Doctor Gallagher's Residence now open on Steam

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Demo also available for retro-styled point-and-click adventure for Windows PC

Stop me if you've heard this one before: In a retro-styled, verb-based adventure, a group of young people find themselves sneaking inside the creepy ol' mansion of a mad scientist who definitely doesn't want them there. No, it's not Maniac Mansion, but rather Don Atila Estudio's newly released Doctor Gallagher's Residence, which shares more than a little DNA with the Lucasfilm Games classic but with a personality all its own.

In his home on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Arnoldo is looking forward to a night in, cozily reading a book in the company of his beloved pets. His plan quickly changes, however, when Mr. Fufu the cat escapes. What's worse is that he's disappeared onto the property of Doctor Gallagher, the source of many local rumours and legends – none of them good. Certainly the doctor is none too eager for visitors, with warning signs posted prominently. But Arnoldo is determined to find his missing cat, so he enlists the help of his friends Pela, Benicio and Ger. They come willingly – almost too eagerly – and before long it becomes clear that they're acting strangely, and each may have a motive of their own for getting inside and snooping around the place. 

The Maniac Mansion influence is obvious, but Doctor Gallagher's Residence is not a traditional SCUMM-style adventure. With its retro-styled 2D pixel art, voiceless dialogue (subtitled in both English and Spanish) and simple point-and-click interface, it's certainly styled after the games of the late 80s and early 90s, but here the verbs for interaction are limited to just six, and you click the environmental hotspots BEFORE choosing the action you desire. Switching freely between characters (once enabled), you will explore the mysterious manor to uncover its "darkest secrets, wrapped in stories of love, forgetfulness, and greed." There will, of course, be plenty of items to pick up and puzzles to solve in order to "advance through the story, revealing countless passageways" along the way. As you do, you'll discover that each room and "eccentric" character you meet "has its own story [that] intersects in the thin line of [the] host's madness." 

If you're one of the "nostalgic lovers of graphic adventures, as well as unwanted snoopers" the game is designed for, you can jump in right away as Doctor Gallagher's Residence has been released on Steam for Windows PC. If you'd rather take a few tentative steps into the yard outside first, you can do that as well through the playable demo also available for download.