Old Sierra Adventures: Free, In Browser, Multiplayer

Found via the redoubtable GameSetWatch, this excellent project combines two disparate arms of PC gaming - retro point'n'click adventuring, and the massed peopleage of MMOs. Plus it runs in a browser, so it's all things to all PC gamers, really. Rejoice!

The idea is this - a bunch of old Sierra adventures games, currently comprising Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards, Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel, and the original Space Quest. They're hosted on the site, and are free to play in all their charming 64some-colour ancientness. Ideal free lunchtime fodder, then - but that's not all. They're also massively multi - as you play, you'll see other chaps currently in the same game wandering around your screen, with their input commands expressed as speech bubbles. Hell, you could even chat to them, but who does that in games, right? Plus, as the above screenshot suggests, unfortunately some people are hideous cretins.

There is something incredibly surreal to arrive at a screen filled with clones of yourself, randomly shouting 'OPEN DOOR' and 'PICK UP DOG.' The possibilities for experimental play are fascinating, however - picture three dozen Leisure Suit Larries solving puzzles in perfect synchronicity.

Very much a project to keep an eye on - hopefully more games will be added to the roster, and as more players arrive the experience should become ever more beautifully strange.

Wibble around it now right here.