The Tale of Doris and the Dragon: Episode 1 (Android) Review

The afterlife doesn't seem anything like Doris was expecting. No religious dogma mentioned dragon admin assistants with telephone headsets… nor that she'd get to take her shopping trolley along. Regardless, she needs to get through this limbo nonsense and find her husband Albert so they can be reunited and live out their afterlives together.

This is an old school point-and-click adventure game, filled with the classic point-and-click puzzles, but there is no real challenge to them. Pretty much all of the puzzles require little thought and are easily guessable by the items collected before even reaching the puzzle itself. While they offer no challenge, their design shows at least the creator has the knack for this type of design.

Hopefully, future episodes will include puzzles of greater difficulty. To be fair, there is a single puzzle that is difficult, although it is for all the wrong reasons. At one point, a musical sequence has to be duplicated and it's just terribly frustrating, with the notes of the device used sounding nothing like the original tune.

The Tale of Doris and the Dragon is no longer in beta, yet there are still a few bugs to iron out, for instance, solving a puzzle for an arguing pair of lovers made out of stone allows Doris to stroll on down to the river, but should she speak with the couple before going she asks about a lost coin, something she doesn't find out about until she progresses on.

The graphics capture the feel of classics of the era and use some charming designs, too. Who knew an admin assistant dragon in a headset could look so good? There are only two voice actors here bringing each of the characters to life, but it works, from the Ferryman character channelling Richmond from The IT Crowd or the Graham Chapman-esque women's voices for Doris.