Yesterday: Pendulo's Growing Up Company: Focus Home Interactive While adventure games have more or less been shuffled off to the outer edge of the gaming universe, those that follow them have quite a few shining stars that they have come to know and wait anxiously for their next offering. One such bright spot is Pendulo Studios and their well-known trilogy, Runaway. Not only did those games bring the Spanish developer into the forefront of adventure gamers, but it helped established the company's unique visual style that blends hand-drawn backgrounds and cel-shaded characters. That series also marked Pendulo as being able to handle a good comedic adventure game, something they showed again with The Next BIG Thing. That last bit though is where Yesterday breaks away from Pendulo's previous offerings. Yesterday is a much darker tale that will take you through the dirt and grime of New York City and Paris slums, but also beautiful mountain vistas. While these generally gloomy locations seem to stray from Pendulo's standard style, the look and feel are very fitting of the game's much darker story. All around NYC, the homeless are disappearing and their bodies are showing up burned. While these deaths are obviously part of some serial killing, no one seems all that interested in investigating them. Well, no one except for a millionaire heir who has a charitable streak you wouldn't believe. Henry White and his brawny friend Cooper start their investigations together as they not only look into the murders, but the strange Y-shaped scars that are showing up on, apparently, random people, but they can't solve the mystery alone. Yesterday's third playable character is an amnesiac named John Yesterday. Yesterday doesn't know much about his past, but he does start learning about who he was and what he's done when he is hired by White to connect the dots in the NYC beggars murder case. One interesting aspect of Yesterday is the fact that all three of these characters have a past and they are all keeping secrets. In a Lost-like fashion, their pasts will be revealed to the player through a series of flashbacks triggered by items or events in the present. For example, when Cooper comes across a Boy Scout badge, we will get insight into his early dreams to join the Scouts, but we also get a look at the abusive life he had before meeting Henry White. If I haven't conveyed it enough yet, let me say this plainly, Yesterday is not the lighthearted comedic story that Pendulo Studios is known for. This game is dark, its rough and its bloody. This isn't for the kiddies and only adventure gamers who like a much darker experience should pursue this title. That being said, Yesterday looks like it will be a fun game with a solid story. While The Next BIG Thing wasn't quite up to the same level as the Runaway series, Pendulo has a real chance of making people think of that game as only a minor speed bump in the company's history. Yesterday is slated to come out sometime this month and is being published by Focus Home Interactive. As far as I can tell, there isn't an ESRB rating attached to this game yet, but as I said above, it's obviously geared towards more mature audiences. -J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Meyer Related Links: Yesterday Official Home Page Yesterday on Pendulo Studios Yesterday on Focus Home Interactive