With the long-awaited return of the popular Monkey Island franchise only days away now, a new trailer has been released that offers an in-game peek at the events of Tales of Monkey Island: Chapter 1 - Launch of the Screaming Narwhal.

The video consists entirely of in-game footage, demonstrating some of the game mechanics and introducing the three stars who will be very familiar to series fans: namely, Guybrush, Elaine, and the dreaded ghost pirate LeChuck. In order to stop his old nemesis, Guybrush must curse a cutlass with a rare and special formula. Of course, Guybrush being Guybrush, even the simplest of plans can go horribly awry, and players will soon need to help him work out an alternate plan instead. As with any gameplay video, be forewarned that details are included that may be considered minor spoilers, though only the early moments of the game are featured.



The full Tales of Monkey Island series will consist of five episodes that sees Guybrush sail the seven seas "in search of La Esponja Grande, a legendary sea sponge with unparalleled voodoo exfoliating abilities. But little does Guybrush know, his quest is part of a larger, more sinister plot, and good and evil are not always as they seem…"

For more information about Tales of Monkey Island, steer on over to the series' official website and read through our recent preview.

There will be plenty of suspense when players arrive back in Dowerton in Jonathan Boakes' highly anticipated Dark Fall: Lost Souls, but there will be no suspense about whether the game will find a publisher quickly, as Iceberg Interactive announced today that it will be releasing the game throughout Europe later this year.

The third installment of the Dark Fall series sends gamers back to the haunted train station and hotel first seen in the original Dark Fall: The Journal. Time has passed since your first adventure, and has not been kind to the buildings, so you must "watch your step, and never turn your back on the darkness...for something hides there; Something evil, unknowable and hungry. The dead of Dowerton are the least of your problems, as you are stalked from one derelict room to the next, by the Dark Fall itself. It wants your soul; to feed upon, devour and torture. You must make the ghosts of the hotel your ally, through any means you can. For it is only through successful exorcisms that you will gain the strength to battle the darkness that lurks in that long forgotten, abandoned place."

The slight downside to today's announcement is that the projected release date of Lost Souls has slipped a little, as the game is now being targeted for a Halloween release. In the meantime, be sure to check out the Dark Fall website, and stay tuned for an upcoming comprehensive interview with Jonathan Boakes right here at Adventure Gamers.

If you couldn't get enough of slackers Ben and Dan in their debut freeware adventure Ben There, Dan That! , now the pair have returned in a comic sequel called Time Gentlemen, Please!, which is now available for purchase and download.

That's right: purchase. Zombie Cow Studios has joined the growing ranks of independent developers who have left behind their freeware roots to pursue the obscene riches of commercial adventure games. And at only £2.99 (or "$5ish" by the developers' calculation), they should only need to sell about a zillion copies to accomplish just that. Then again, this represents "the cost of a pint in an overpriced London boozer" and who knows how many zillions of those have been sold.

Fortunately, Ben and Dan's latest misadventure looks to be bigger and better than its predecessor... at least, if body count is any indication. After the events of the first game, it turns out that "layabout geeks Dan and Ben find themselves as accidental and somewhat-neglectful Rulers of the Earth and as such, proud owners of 6 billion corpses. What’s more, ‘fixing everything up’ by craftily popping back in time has resulted in an alternate-universe Hitler with an entire army of goose-stepping Nazi dinosaur clones! Whoopsie!"

It's up to players to help repair what Ben and Dan have "fixed" in this point-and-click adventure with simple but stylish graphics (featuring "over-indulgent use of all the different colours", as its creators proudly declare). It isn't necessary to play the original game to understand the events of the sequel, as a quick summary will bring new players up to speed, though of course, being free, there isn't much excuse not to.

Time Gentlemen, Please! is available only through download, and can be purchased directly from the official website, where you can also find a playable demo.

High seas adventure has even reached the Nancy Drew series this summer, as Her Interactive today released the official demo for the new mystery Nancy Drew: Ransom of the Seven Ships.

The 20th instalment in the popular series sees Nancy Drew in the Caribbean with her best friends Bess and George, but disaster strikes when Bess is kidnapped. It’s not only Bess that’s missing, though, and it’s up to Nancy and George to recover a lost treasure on an adventure that will lead across their tropical resort island and beneath the waves around them.



The demo kicks off near the start of the game, depicting Nancy’s arrival on the island as a distressed George (seen for the first time) fills Nancy in on the kidnapping and gives her an unusual ransom note with a particular list of tasks to accomplish.

Nancy Drew: Ransom of the Seven Ships will be available on July 14th, but for those who want to investigate sooner, the demo is available from the official website (in the “Download Demo Games” section in the bottom right corner), along with a playable minigame from the full title.

The former Russian KGB has always been renowned for its ruthless tactics, and in Phobos: 1953, players will get a chance to take a first-hand peek into the truth behind that reputation.

The new game by Phantomery Interactive, the studio behind last year's Outcry, sends players into an underground shelter that houses prisoners for KGB research. Based on real events about human experimentation in the fields of fear, telepathy, and psychological limitations, the game challenges players to discover the secrets of the terrifying events of 1953, facing their own worst phobias in the process while an invisible observer communicates through the broadcast system.

Phobos: 1953 is a prequel to the current Russian film called Phobos, and promises to photo-realistically reconstruct its historical setting, as the shelter's depiction is based on "real military objectives, text materials used historically valid documents."

No firm release date has yet been announced, even for Russia, and if you look up "niche" in the dictionary, you might find "Russian movie tie-in adventure game". So the project will have its work cut out for it in reaching international audiences, but here's hoping that the intriguing subject matter and the success of Outcry will help ensure its widespread release.