Buy A Golden Wake

A fascinating character study set admist the true history of the Florida land boom of the 1920s. Unique! Rare! Don't miss!

It's a fun small game from wadjet eye, not their best, but still entertaining.

A brilliant game, as usual from Wadjet Eye, thoroughly enjoyed it. But way too short, not sure if it is worth the money. I completed the game in 4 hours.

That's a very nice little adventure game that has its unique features (and some limitations as well). Recommended to all lovers of classic-style point-&-click adventure games!

Pros:
- The protagonist. Alfie Banks is not your average all-good/all-bad hero: he is quite an interesting character in himself.
- The setting. 1920's in all their glory - not many games deal with that time period now. If you love 'edutainment' genre, you would be delighted to meet many historical persons and listen to the author's elaborate commentaries. If not - just enjoy the time travel.
- The ending. Why, the plot has many surprises for you! And I would not spoil them here.

Cons:
- The game is very linear. You may have a choice as for which one of 'The Three Tasks'(TM) you do first, but almost none of your actions have any impact on the course of the events (besides a couple of extra achievements).
- It is definitely the most easy game published by WadjetEye. You never have to wonder what to do next, and different puzzles you meet are very simple ones. Not that it is a huge disadvantage or something, but it is rather strange to see that after 'Resonance' or 'Primordia'.

Had me laughing hysterically when I inadvertently had Jeremiah Miller knocked out by an old drunk. This game does well to bring back the magic of the adventure games of old. Do yourself a favor and pick it up, and support more indie gems like this to be developed.

Heya all!
Huge indie game fan here!

First I just want to thank the devs
but on that note the game.. sigh;

Pros:
The music is fantastic!
The commentary is AWESOME and funny esp the strongbad and suck a bag o... ahem well ull see
The backgrounds and arts are wonderful!
The voice acting is very nicely done
The neat little things like refection of the sun on the ocean, or a light above reflecting on the floor below are awesome additions, the snow falling etc wonderful and beautiful
The history lessons are fantastic too (without the commentary..as this dev loves to do and I THANK THEM FOR THIS) this game would rank 2/10 vs my final score of 5/10

Cons:
-The music commentary is 90% about the artist not about the game, very few commentary markers talk about the music IN this game but rather his childhood or ideals or other games he has done
-The game is REALLY short, 1-2 hours max, another 30 min or more if you listen to all commentary VERY VERY SHORT
-There are almost NO puzzles in this game whatsoever! The ones that do exist are frankly sad and pathetic
-The map and design of the game are poorly done, leaving you with 1-4 locations per time era and giving no real visual oooh and awwww! just bland bland bland
-The main character is a salesman of realestate zzzz really? urmm no.. yes ? ahh nooo
-The devs commentary goes to show that he himself knew very little about the era (one such point is making a newspaper machine vendor that took change and that wasnt invented yet and it took testers and friends to point that out)
-He also removed anything nice from the game due to it making the game to hard, such as the points to spend on persuasion, which that minigame is sad.. just save and reload and tadaaaaaa

I love this dev and publisher, I just hope that spending this much on a really bad game helps make a great game next round

bottom line:
I love to support the indie scene, with this game I had high hopes, was it fun, well yes and no.
Was it worth the 15$ .. heck no, but was it worth supporting this dev and publisher for future games YES YES YES!

Id love to give this game a neutral review but since there are more cons than pros, I have to say wait until it is on sale, unless like me you want to support the devs for a next game
Here is hoping they add more substance and better interfaces and actually have puzzles and depth in the next game!

dont buy this yet, but keep it on the wishlist for a pricedrop!

and go buy Quest for Infamy for the same price you get 60+ hours and much much better renders and bgs and animations and HUMOR oh yea and there are puzzles and paths to pick from unlike A GOLDEN WAKE which has the "ILLUSION OF CHOICE" bad move on the devs part to admit that in the commentary..

love you devs and please dont take this the wrong way, but this game, just a bad game..
felt like it coulda been a contender, but fell short on almost every mark

The Gilberts know how to make adventure games and know how to pick 'em to publish and A Golden Wake is no exception to the latter. A Golden Wake is a historical fiction adventure game set in the Roaring 20's in Miami. Alfie Banks is a realtor from New York that decides to move to Miami to take part in the land boom that caused Miami to become a major city. Along the way he runs into some real people in the area as he tries to gain that Gatsby-esque self made man dream. Though just like Gatsby found out, getting wealth has its price...

Overall A Golden Wake is a quality written game with some real research behind it. The atmosphere is great and the soundtrack is comprised of old timey jazz tunes that really add to the game. The puzzles are also pretty good. They're not difficult but they mostly gel with with what's going on, which I always think is more important in an adventure game. I definitely recommend the game to adventure game fans.

NOTE: I've played through a DRM free version of this game, so my review is based on the four hours that took me to complete and not the few minutes I've spent on the Steam version.

The game features a mix of minigames and dialogue puzzles. One of my favourite puzzles was an action minigame where you have to help a wing walker get onto a flying biplane using your car. Another involved uncovering a secret passage and a third was a whole mission in the swamp. At one point early in the game you're given a choice between a sales pitch dialogue puzzle and a minigame where you have to find the right future home for five prospective homeowners based on their preferences and the house descriptions. If you fail the puzzle you get to redeem yourself by solving a traditional item puzzle. The sales pitch is used a couple of times later in the game as well and is always accompanied by an optional personality analysis to make solving it easier. It's a bit of a shame that there isn't more complexity in most of the classic puzzles though, as I would have enjoyed some more roadblocks on my way through the story.

Where the game really shines is in its story and atmosphere. It explores a time and setting I don't think I've seen in a game of its kind. The carefully created backgrounds, the jazzy soundtrack and the writing together does a bang-up job of creating a feeling of nostalgia for a place in history long gone. And it does so through an engaging story that had me hooked throughout. There are also a lot of background objects to interact with, which even though they don't serve any purpose in solving puzzles really add to the atmosphere of the game. The low-res pixel art is also consistently good, though with a few exceptions. Most notably the glasses of Doc Dammers' character sprite stood out as a bit jarring to me.

Overall I really enjoyed A Golden Wake. And even though I felt the traditional puzzles could have done with some more complexity, the unique additional puzzles made up for it and I really enjoyed the story.

There are times in which I wish there was a third "middle ground" option beyond "recommended" and "not recommended" and this is one of those times. A Golden Wake is a game that straddles the fine line between "thumbs up" and "thumbs down" and there are just enough negatives to push it in that direction. That's not to say that it's a bad game. Far from it. However, I can't justify a positive recommendation due to a number of factors.

First off, the positives. The graphics are as good as they come for an AGS game and the music and voice acting is top notch, as expected for a Wadjet Eye published game. Unfortunately, visuals and audio alone don't make a great adventure game. The biggest disappointment is in the puzzle category. While I don't mind a few easy ones, almost all of them are way too simple. The fact of the matter is, if you get it wrong you can just reload to just before the discussion and eliminate what went wrong. The writing is also rather flat. I went in hoping for a much more engaging story than I got. It only got good during the final quarter or so of the game, which by then wasn't worth having to go through each job you're given. And while the voice actors did a great job in their respective roles, the actual dialogue left something to be desired. Some, particularly George Merrick, had almost no personality at all.

In short, A Golden Wake is still a decent game and I would recommend it. Just not for the price they're asking. If you can get it during a sale, you should consider picking it up, though.

As someone who loves Wadjet Eyes old-school point-and-click adventures, it pains me to say this, but I was disappointed. Golden Wake felt less like a game than an artsy documentary about the land boom in Miami during the first quarter of the 20th Century. The inter-war years are exactly my thing but I'm not American and it all felt a little ... provincial? I just couldn't connect. Also, the depressing plot ... think I can see what they were trying to do with it, I just feel that a game should reward you, now and then.
Graphics and sound are about up to the usual Wadjet Eye standards, but the puzzles felt too easy for the most part. This game's gimmick, Persuasion / Seller Intution was a great idea but fell flat on its face.

If you've played every other Wadjet Eye game, The Samaritan Paradox and you still want more, this is for you.

I tentatively recommend this game. It has most of the things I'd want from a point and click adventure: nice (though retro) graphics, excellently executed score, decent voice actors and sensible (but a touch too easy) puzzles.

The major letdown is the uninteresting plot. You start out as a young enthusiastic estate agent. The game follows him through several years and he never really gets more interesting. The ending is hugely anticlimactic.

In short, give it a go if (like me) you are a bit of a point and click addict and can't find a more interesting game to pass the time.

I like most of the retro style games by Wadget Eye and this one is also likeable but unfortunately I have to say it's too easy and therefore too short. It took me just 3 hours to finish it and I never got stuck. It says in my profile that I've played 6 hours but when I first got the game last night I was drinking and forgot to save the game at the end of the night so today I had to play through once again all my previous work from last night.

At any given time in the game you only have 2 or 3 items in your inventory and it's always very obvious where to use them.

Verdict: Nice game but way too easy for experienced adventure gamers. I will say I recommend it but actually I only recommend it to those who are new to the genre or under the age of 10 or both.

+good story
+good dialogues
+ok voice acting

-too short (4-5 hours)
-ridiculously easy for a point and click adventure game
-I am ok with graphics but why wont you support HD?
-Sloppy ending

7/10

I had been waiting for this game for a while. I've been a fan of Grundislav's games since the first Ben Jordan game and have followed his gaming career for well over a decade now. The game's story intertwines through the life story of a character who starts off feeling like he can take over the world and then realises that life doesn't always go to plan no matter how much you try to achieve. The puzzles are well thought out, and it even has a hint option for the more casual adventurers. Fantastic voice acting, wonderful animations and an engaging story. Highly recommended if you enjoyed such games as Laura Bow and Gabriel Knight. Highly recommended.

Έχω την αίσθηση ότι η φανέλα της Wadjet Eye Games τελικώς αποδεικνύεται βαρύ φορτίο που αδυνατεί να κουβαλήσει η, συμπαθής κατά τ' άλλα, δημιουργία του Gonzalez. Δε κινείται σε καμία περίπτωση στα επίπεδα των "Gemini Rue", "Resonance" και "Primordia" κι ως εκ τούτου δε μπορεί να καλύψει τις προσδοκίες του κοινού, που πλέον έχει αρκετές απαιτήσεις απ’ οτιδήποτε κυκλοφορεί υπό την σκέπη της εταιρείας του Gilbert. Ωστόσο δεν έχουμε να κάνουμε με κακό παιχνίδι, ούτε και πρέπει να ξεχνάμε ότι αποτελεί ένα one-man project, οπότε για λιγότερα από €5 και μ' επίγνωση ότι τελειώνει ακόμη κι εντός ενός απογεύματος, δε θ' αποτελέσει κακή επιλογή.

This is not a bad game. It's just that it certainly cannot rise up to the expectations created by former titles released by Wadjet Eye Games, such as Gemini Rue, Resonance and Primordia. Nevertheless, a nice enough commercial debut for Grundislav Games and Francisco Gonzalez.

http://www.ragequit.gr/reviews/item/a-golden-wake-pc-review

The game is average.

As an experienced adventure games player i can say that TGW is a good game, but nothing beyond average, messy puzzles, wierd actions, some dialogue boxes bugs and a 99.9% linear story made the game a bit frustrating and predictable.

Its a good game, it will provide you with 6-9h of gameplay, but nothing special or something that will make you think " Wow! Amazing story! "

Final note is 4.9/10

A little too short for my liking, but a great game overall. Amazing story, setting, soundtrack, it makes you feel as if you're actually living a person's life in the 1920s. Just wish the story could've gone on longer. Sometimes the interface can be iffy, some puzzles are too simple and some not simple enough, but those are regular small issues with point-and-click adventure games and if you don't mind having to search around and think a bit, you'll really enjoy this game.

I bought A Golden Wake because it's done by Wadjet Eye - the same folks who developed the Blackwell series.

The story is about Alfred Banks, a young man who is trying to fill his father's shoes and continue his legacy. And when the rug is suddenly pulled out from under him, he travels to Florida to try his luck as a real estate agent during the Land Boom. After a few years, he begins to feel as though he's being taken advantage of and makes another major change in his career that forever changes him.

I honestly had no clue that the game would be about a businessman, and while it may not seem like an exciting concept initially it was still an interesting plot, a fun adventure and the character, Alfie Banks, is relatable because he's a young man that never seems to find the niche in life that's just right for him; things always change, and they're not always for the best.

I really enjoyed the game because the characters were so colorful and full of life and it was - surprisingly - nice to see how one man's honest journey take such a drastic turn. You would think the story would entail a man trying to find work to fuel his ego, or is fighting to make ends meet for survival - but I took it as an example of finding ones purpose.

This was probably the least fun/engaging Wadjet Eye game that I've played (i've played all of them).

It felt as if there was no real kicker in this game. Unlike in their other games, I felt like I was playing some interactive educational game with fairly linear puzzles scattered through it.

I kept hoping that there was going to be a hook at some point in the game where things really start to get interesting...but their wasn't.

A Golden Wake just didn't do it for me, story wise.

I will still continue to support this developer but definately a little dissapointed with this one.

4/10

Great little point&click adventure game!!! It was a treat to play a game set in the 1920s. It might be a little slow for some people but I had a great time. Pick it up and support more games like this!!!! :)