In the last few years, the point and click adventure genre has returned in full force, with titles such as the Deponia tetralogy, The Book of Unwritten Tales and The Blackwell Legacy winning both public and critical acclaim. Currently in development by the newly established team at Pewter Games, The Little Acre is definitely on track to be included amongst these modern legends, provided that a few minor issues are dealt with before the launch next month.

Set in a fictional Irish town in the early 1950’s, The Little Acre focuses on a young man named Aiden and his daughter Lily. After the tragic loss of Aiden’s wife, the family are living together with Aiden’s father Arthur, until he disappears one day without a trace. After tinkering around with some of his inventions, both Aiden and Lily are shrunken down and transported to a mystical world, where they must find a way to get home and reunite with their beloved patriarch.

The graphical style of The Little Acre is very similar to that used in Deponia, which in itself is a reference to many of the projects created by ex Disney animator Don Bluth, such as An American Tail, Dragon’s Lair; All Dogs Go to Heaven and Thumbelina. Whether you are on Earth or in the mythology inspired other world, each background is colourful and full of life, and the smooth animation endears me further to the characters, particularly the long suffering family dog Dougal, who tries several times to protect Lily from her own sense of curiosity.

It was revealed a few months previously that Charles Cecil, producer of the Broken Sword series would be on board to help with The Little Acre. His influence is definitely noticeable here, as the puzzles you have to solve are a perfect mixture of logical thinking and lateral interpretation. One of my favourite aspects is how you switch between Aiden’s adult style of black and white thinking or, Lily’s spirit of adventure and enforced beliefs from her family’s influence, such as the inanimate garden gnome that Lily thinks will tell her father if she ever leaves the garden alone. I did run into one small problem whilst in one of the puzzle areas of the game, where the next animation would trigger instead of remaining idle and allow me to choose another direction. Luckily, this was not a game breaking issue, but it is something that needs to be addressed before launch.

The Little Acre’s soundtrack is a glorious mixture of orchestral Irish music, with some of the highlights being the title screen theme, and the soft background tones which play whilst you are exploring Aiden and Lily’s home. The voice acting for the characters is top notch, especially the confident brash tone of Lily when she is trying to locate her missing family. One of the best moments to showcase the game’s mechanics about half an hour into the story, during the scenes where you have to manipulate Dougal into performing certain tasks which she alone cannot accomplish. Although Lily loves Dougal deeply, she is not above tricking him that someone is at that door, whilst she climbs up a precarious bookcase to get a bag of oats for her breakfast. One thing I did notice was that a few of the lines faded away unexpectedly, or were too quiet against the background music, even when the volume levels were adjusted.

In the brief time that I spent with The Little Acre, I have to say that I am very impressed with the outcome of Pewter Games labour. The colourful cartoon graphics, along with the wonderful soundtrack and excellent voice acting and logical yet taxing puzzles are a sure sign of success. As long as the company fix the issues regarding audio balance, and the minor path finding issues when in particular areas of the game, The Little Acre will be a sure fire hit when it arrives on PC, PS4 and Xbox One at the end of next month.