Adventure Gamers - Forums

Alida: The Enigmatic Giant

Alida has always been a special game to me, not only because it’s an excellent game to play, but also because it came out in January of 2003 at a time when there were relatively few new games being made for the Mac OS 9 platform.  I ordered a copy as soon as it was offered for sale on Deja Vu World’s website, and as it turned out, I was their first commercial customer.  I was fortunate to be able to discuss gameplay via email with the designer, Cos Russo, and to get hints and give feedback regarding the puzzles, which made it all the more pleasurable to play.

The game takes place on an island off the coast of Australia, which the members of a rock band bought after their hit single made them rich.  They wanted to turn the place into an amusement park with the main building in the shape of an enormous guitar that could actually play.  However, due to some lousy money management and the band’s waning popularity, the project was abandoned, the remaining assets were locked up on the island, and the band members went their own ways. 

Several years later, the wife of one of the members asks you to find her husband, who has not come back home after a reunion meeting with the manager of the band.  Gameplay begins with you looking out to sea from a connective walkway on the island, and thus your explorations begins.  By solving all kinds of puzzles, many of them in different parts of the huge guitar, you open up the different areas of the island and may find out that the place is much stranger than you imagined.

Nice one Lady K! Very cool you had the pleasure of enjoying it in such a way Being a big fan of first person exploration/puzzle adventures, ever since the Myst days! I was very pleased when I was finally able to find a copy on ebay around 6 to 8 years ago when I got back into adventure games after a long hiatus. A very well done game that I would highly recommend to any fan of said genre.

P.S. This may be old news, but it’s new to me! I visited the original site and apparently it is being or has been released for iOS and talks of a potential sequel?!?! 

Was this game ever released for any platform other than Mac?

rtrooney - 17 April 2016 11:10 AM

Was this game ever released for any platform other than Mac?

Yes, it was ported to Windows a couple years after the initial release, and it was also made for Mac OS X.  (I’ve played both versions.)  In the newer versions, Cos made a few changes based on the feedback from the initial OS 9 players, but the gameplay is basically the same. 

Becky,
I remember that group playthrough fondly.  I’m hoping for a sequel, too.

Sir Beardalot,
Some of the puzzles in the game were tough but fun.  I think my favorite were the peg head puzzles.