Who Summoned It?

Who Summoned It? is a detective point-and-click adventure about unraveling the mystery of a giant monster that is rampaging through a fantasy kingdom. It combines visual novel-style dialogue sequences with Golden Idol-style fill-in-the-blanks puzzles. The lighthearted yet intricate story will appeal to fans of narrative-rich games, while the puzzles are challenging enough to satisfy deduction game fans.

You play Riki Rocktoe, a self-appointed “truthmeister” who is sent to the kingdom of Knotgud to unravel the death of their king. He was crushed by a rampaging monster that destroyed the castle, but you need to work out who summoned the monster, how, and why. You are armed with a Scroll of Truth, which acts as the puzzle interface. As the story unfolds, you gather an inventory of names and words, and sentences appear on the scroll with important keywords left blank. You must drag the right words into the correct blanks to complete the sentences. When all the answers are complete, the scroll gets marked correct, which often unlocks another puzzle.

While these puzzles are similar to games like The Case of the Golden Idol, the gameplay also includes major point-and-click and visual novel sequences. You must explore the kingdom of Knotgud, examining things and looking for clues. The town is filled with quirky NPCs, such as the sleepy town guard, the emo vampire, and the baker who’s a retired pirate, and a large amount of the game is interviewing them to determine what each person witnessed and how it all fits together.

Over the course of the game, you gain several assistants with special powers: a rat that can look in pockets and fit into small spaces, a cat that can detect magical auras, and a crystal ball that shows you what each scene looked like at the moment of the summoning. There is also a thorough hinting system: you can click on Riki to have him give you a hint, or you can have the Scroll of Truth highlight which answers are incorrect. This helps keep the game accessible to players who want to enjoy the story but might find the deduction aspect too difficult.

The caricature-like cartoon art, whimsical music, and joke-filled dialogue all help to make this a funny and family-friendly entry into the deduction game genre.

This description was written by Gwen C. Katz.