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Deja Vu was the first game ever made by ICOM, the makers of such famous
adventure games as Shadowgate and Uninvited. It featured mouse support, a multi-window
interface, and bitmapped graphics at a time when text-based interactive fiction was
the norm. In Deja Vu your character wakes up in a toilet stall of a sleazy pub with
no memory of who you are or what you're doing there. To make matters worse, you soon
stumble upon a very dead corpse upstairs with three bullets buried in him. Sure enough,
you find there's a gun in your pocket with three bullets missing. From there you have
to figure out what happened and who you are before whatever is happening to your
brain turns you into a mindless vegatable. To make matters worse the cops would very
much like to have a word with you about that stiff. Puzzles are somewhat difficult
due to the fact that only about half of what you can carry are actually useful. The
game gives you only a vague sense of what to do next, so the illusion of non-linearity
is effective. The periodic flashbacks are a nice touch as they advance the story.
There IS a time limit, so save often! In 1991 a remake of this game was made for
Windows 3.x, featuring improved graphics, interface and ability to save. In 2015, a MacVenture Series PC release contained both the original Macintosh 128k black and white, and Apple IIGS 4-bit color versions. In 2017, 8-bit Adventure Anthology: Volume I was released with remakes of Shadowgate, The Uninvited and Déjà Vu with a new 8-bit style menu, beautifully composed chip tunes and the most outstanding ‘old TV’ effects you’ve ever seen. |
