checking some screenshots. Character animations are odd, plastic figures with cheap animations, moving with a certain crude form. With better animations, this game could have been much, much more. There is no sync between the animations and the voice acting whatsoever; but the voice acting itself is marvelously good! This must be a game of extremes, with things really good and really bad scattered around.

Gameplay isn't complicated at all. You collect certain items, combine some, use them in proper places and talk to people to gather information and bring a conduct to events. Our everyday P&C adventure game. You are welcome to check Leonardo's thoughts and notes in your inventory to get an overlook on the affairs anytime. Bruno will follow you everywhere like a detrimental infection and as the teenager idiot he is, he will worsen things a lot more than he will ease... still, we are a loving, patient and wise monk bringing God's love to any who'd listen, right?

The Abbey is an unexpectedly good purchase for you to consider, especially if it's on sale. I recall Sean Connery's portrayal of William of Baskerville, the monk in The Name of the Rose as soon as I heard Leonardo talking. It's an unmissable experience for any adventure gamer and the lover of a good old theological argument.

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A decent core story is buried under ragged delivery, questionably cartoonish presentation, technical flaws and god awful sliding tile puzzle. The Abbey finds a way to break the immersion almost every time you finally manage to start enjoying yourself.

First challenge arises even before the opening cinematic, for most simply starting a game will be an adventure of its own. Steam doesn't recognize unique spanish letters so you'll have to endure errors and crashes to find out just what files you have to edit and how.

The visuals are good enough (though sadly not as good as the screenshots imply, in motion 3D-models are a lot less pleasant to look at) with backgrounds being one of the stronger points of the game. Still, during the vital moments the cartoony style seems like an odd stylistic choice, conflicting with the seriousness of murder and religious rituals, destroying the atmosphere that could have been with a more fitting approach.

In the game itself most things exist to irritate you: from the astoundingly low position of the subtitles and MC's frustratingly slow movements to the existence of Bruno. On the bright side, dialogue and voice acting are mostly passable (except, well, the good old Bruno, one of the most useless sidekicks ever created), some characters even have more or less interesting back-stories to tell and there are several clumsily delivered but still decent twists to the main scenario. The story is almost compelling at times, but even this last pillar is mostly ruined by a rushed ending, which exposes everything in a massive info dump by the characters without any player input and confuses the poor player with plotholes and the out-of-nowhere deductions from Leonardo.

Few real puzzles are put into this project, but you may still find yourself stuck from time to time as objects that has always been there like to suddenly become grabbable and be a key to the stalemate. But my main problem lies with that inverted sliding tile gimmick, few people play adventure games for these kinds of challenge and, if you are not a master of the Mystic Square, it also downright kills the flow of the best and most dynamic act of the game.

It's not a plain horrible game without its moments, but I strongly feel that Abbey's downsides are outweighing any fun it could offer.

2/5

I really wish I could recommend this game. It has a neat setting and at certain points it really nails a nice atmosphere. Certain parts of the game are fun and some of the game's problem-resolutions are pretty clever once you figure them out.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get to the end of the game because the developers decided to put a difficult sliding tile puzzle in, and evidently I'm not the only one who couldn't get through it. I just find it extremely annoying when adventure game developers put these types of obnoxious actual puzzles in their games, let alone at crucial moments in the game once you've already invested a lot of time in it. People can do those kinds of puzzles online if they wanted to- throwing one in in a game like this just misses the point and adds game time in an extremely lazy way. I think I had read something about that puzzle in the reviews before getting the game, but didn't pay much attention to it. I wish I had listened to them.

Also, it's hard to tell from the screenshots, but the animation seems somewhat low-budget. Maybe it is an indie developer, so that is okay, but just to let you know going in... it looks like well-detailed, nice 2d backgrounds with simple, low-budget 3d character animations just sort of superimposed on it. Sometimes you can't notice, but other times it just looks kind of cheap.

Have you ever seen the movie "THE NAME OF THE ROSE" with Sean Connery and Christian Slater? Or better, have you ever read the book (Il Nome della Rosa, author: Umberto Eco) from which it was inspired?
If the answer is: YES, you already know the plot of this game, generally speaking!
If not, here is a summary of it:
Medieval Age, two monks arrive at an ancient and famous Abbey where are happening strange things: bloody incindent, murdered people and. apparently, even a ghost that haunted the library of the Abbey.
So the task to solve these mysteries is put in the hand of the two monks: Leonardo (guess who is that gave the inspiration) de Toledo and his disciple Bruno (a young dumb irritating boy). They find, obviously, difficulties, silence and boycott, especially when they try to investigate deeper in the library, the very heart of the Abbey, and it seems the very heart even of this murdered.
Who is behind these terrible deeds, who is the architect of these ferocius foul playes, a devil or a human being? And above all, why is this library important? What is the misterious secret concealed inside it that needed to be guarded so thightly to drive someone to kill to protect it ?...
You want to know? Play the game

Pro&Con:
1) the plot was interesting and amusing
2) the dialogues are good and well speaked
3) the graphics are in cartoon style (so pretty at eye)
4) the gameplay is not excellent, there is not tutorial, and even if this game is a point&click adventure, not all is so obvious: for example, the inventory is showed, when you move the cursor on top of the screen, as a sort of curtain)
5) the main menu is in spanish language (that's ok), but I can't figure out a way to name my saving, so there was no name of the saving, no timing, only a series of "?????". So, fix in your mind what was the last scene in which your characters were, otherwise you will be stuck in the search of the right savegame
6) there isn't a Map, so no way to move fast: you need get through all the location one by one every time you need to move (and you have to move a lot through the various locations)
7) the pace of game is slow

That is why my rating for the game is 7/10

8/10

I WOULD LIKE TO NOTE: I personally have not dealt with ANY bugs regarding this game.


While I haven't finished the game yet (ignore the 43.6 hours played - my fault for leaving the game running over night, so far I've played maybe 10-15 hours), I wanted to throw in my two cents before the end of the Holiday Sale. Personally I think the $1.99 is a steal.

Basic point and click game where you move back and forth between areas of the abbey finding objects and utilizing them to achieve results. The main character, Leonardo, is very similar to the Sherlock Holmes persona in his deductive reasoning methods, logic, and personality, but in this case he is a monk with a... let's say "naïve" boy for a side-kick. So far, with a few exceptions, the puzzles mostly involve finding hidden objects and using those objects to overcome obstacles.

I really enjoyed that almost all of the object locations/ solutions to problems involved basic logic - when a solution I tried didn't work, I was almost always VERY close to the actual solution. Most likely, what you think will be on the right track, you'll just have to push your thinking a little bit further.

The controls took me a moment to figure out but are basic and make moving through the different areas smooth. The art is an interesting mix of 3D and 2D (but strongly reminds me of cartoons I watched in the 90's). In terms of finding the hidden objects - I will admit to using a guide in several spots, but frankly, if you think you are in the right location to find something, you probably are - you really do have to pay attention to your environment to keep from missing the little details. Also, just a tip: keep your sidekick in mind. He's not the brightest crayon, but he's not just a decorative purse-puppy either.

That being said, I must disagree with some of the negative comments. I know nothing of the original story this game is based off of, but coming from a religious background and some experience in medieval history, I would say to keep in mind that: 1) this is a fictional (as far as I'm aware anyway) story - the characters are very blunt/cliché personalities, as is very common in kids' stories. 2) There are a lot of unsavory religious figures/beliefs throughout history that this does mirror. No, as far as I've seen it does not emphasize any inspiring religious feats, but I don't believe that this game was intended to to supplement the player's religious beliefs - it is through and through, a STORY of murder, greed, and corruption. I actually enjoyed many of the historical references and believe the creators did a fair share of research regarding the content.

The voice acting is well done and while the animations are fairly basic, they are placed to make the story feel like genuine interactions and the camera angles top off the whole "movie vibe." The premise of the story is common enough but the environment is unique and characters are fun to interact with. As it's my first playthrough I can't say much for how your responses the conversations impact the story- you do get to question characters and choose your responses, but I've noticed in several conversations that Leonardo will address all of your "optional" responses at some point, despite which selections you choose.

While it probably does deserve the whole $19.99, I am a cheapskate and probably wouldn't recommend spending more than $8.

I'm really suprised that this isn't more well known as a quality point and click adventure. It has a very good plot, mostly good voice acting, sensible puzzles and well done sound and visuals.

The best point of this game is the plot quality. It has a really interesting story featuring characters with depth. Your character, a Catholic monk, arrives at a remote monastery with his young acolyte and is asked to help solve a potential murder. Things get complicated quickly but the story never loses credibility. Good scripting (with a few minor mistranslations in the English version) and very solid voice acting make this a great story to experience.

Other good points:
Understated but well composed music.
Very nicely drawn background art.
Good puzzle quality

Things to make you think twice before buying:
It is a bit too expensive given its length (10 hours gameplay at a guess). I don't feel ripped off but try to get it in a sale.
The style of character artwork is a bad choice. The game's material has moments that are quite dark but the character faces are Disney cartoon.
Character walking speed can be slow although double clicking to quick-travel between screens makes this much less of a problem.

In short this is a good story well told with challenging puzzles. Maybe a little too expensive at £15.

Overall, I enjoyed this game. It is apparently based on a book called "The Name of the Rose". It takes place in a monastery, and is about a monk and his novice investigating a series of murders. As one might expect in a game about murders in a monastery, there are some monks of dubious character. There are also several monks who are very decent people.

The game is a simple point-and-click, with one slider puzzle. Objects can be a bit hard to find and involve some backtracking around.

A couple tips to help with the gameplay- the characters walk slowly, but double-clicking on the next area will take you there right away. Moving the cursor to the top of the screen opens the inventory, moving it to the bottom closes it, and pressing m when in an open area will bring up an interactive map.

I wouldn't pay full price for this game, but it was an enjoyable play.