In 1991, after the rousing success of their port of Shadowgate, Kemco ported the point-and-click adventure game Deja Vu (developed by ICOM Simulations) to the Nintendo Entertainment System. Today, Shadowgate, Deja Vu, and Uninvited are most easily obtained as the MacVenture trilogy on Steam, PS4, or other platforms.
Deja Vu had a direct sequel, Deja Vu II, set a couple years later. In 1999, Kemco ported both games to the GameBoy in one cartridge, titled Deja Vu I & II. Unfortunately, Deja Vu II is not in the MacVenture trilogy for Steam/PS4.
The cover art of the Nintendo port is an artistic example of recursion. The protagonist is holding a picture of himself, and in the picture he is holding a picture of himself, and in that picture he is holding a picture of himself.
Deja Vu's gameplay was very similar to Shadowgate - there were menu commands like "TAKE", "OPEN", "LOOK", "HIT", etc. The player navigated the environment, used commands, collected objects, and used objects on the environment/people/each other to solve puzzles. Deja Vu also involved a significant number of conversations with people, in order to ferret out clues.
The biggest distinction was the genre of the setting and the storytelling. While Shadowgate was a heroic fantasy-adventure, Deja Vu was a noir/hardboiled mystery. The murky moral tone of the noir story, set in a city rife with corruption, starkly contrasted against the good-vs.-evil moral tone of Shadowgate.
The trenchcoat-clad protagonist of Deja Vu awakens as an amnesiac. He soon learns that he's wanted by the cops for a cold-blooded murder. Is he really guilty, or did someone set him up to take the rap?
Deja Vu didn't have as obvious a time limit as Shadowgate, but there was an undeniable deadline. If the protagonist did not find a certain critical item in time, it was game over. Success would prompt flashback scenes that provided clues to the unfolding mystery.
Other than the above dilemma, I'm not sure whether Deja Vu could be rendered unwinnable. I remember running out of coins to pay for taxi fare and thinking the game had become unwinnable, only to learn from a guide that it was not.
Like other MacVenture games, Deja Vu was packed with many, many ways to die (or get arrested), ranging from "totally baited", to cruel, to hilarious. Unlike the other MacVenture games, Deja Vu also had "bad endings", where the protagonist didn't die but did get sentenced to prison. The protagonist's actions during the game affected how long his prison sentence was in the "bad endings".
Deja Vu did have a "good ending", but about 3/4 of the way through I was so stuck I gave up completely, and followed a walkthrough to finish the game. A gamer more familiar with noir pulp fiction conventions might well have solved it more easily on their own.
Thoughts on Kemco's NES port of Deja Vu
.I can't say much about games I haven't played and finished, which is why it could be a while before I have anything to share about Deja Vu II, Uninvited, or Dragon View.
As for the Kemco games that aren't RPGs or point-and-click adventures... I think they're best left to someone else. Here's the list if anyone's got a favorite:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Kemco_games
I bet someone here has played Daikatana.
As for the Kemco games that aren't RPGs or point-and-click adventures... I think they're best left to someone else. Here's the list if anyone's got a favorite:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Kemco_games
I bet someone here has played Daikatana.
Victar’s Fanfiction Archive: https://www.vicfanfic.com
Featuring “Memories of an Overlord”, a Journey to Kreisia fanfiction novel
Featuring “Memories of an Overlord”, a Journey to Kreisia fanfiction novel