The Crimson Diamond – The Canadian Colonel's Bequest

• Features by Adventure Game Hotspot staff
• Published:

Julia Minamata's The Crimson Diamond was one of the best games of 2024, but it wasn't until properly motivated by the promise of a cookie that Adventure Game Geek got around to giving the game the spotlight it deserves in his latest video review. 

For those who need a refresher or have been trapped in a troll cave for the past year, this game offers a jolt of pure Canadiana, as budding mineralogist Nancy Maple is sent from Toronto to the rural town of Crimson in Northern Ontario to investigate the discovery of a precious diamond. Of course, strand a handful of eclectic people with suspicious motives in a lodge for a few days and you're bound to get a deepening mystery, and that's exactly what happens, leaving Nancy to alternate wearing her detective and geologist's hats. 

The real hook of The Crimson Diamond, however, is its nostalgic retro presentation inspired by the Laura Bow series, so much so that AGG refers to it as "The Canadian Colonel's Bequest." With limited colours but stunningly dithered pixel art, the game's aesthetic is matched by its old-school text parser interface, taking adventurers back to the spirit of the early 90s even as the story itself sends us much farther back to 1914. 

But is it any fun? Oh yeah. Geek had a great time eavesdropping on fellow lodgers, snooping around rooms and opening the myriad drawers and closets he could find (albeit not enough for the "complete ransacker" achievement), though his mind did start to wander whenever Nancy showed off her extensive knowledge of rocks. He also got up to less savoury deeds like watching people as they slept, bumping Nancy off in a variety of comically-Sierra-styled ways, and even going to bathroom – once he figured out HOW. 

Add it all up, and Adventure Game Geek offers a fun look at why The Crimson Diamond is so highly regarded among adventure game fans. (And yes, he finally got his cookie.)

P.S. Bonus cameo: The husband-and-wife developers at Inklingwood Studios are overheard discussing the release date for the highly anticipated Foolish Mortals! Find out here first! (Or not.)

Adventure Game Geek is part of the Adventure Game Hotspot Network, a collective of talented, dedicated content producers who work entirely independently but have joined forces to promote each other’s efforts. All opinions expressed belong solely to the original creators. 

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