Amanda the Adventurer Review (Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 & PC)

I’m hunkering for something that oozes Playtime Co. and Happy’s Humble Burger Farm combined, which, given the popularity of the tormented animatronic trend, doesn’t come as too much of a surprise in this day and age. But I want it. I’m still hungry for more. And at this point, I don’t care if it’s a possessed cow with violent tendencies, or a lullaby-obsessed brat with a natural obsession for breaking necks with her bread at teatime. The fact is, if it bleeds innocence, but also does everything in its power to harbor a slightly more sinister tone, then I’m all for it. And that, really, is why I feel so drawn to Amanda the Adventurer. Cutesy characters? Check. Creepy atmosphere? Check. Mind-numbing puzzles? Check, check, check. I want it, and I want it to put ol’ Dora the Explorer to everlasting shame.

I’ll put my hands up and say this: I didn’t quite know what to expect when I first inhabited the cold and damp quarters of the hollow attic. I knew there would be a message, and boy, I knew there would be an ultimatum: depart at first dawn to flee the horrors that would come to pass, or slide in that old VHS tape to unravel more of its inner mysteries. But that wasn’t a choice that needed any major thought — for when my aunt—a woman who, for some reason, decided to pass over the keys to her humble estate— asked me to delve deeper into the ominous history of a television duo, I felt obliged to take the plunge. Who was Amanda? What on earth did a sheep named Wooly have to do with anything? I needed answers. I needed to watch it.

Rewind

Amanda the Adventurer paints a very simple picture, and it doesn’t take much to make sense of its layers — at least not to begin with. Firstly, there’s an old attic—a gloomy space that houses several artifacts, including some old hand-me-down toys, family heirlooms, and of course, a VCR player. Secondly, there’s a note, which essentially paints the outlines for a story pertaining to the disappearance of various folks, who, for some reason, have something to do with an old children’s show. That, in short, is where you begin your journey — aboard the airtight attic space, and in search of a rabbit hole that will lead you into the episodic reality of two seemingly innocent characters, Amanda, and Wooly.

The game begins with a simple task: load up a tape, and watch the picture-perfect prelude of a children’s TV series that looks an awful lot like Dora the Explorer. In a similar vein as the Nickelodeon staple, the show’s protagonist, Amanda—a girl who uses a mask of innocence to obscure a rather demonic image—asks you a simple question: what is your favorite pie? At key moments like these, you’re given a choice: use the keyboard to write an appropriate response, or say something that might just anger the heroine on the other side of the screen. Naturally, the answers that you choose to spew out have dire consequences—outcomes that directly affect the outcome of your session. Simply put, it’s your job to navigate these questions in a way that you see fit, and use your cunning skills to unlock one of several different endings.

A Blast from the Past

Amanda the Adventurer solidifies its place as an analog horror with a setting that’s as equally macabre as it is nostalgic. Like its 90s-inspired peers, the game doesn’t necessarily rely on cheap jump scares or bottomless pockets of lore to develop its appeal; it instead focuses on building suspense and, through the use of your actions, seeking out fresh ways to keep you on your toes and forever coming back for another adventure, be it for a better outcome or one that’s a little more befitting of the story. And that’s sort of why I fell in love with Amanda the Explorer: the fact that I never knew what outcome I’d obtain, and knowing that each input I would voluntarily choose would result in a unique ending that would be vastly different from the previous one.

There is one drawback to all of this: the story, or lack thereof. Aside from the obvious points—an eerily vacant attic, a sadistic character, and a whole bunch of VHS tapes—there isn’t much else to figure out. Once you’ve come to grips with the fact that there are two sides of a coin—Amanda, who uses the tapes to manipulate your actions, and Wooly, a companion who uses said tapes to warn you of any potential consequences—there isn’t anything else to knuckle in on. But that isn’t an issue here, weirdly enough, as the puzzles remain unique in their own respective ways, and the decisions that you make all lead to some form of unpredictable climax. Yes, its challenges are a little stubborn, but if you can summon the patience to withstand the pressure, there’s nothing to say that you won’t be able to enjoy the payoff.

A Fine Eye for Detail

The gameplay is something of a pain in the backside, as it more or less relies on your ability to locate certain items from within the tapes that you watch, and then use that fine eye for detail to link another item in the attic to the puzzle that you’re trying to solve. Thankfully, you can pause these tapes, which means, while you are likely to spend a lot of time aimlessly wandering around trying to figure out which component aligns with which socket, you can still rely on dumb luck alone to navigate a lot of the obstacles. And if you do happen to make a mistake, then you need only rewind it back to the beginning and opt for an alternate route. It’s a bit of a ball-ache, for sure, though I can’t say that it’s enough of an issue to mar an otherwise immersive experience.

I wouldn’t say that Amanda the Adventurer is a classic example of a terrifying horror game, because it certainly lacks the depth of one. Having said that, it does manage to manifest some pretty eerie moments, most of which pocket themselves within memoirs. And there’s something about that sense of blissful camaraderie that makes us feel, I don’t know, uneasy. From the grainy visuals to the happy-go-lucky theme song, and just about everything else that comprises a 90s show — Amanda the Adventurer does in fact manage to capture the beating heart of a genuinely chilling concept. Is it the best I’ve ever seen? No. But then, I’d be lying if I said that it didn’t make my skin crawl even at the worst of times, too. Swings and roundabouts, I guess.

Verdict

If you felt even the slightest glimmer of joy in barking orders at Dora during your adolescent years, then boy, you’re really going to get a kick out of testing Amanda’s patience with this one. Granted, there isn’t a huge amount of plot points to unravel here, nor is there a major overarching storyline to pick apart with a fine tooth-comb, for that matter. But that isn’t too much of a bother, given the fact that there are numerous avenues to explore, endings to knuckle in on, and not to mention a surprising amount of content to unpack over a relatively beefy campaign, too. All in all, I’d say that this is enough to warrant a sitting, if only just.

While it is possible to crack the code in a matter of minutes, this isn’t to say that you can’t squeeze a handful of hours out of the system. And it’s thanks to the game’s clever inclusion of the player’s input that, even if you’ve already caught wind of the next story beat, nothing is to say that you’ll wind up with the same conclusion. Add the fact that each of the VHS tapes that you unravel each possess some quality voice acting, effects, and a whole lot of hidden messages, and you’ve got a lot of fantastic ingredients for a genuinely enjoyable analog horror experience. Sure, its puzzles are a little tight-fisted, and yeah, it doesn’t do a great job of explaining how to go about solving them. But these are small things, and quite frankly, things that barely hold a candle to the sheer volume of quality offerings.