A touch more magic

I told you everyone loves Simon the Sorcerer, so much so he came back for a sequel, subtitled 'The Lion, the Wizard and the Wardrobe'. I won't insult your intelligence by explaining the literary reference. It's more of the same point and click adventuring with some characters making a welcome comeback, others totally unique to STS part II. Most dramatic in the 'ring the changes quiz' department is Chris Barrie's no-show voice-over. He was replaced by someone cheaper, while Simon's personality took a no-holds-barred dive towards the dark side. Our favourite lovably cynical wannabe-wizard is now double-snarky, in a bitter, nasty sort of way, rather than an endearing Red Dwarf manner that manages to stay on the right side of 'feel good' comedy. Not necessarily all emanating from the lips of Simon, the sequel even contains a few incidences of casual homophobia that would never pass the rigours of today's PC scrutiny. You could argue that these lines determine the persona of the characters and there's no obligation for them to be likeable to be worthy of their place in the narrative, or for that matter to express the views of the dialogue writer. That's what the puddled cancel-culture brigade struggle so much with. People need to be able to decide for themselves if they're offended by a work of literature or whatever. They can't do that if it has already been wiped from society's communal hard disk, deleted and formatted with military-grade encryption techniques.

Odd character development sabotage aside, Simon II is equally as appealing as his first trip into alternative Neverland. It's hard to argue it's an upgrade in any way because the first game was so immaculately perfect in the graphics, sound and gameplay departments. More fairytales are alluded to, then twistedly warped to give them a fresh, contemporary lick of irony paint, dashing our expectations. There's no end to the cavalcade of bizarre characters, some of their surreal and often deliciously nonsensical dialogue trees or monologues unravelling over the course of aeons. It doesn't feel like it thankfully since Simon II is so well written it's like starring in the world's longest comedy stand-up routine. One you'll be sorry to realise has a terminating punchline.

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