A year after the fateful meeting of Dr. Livingstone and Henry Stanley where the eponymous and titular phrase was uttered, Henry is homeward bound when he receives an abstract but urgent plea from the doctor for his return. At the behest of his friend he immediately does so and arrives once more at the home of the famed explorer. This time his once neat abode, filled with memorabilia of his years trekking across the African continent, is in a state of disarray, with papers and tools scattered across the floor. It is up to Henry to dive into the eclectic home to find the man and discover what circumstances led the proud, old man to so vehemently request his assistance.
[b]Dr Livingstone, I Presume?[/b] is essentially a series of escape rooms. Search Room A to collect objects and locate information to solve the several puzzles inside it. Eventually you will find the key to Room B, where you will again search and solve and so forth along a linear adventure. Along the way, you can examine some pictures or statues for comments about them or the men's brief (but meaningful) friendship, or collect unsent mail and journal pages to learn about the doctor's state of mind.
Pros:
- Aesthetic: The audiovisuals are lovingly designed. As expected of a seasoned doctor/explorer, the home is charming without being cluttered, with each room being its own vibe from lighting to music. The music itself is well-done IMO, and helps set the mood of the story (whether its a jovial curiosity or a melancholic resignation) without being grating when stuck on a puzzle.
- Voice Acting: The main character's voice is satisfying, giving self-assured with a bit of pulpy action. Some deliveries are lackluster, but it always felt like it added to the scene rather than distracted.
- Self-Contained Rooms: Every room's set of puzzles can be solved with the materials inside it. Even if you're stuck, you can know assuredly everything needed to solve the room IS IN said room. No backtracking needed.
Mids:
- African Colonialism: Any story about this period and locale is gonna have a specter hanging over it. On one hand, the story is more about the two men rather than the period and does mention Livingstone's thoughts on some aspects of Africa's plights. On the other, the brief touching upon such a serious topic could be seen as glossing over the cruelty or glorifying the men involved. While Livingstone is generally seen as a positive figure, Stanley is more controversial, with positives and negatives too numerous to satisfyingly detail in a steam review.
- Nonsensical Puzzles: Despite your arrival being anticipated, the complexity of the puzzles makes Resident Evil seem straightforward. [spoiler]He hides a key in a dehydrated plant in a cabinet locked by a ball puzzle hidden by three sets of statue wind-ups whose parts are in a jewelry box[/spoiler]. Its a bit comical in comparison to the serious story, and would honestly have been better suited for a wackier tone.
- Lean Story: I'm being told, not shown, a friendship that would compel a man to trek half-way across Africa to find the other. The sparse documentation and dialog removed a lot of impact from the game's intended emotional conclusion.
- Plethora of Useless Accessories: 100's of drawers throughout the house, 3-4 contain anything useful (objects or letters). Over 20 framed pictures, a handful draw comment from the MC. Even an unvoiced line or two about the pictures would have been nice instead of generic African asset.
- Motion Blur: It is tied to 'Post-Processing' in settings, meaning I can't turn only it off without removing many other things.
- Plain Text Viewer: If you have trouble reading cursive, you can press TAB to bring up plain text. You wouldn't know this because AFAIK it's never mentioned in the tutorial or the control mapping, only discoverable by me randomly hitting keys.
- Hints Too Straightforward: The hints are given in journal style. When asked for one, you unveil the next paragraph in the journal, telling you straight-up "I used the thing on the other thing to do another thing".
Cons:
- Journal: It is less a journal and more a GameFAQs walkthrough. Henry will jot down his actions with personality, but there isn't anything new to aid the story. Also, it's oddly unoptimized, causing the game to chug as I change screens from game to journal and back.
- Documents: Once you look at a document, it is unviewable after you collect it.
- Action Controls: When you open drawers or turn keys, you physically do so with the mouse. These mechanics are VERY janky and VERY annoying. Honestly would have preferred just click-to-open/turn animation.
- Puzzle Incompatible With Lower Graphics: There are options to change the quality of graphics, but some make puzzles near unsolvable on the lower end. There is a lock with numbers completely unreadable below medium quality (maybe even high for some), and a low FOV makes the pressure puzzle in the doctor's room literally unsolvable (fixed POV pushes the knobs off-screen). Why have these options if I can't play the game with them on?
- Occasionally Unsatisfying Puzzles: Some puzzles are just... not puzzles. The chess "puzzle" in particular was zero brain used, with me solving it before I understood what the "puzzle" was.
Overall, 6.5/10. There is a lovingly crafted product here, with nice aesthetics and well-intended game design. However, occasional spurts of unsatisfying gameplay (puzzles and mechanics) and skimpy storytelling leaves the game in an unappealing light. I'd still give it a tentative recommend because its not outright broken, making it at worst a set of clunky escape rooms. Buy on sale.
