Review by: Kyle Ackerman
Published: August 21, 2001

Role-playing games for personal computers and console platforms, while sharing a common heritage, have diverged in their development. The distinction may have its origin in differing technological specifications, but the evolution of both PC and console RPGs has also been perpetuated by unique fan preferences, controller designs, and sales. PC RPGs call to mind elaborate, rule-driven offerings such as Baldur’s Gate, or massively multiplayer releases such as Asheron’s Call, whereas console users are drawn to action- and adventure-driven products such as Final Fantasy. Anachronox breaks from this tradition by presenting an RPG with console sensibilities to a PC audience. To some, this effort to bridge platforms will be a welcome change, and to others, a jarring transition.

The world of Anachronox comes with a rich history of its own: When humanity first began exploring the stars, explorers were placed in deep hibernation and sent on slow-moving ships that took hundreds of years to reach their destination. In 2229 AD, everything was changed by astronaut Lee Austin’s startling discovery of a mysterious sphere near Pluto. Lee was following a radio signal from the object when some force took control of his spacecraft and thrust him into a hyperspace tunnel that shunted him to a spot on the other side of the galaxy. Thus, the citizens of Earth became acquainted with an alien technology that came to be called a “Sender.” In a turn of events reminiscent of Frederik Pohl’s “Heechee Saga,” these Senders were found to be scattered all over the galaxy. Early exploration was dangerous because a Sender Spike was just as prone to hurl the explorer into the heart of a dying star as to a world of economic or scientific value. Other alien races were encountered and many Senders were discovered, including the largest of all: Sender One.

At the center of Sender One is a long-dead alien city, believed to have been the home of millions of quarantined aliens who slowly died of an unknown plague. Anachronox‘s name derives from this theory, and is intended to convey the notion of “poison from the past.” The aliens are gone, but their city remains, comprised of plate segments that slide in an ever-shifting pattern with different gravitational directions. This world within a world is home to Sylvester “Sly” Boots. Once an up-and-coming private detective, Sly’s debts have left him in debt to a crime lord called Detta and operating out of the back of a bar. Detta has moved on to bigger and better things, but continues to pursue Sly’s debt to remind himself of his humble beginnings. Desperate for cash, Boots needs work.

Boots is aided by Fatima Dohan, his secretary — or rather, his former secretary. Boots owns a Cordicom LifeCursor, a Flying Digital Assistant that helps folks through life. When Fatima died, Boots paid to have her brain matrix digitized and installed in the LifeCursor, so she could provide surly service from beyond the grave. The LifeCursor manifests itself as a floating arrow with which Boots and his friends can interact with the world. Fatima displays both affection and disdain for Sly that coaxes him into the search for a paying job. Sly begins by picking up a few tips on combat from the Whackmaster, as well as some odd jobs and photographic opportunities from the denizens of Anachronox before joining Grumpos Matavastros on a search for MysTech. First discovered on Hephaestus and made from an unidentified substance dubbed Mysterium, Mysterium Technology (MysTech) proves to be the key to a puzzle that may be the salvation or destruction of the everything near and dear to Boots.