The Procession to Calvary out now, an adventure game made from beautiful Renaissance paintings

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One game that's definitely art.

The good thing about everyone from the Renaissance being dead is that they won't mind if we muck about with their paintings. And by 'we' I mean Joe Richardson, and by 'Joe Richardson' I mean the guy that made Four Last Things, a sumptuous adventure game made out of Renaissance-era art, cut up and sutured back together. Joe's just released a follow-up in the form of The Procession to Calvary, and it looks just as gorgeous, just as silly as its predecessor: as if Terry Gilliam's cut-up animation had been updated in HD, and turned into a game.

What's this latest game about? Well, pointing and clicking, chatting and item-wrangling. But also:

"Huzzah! The holy war is over! Your oppressors have been vanquished, the churches of the Old God lay in ruin and thousands of innocent people have been murdered! But it's not all good news; the tyrant Heavenly Peter has escaped your clutches, and you have been tasked with the mission of finding him...

Your journey will take you through a richly detailed landscape built from hundreds of different Renaissance paintings. You will steal a ship, feed a donkey, compete in a talent contest, assist an inept street magician, sing, dance, play the (magic?) flute, poke a man's face, hunt for treasure and have a chat with Our Lord God Almighty... But will you find Heavenly Peter? And if you do, how will you take your revenge!?"

Fans of adventure game puzzles will be pleased to hear there are adventure game puzzles, while non-fans of adventure game puzzles will be delighted to learn that they'll be able to skip any they can't be bothered with—and in an ingenious fashion. One of your inventory items is a sword, which you can use for "optional murder", essentially to skip any riddles you can't be arsed with. What a great idea. Though the description warns that "your actions might come back to haunt you..." Well I should think so too.

The Procession to Calvary can be had from Steam or the Humble Store, and with 10% off for the next few days. (Ta, Blue.)

Tom Sykes
Tom Sykes

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.