There are some classic point-and-click adventures that deserve to be preserved for future generations. Then there’s Gobliiins Collection, a bundle that arrives on PS5 carrying five games from the early 1990s and a stubborn determination to remind players why game design has evolved since then. Nostalgia is a powerful thing, but even nostalgia has its limits. After several hours spent guiding these little goblin-like troublemakers through increasingly baffling puzzles, I began to suspect the collection was less a celebration of gaming history and more an elaborate practical joke that has somehow lasted over thirty years.
Gaming Heaven
To give credit where it’s due, there’s plenty of content included. Five full games offer a substantial amount of head-scratching misery for those brave enough to tackle them. There are also some bonus extras, including artwork and interviews with the series creator, which at least demonstrate some effort beyond simply chucking old files onto the PlayStation Store and calling it a day.
Visually, the games still possess a certain quirky charm. The cartoon animations remain amusing in places, and watching your goblins fail spectacularly can occasionally raise a reluctant smile.
Gaming Hell
The biggest issue is that the games themselves are about as logical as a seagull nicking your chips and then billing you for the privilege. Puzzle solutions often feel completely detached from common sense. Progress frequently relies on randomly clicking everything in sight and hoping the developers had a particularly strange breakfast when they designed that section.
The lack of included manuals is astonishing. Here we have games built around old-school adventure design, yet the collection provides virtually no useful instructions. It’s a bit like selling someone a car without explaining where the steering wheel is.
Controls also feel clumsy on a controller. They function, technically speaking, but that’s about as glowing a compliment as I can manage.
Final Judgement
Gobliiins Collection preserves a piece of gaming history, which is admirable. Unfortunately, it also preserves every frustrating, infuriating and bewildering design choice along with it. While hardcore fans may enjoy revisiting these peculiar relics, most modern players will likely feel as though they’ve wandered into a pub quiz where all the answers were written by someone having a fever dream.
