''Al Emmo and the Lost Dutchman's Mine'' is an adventure game created by

Himalaya Studios Himalaya Studios is a video game developer that focuses on adventure games. The limited liability company was established in 2004 in Chandler, Arizona by Britney K. Brimhall and Christopher T. Warren. In 2011, it was incorporated as a C Corporat ...

for the PC.

Development

Al Emmo and the Lost Dutchman's Mine is designed to be a homage to the classic Sierra and

LucasArts Lucasfilm Games (known as LucasArts between 1990 and 2021) is an American video game licensor that is part of Lucasfilm. It was founded in May 1982 by George Lucas as a video game development group alongside his film company; as part of a large ...

style

point and click Point and click are the actions of a computer user moving a pointer to a certain location on a screen (''pointing'') and then pressing a button on a mouse, usually the left button (''click''), or other pointing device. An example of point and cl ...

classic adventure games of the 1980s and 1990s. This game is the first original and commercial game created by Himalaya Studios. The same team is also responsible for designing the

King's Quest ''King's Quest'' is a graphic adventure game series, released between 1980 and 2016 and created by the American software company Sierra Entertainment. It is widely considered a classic series from the golden era of adventure games. Following th ...

1 and 2 remakes at

AGD Interactive AGD Interactive (AGDI), LLC. is a non-profit company given a fan license to remake Sierra Entertainment's popular classic adventure games from the 1980s and early 1990s. History Founded in 2001 by Britney K. Brimhall and Christopher T. Warren ...

, and drew upon this experience to create Al Emmo. The game runs on the popular

Adventure Game Studio Adventure Game Studio (AGS) is an open source development tool primarily used to create graphic adventure games. It is aimed at intermediate-level game designers, and combines an integrated development environment (IDE) with a scripting language b ...

engine, and shows off some of the engine's more versatile features such as, fully

lip-synced Lip sync or lip synch (pronounced , the same as the word ''sink'', short for lip synchronization) is a technical term for matching a speaking or singing person's lip movements with sung or spoken vocals. Audio for lip syncing is generated thr ...

dialogue portraits and its ability to handle complex animations. It utilizes hand-painted backgrounds and

pre-rendered Pre-rendering is the process in which video footage is not rendered in real-time by the hardware that is outputting or playing back the video. Instead, the video is a recording of footage that was previously rendered on different equipment (typic ...

3D character animation frames. In September 2012, an enhanced edition of the game featuring reworked 2D animated cut scenes and a new protagonist voice actor was announced. The enhanced edition was released in November 2013 on the

website, and was made availabl
on the Steam platform
in May 2014. Al Emmo and The Lost Dutchman's Mine was released on 5 September 2006.

Plot

The plot is loosely based on the popular Arizonan legend of the

Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine The Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine (also known by similar names) is, according to legend, a rich gold mine hidden in the southwestern United States. The location is generally believed to be in the Superstition Mountains, near Apache Junction, east ...

. The game's protagonist, Al Emmo, is stranded in the barren desert land of Anozira after being stood up by a mail-order bride whom he had hoped would impress his parents. Following this, Al misses his train back to New York and is stuck in the wild west for a whole week without money, housing, or any knowledge on what to do next. Later, Al develops feelings for another woman, Rita Peralto, a beautiful singer at the local saloon. Al believes he has a chance with her until Antonio Bandanna, a dashing

Spaniard Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance ethnic group native to Spain. Within Spain, there are a number of national and regional ethnic identities that reflect the country's complex history, including a number of different languages, both i ...

, arrives and begins upstaging him at every turn. Al soon hears a legend of a lost gold mine in the nearby desert. Al sets out to find it, believing that if he can cure Rita's financial troubles, he can win her affection. It's only upon arrival that he discovers the mine's haunted nature.

Public Reception

The game received mixed reviews on Steam when it was released, with 60% of reviewers giving positive ratings.

References

External links

Official website
* {{moby game, id=/al-emmo-and-the-lost-dutchmans-mine, name=''Al Emmo and the Lost Dutchman's Mine'' 2006 video games Adventure games Adventure Game Studio games Linux games Point-and-click adventure games Video games developed in the United States Windows games