Designing adventure game protagonists is not easy. Sure, playing as a wisecracking know-it-all can be fun, but those characters often overstay their welcome way too soon with their snark. On the other hand, if your protagonist is a blank page, they tend to be a little too bland to spend extended amounts of time in their company.
Enter handyman Harper Pendrell, Unforeseen Incident’s likeable protagonist. He is the perfect main character, and he turns a good adventure game into a downright amazing adventure game.
You see, Harper can be kind of a loveable dork, but he’s certainly not an idiot. There’s a dry wit to some of his remarks, but they never devolve into snarky one-liner territory. Its the game’s sharp writing that keeps him likeable, and his slightly clueless everyman shtick makes him somewhat relatable (…said the clueless white dude – your mileage may vary, obviously).
The game’s cast of supporting characters are similarly well-written and interesting. Everyone in Yelltown has their little story and actual history with Harper, and it is apparent that these people are more than a means to an end, an element in a puzzle, or an obstacle to overcome.
Given how that is pretty much the standard mode of point-and-click adventure games, this feels positively refreshing. Developer Backwoods Entertainment certainly put a lot of thought into making the characters feel more alive than your run-of-the-mill adventure ensemble usually does.
Unforeseen Incidents’ plot revolves around a mysterious disease, known as the Yelltown fever, which spreads across the country. When Harper meets a dying woman in the street, he’s swept right into a conspiracy that only he can expose – with the help of an elderly scientist and a cautious reporter.
All of this is presented in a rather restrained way, emphasized by the game’s idiosyncratic graphical style and its sparse, atmospheric instrumentation. The puzzles are logical, the story is well-told, and the voice-acting is great across the board. But really, the way Unforeseen Incidents treats its characters and, most of all, its protagonist is what makes it special.
You can purchase Unforeseen Incidents from Steam or GOG for $19.99. For more information, visit the game’s website and follow developer Backwoods on Twitter.
