Inkle's globetrotting adventure 80 Days hits PC

As an iPhone- and iPad-less, and generally rubbish-phone-having individual, I've had to peek over the fence at folks enjoying Inkle's 80 Days, a globe-trotting interactive fiction game inspired by Victorian traveller and crisp manufacturer Phileas Fogg. Now that it's come to PC, I can add it to my Steam library then forget I ever bought it, as is the way of all things.

That second part might be unwise, as I've heard that 80 Days is very good indeed. It's set in a steampunky 1872, and in a big world that lets you go seemingly pretty much anywhere in your quest to circumnavigate the globe. Fogg reckons he can do this in just 80 of our Earth days, and as his valet, Passepartout, you'll need to manage this strict time limit at every turn. Here's a bit more, from the Steam page:

"80 DAYS is a breakneck race, with an in-game clock that never stops running. Trains, steamers, hot-air balloons, boats, camels, horses and more leave and arrive minute by minute.

"Every city and journey is narrated via an interactive story where you control every action. Will your choices speed you up - or lead you into disaster? Will you earn Fogg's trust and respect? Will you uncover the secrets and short-cuts that can shave days off your time? Murder, romance, rebellion and intrigue await!"

This new version adds more storylines, more parts of the world, and more more, as detailed in this blog post by developer Inkle. The game's word count now stands at a faintly incredible 750,000, "longer than the first five Harry Potter novels combined".

80 Days is out now on Steam, GOG, Green Man Gaming and the Humble Store, and it'll cost you around £7.

Tom loves exploring in games, whether it’s going the wrong way in a platformer or burgling an apartment in Deus Ex. His favourite game worlds—Stalker, Dark Souls, Thief—have an atmosphere you could wallop with a blackjack. He enjoys horror, adventure, puzzle games and RPGs, and played the Japanese version of Final Fantasy VIII with a translated script he printed off from the internet. Tom has been writing about free games for PC Gamer since 2012. If he were packing for a desert island, he’d take his giant Columbo boxset and a laptop stuffed with PuzzleScript games.