The Colonel's Bequest

The main character in The Colonel's Bequest is Laura Bow, a young journalism student who agreed to accompany her friend Lillian Prune on a journey to New Orleans. It is there that Henry Dijon, the uncle of the girl's uncle, called the Colonel, lives in a gloomy estate near the shivers of the marshes. On the spot, it turns out that not only Lilian was invited to the villa in a wheelchair-driven uncle. The whole family appeared at home.

Dijon, aware of the imminent end of his existence, decided to give the gathered important information about the inheritance: the fortune gained over the years will be distributed fairly among all family members. Unfortunately, the old woman's decision did not satisfy the guests. Each of the relatives has their own plans concerning the money belonging to the nestor of the family and will do everything possible to make as much of the inheritance as possible. In Dijon's family half measures are not recognized - to achieve the desired goal, people are able to go even to murder....

The fun begins at 9pm, just after a memorable meeting, when Henry Dijon announces his final decision on the distribution of assets. The programme is divided into eight-hour acts and the latter into four chapters of fifteen minutes each. The action does not take place in real time. In order to move the clock forward by another quarter of an hour, Laura must make progress in the discreet investigation.

From the very beginning of the game it turns out that each member of Dijon's family has small or bigger sins on their conscience. Very quickly the corpses will start to appear in the house, which will heat up the already hot atmosphere. Laura Bow, as an outsider, undertakes a breakneck task. The girl must determine who the murderer is and who is most interested in reducing the inheritance shareholders. When mowing in a huge villa, one should act with extreme caution. The danger is lurking at every step, and for too hasty action also you can be punished with an accurate pushing of a knife in the back.

The Colonel's Bequest is slightly different from other Sierra On-Line adventures. Due to the limited number of locations (the villa and the surrounding gardens), we are not dealing with an exploration typical for traditional representatives of the species. Laura will repeatedly visit the same rooms, follow suspicious people and collect evidence left at the crime scene. Talks with the residents of the estate also play an important role in the investigation. People give valuable hints in conversations, sometimes they also help a girl if she submits an item to them.

After completing the struggle, the program provides us with the results of the investigation, condensed in the form of short entries in the notepad. The Colonel's Bequest also informs us about facts that we didn't manage to discover while playing. They can be treated as a prelude to a new game, where the player will try to get evidence that has been missed before.

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Last updated on August 14, 2015