Emerald City Confidential

About

In "Emerald City Confidential," play as detective Petra in a film noir-styled Oz, filled with puzzles, magic, and iconic characters such as Scarecrow and Lion. This game boasts over 1

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

95%

Audience ScoreBased on 104 reviews

story33 positive mentions

stability4 negative mentions

Emerald City Confidential features a compelling and well-written story that creatively reimagines the world of Oz in a noir setting.
The game boasts high-quality voice acting and beautiful graphics that enhance the overall experience.
It includes a helpful hint system that makes it accessible for players, ensuring they won't get stuck for long periods.

The game suffers from technical issues, such as graphical glitches and a lack of fullscreen support, which can detract from the experience.
Many players found the puzzles to be too easy and straightforward, leading to a lack of challenge.
The game is relatively short, with a playtime of around 5-7 hours, which some players felt did not justify the price.

story
74 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
45%
51%
4%
The game's story is widely praised for its engaging narrative and well-developed characters, offering a fresh take on the Wizard of Oz universe through a noir lens. Players appreciate the clever twists and depth of the plot, although some find it initially slow or anticlimactic. Overall, the storytelling is considered a highlight, making it a must-play for fans of narrative-driven games.
- “In addition to staying accurate to the Wizard of Oz books, this game also goes ahead and gives a fresh new take on the Emerald City in terms of a noir story that has you going all over the Emerald City as well as other outside lands helping characters from the books solve cases.”
- “The storyline is great, full of drama and plot twists, while voice acting and dialogues are superb.”
- “The story actually evolves very well and keeps the player engaged with the plot and what's going on.”
- “The overall plot is a bit marred in the middle by the introduction of your standard fantasy quest for two powerful artifacts, and the animations are very simple, but otherwise the game is rock solid (if on the easy side).”
- “The most development is with Petra, yet there's still a lot of her backstory that's just barely touched on.”
- “Would have liked to have dealt with all four witches and would have preferred a better resolution with the revelation on who Cutter really is (even though you can guess at it so early on in the story that it's not really a big surprise).”
graphics
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
33%
17%
The graphics of the game are generally praised for their stunning visuals and charming art style, creating a richly atmospheric world that enhances the overall experience. However, some players noted minor graphical glitches and an aged appearance reminiscent of older games, which detracted slightly from the enjoyment. Despite these issues, the visuals are considered a strong point, contributing to the game's appeal alongside its engaging story and voice acting.
- “So dive into Emerald City Confidential: a game where the art style is charming, the writing is sharp, and the voice acting might actually make you feel things.”
- “Step 4: serve with a side of stunning visuals 🎨🍃 – a richly atmospheric world to explore.”
- “The art style was beautiful.”
- “In addition, this game has a very indie look in terms of its art style.”
- “The interesting thing about that is that the whole production has a sort of 'a graphic adventure designed for Windows 98' feel while Wadjet Eye's other games have a more timeless quality.”
- “First impressions were that this point-and-click adventure has an annoying protagonist, and judging on the difficulty and graphics, it is aimed for 6-year-olds.”
gameplay
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
50%
21%
The gameplay is primarily a visual novel with point-and-click elements, characterized by straightforward mechanics and minimal challenge. While it features simple puzzles and a helpful hint system, many players find the gameplay to be average and lacking in difficulty, reminiscent of classic LucasArts adventures. Despite its forgiving nature, the game remains enjoyable and immersive, particularly for fans of the genre.
- “The mechanics of gameplay are nicely woven to where the player is never at a loss as to what they must do, thanks to a hint system that provides as much or as little assistance as the player likes.”
- “Gameplay-wise it does hold up to this day, with classic point-and-click controls and nothing complicated.”
- “Sometimes, I just think to myself that it would be fun to fire it up and play it some more just because of how enjoyable the gameplay is and how immersive the story is.”
- “Then they too would warn other fans about this game’s painfully average gameplay.”
- “Overall, the game has a very minimalistic attitude to the way it approaches gameplay.”
- “The gameplay is simple and extremely forgiving.”
music
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
12%
38%
The music in the game is highly praised for its fitting and immersive quality, enhancing the unique atmosphere and storytelling. With a blend of moody jazz and dramatic scores, it complements the game's visuals and characters, contributing to an engaging experience. Overall, the soundtrack is considered top-notch, adding depth to the gameplay.
- “The music and voice acting are top notch, and it was also fun to collect the hidden buttons that were in the many zones that allowed you to see conceptual art for the characters in the game if you turned the buttons into the patchwork girl.”
- “Great point and click adventure with a unique atmosphere and great music.”
- “The world, the characters, and the music are all excellent.”
- “(cue moody jazz music, heavy on the saxophone. The screen fades from black, revealing a foggy emerald city skyline, drenched in shadow and neon green glow. The gravelly voice of the honest trailer guy begins, with interjections from the Ryan George pitch meeting duo.)”
- “(ominous music swells.)”
- “(cut to Petra ripping back a literal curtain to reveal… something shocking, as dramatic music crescendos.)”
stability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Overall, the game's stability is generally good, with users reporting only minor graphical glitches that can often be resolved through compatibility settings. While full-screen mode may cause some issues, playing in windowed mode tends to provide a smoother experience.
- “There are some technical errors in Emerald Confidential, such as when you try playing this game full screen, it glitches out badly.”
- “The game's stable, and although the mouse cursor glitches aplenty in full screen, the game runs okay on Windows 10 if you play it in windowed mode.”
- “I had only minor initial issues with some graphical glitches that I was able to fix by setting Windows compatibility to Windows 98 and running it as an administrator, and after that, it ran perfectly.”
humor
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is praised for its wit and cleverness, with one reviewer highlighting it as an excellent and amusing sequel to 'The Wizard of Oz.' Overall, players find the comedic elements engaging and entertaining.
- “Excellent humor!”
- “A witty and humorous sequel of 'The Wizard of Oz'.”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere of the game is highly praised for its stunning visuals and immersive world, complemented by unique music that enhances the overall experience. Players appreciate the richly detailed environments that invite exploration, contributing to a captivating point-and-click adventure.
- “Step 4: serve with a side of stunning visuals 🎨🍃 – a richly atmospheric world to explore.”
- “Great point and click adventure with a unique atmosphere and great music.”
optimization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game suffers from poor optimization by modern standards, limiting players' ability to run it in fullscreen mode. Additionally, the new company has ceased support for older titles from PlayFirst, resulting in a lack of updates or optimizations for those games.
- “The game is not very optimized by modern computer standards, meaning you probably won't be able to play this game in fullscreen mode.”
- “The new company stopped supporting the older PC games that PlayFirst made, and as a result, those games were not optimized anymore.”
replayability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The game offers minimal replayability due to the absence of branching paths, limiting players' incentive to revisit the experience.
- “There are no branching paths, so there is little to no replayability.”
- “Once you've completed the game, there's not much incentive to play through it again.”
- “The lack of diverse endings makes replaying the game feel pointless.”
grinding
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players appreciate the minimal grinding in this adventure game, noting that it eliminates tedious inventory combining puzzles commonly found in the genre, resulting in a more streamlined and enjoyable experience.

Buy Emerald City Confidential

Emerald City Confidential™
$9.99
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Buy Emerald City Confidential

Emerald City Confidential™

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