*Note: I received the game for free for my full honest review. Thank you to PRHound and Smallthings Studio for the Xbox game key!
* I'm not the best at puzzles so I did play the game with a full guide. Gamespew made an excellent step by step walkthrough guide which you can find here: https://www.gamespew.com/2025/10/simon-the-sorcerer-origins-walkthrough/
It had been ages since I played a Simon the Sorcerer game so I was delighted to get a chance to play Simon the Sorcerer Origins which is celebrating thirty years of Simon the Sorcerer. The original Simon the Sorcerer games were point and click adventures on PC and Chris Barrie brought Simon to life with his comedic timing and wit. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Chris Barrie was voicing Simon once again in Origins. Origins is a prequel with events happening before the first game introducing us to Simon who has moved to a new neighborhood with his family.
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| Simon in the new house. |
This gives you a chance to learn the tutorial about interacting with things, combining items to make something useful to solve various puzzles. It feels familiar in a good way, think Discworld meets Monkey Island. The humor is very British and quite funny with Simon's sarcastic wit. The art style is cute and while the animation can sometimes be a little clunky, it doesn't detract from the fun of the game.
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| Simon meets Calypso the wizard. |
There is fast travel in the game with a hilarious joke about giant map pins. It definitely made having to go back and forth between areas much easier and there is a ton of back and forth through the storytelling and for many of the puzzles.
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| Map with map pins. |
There are a lot of puzzles and sometimes it was not always obvious what to do which made me grateful for the guide I was using because sometimes a solution was not always clear to me and many times the instructions could be a bit vague. Simon would make a comment that would give small hints about what to do next. The puzzles weren't too bad and not terribly frustrating which I appreciated.
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| Simon tries to solve a puzzle. |
I was constantly amused at Simon breaking the fourth wall with his commentary on the ridiculous situations he found himself in during his adventure. Chris Barrie does an excellent job voicing Simon and I found myself laughing often at Simon's antics such as roasting a talking painting's terrible poetry. I really enjoyed Simon the Sorcerer Origins because of the great way it approaches the storytelling. The game doesn't overstay its welcome, I finished it in about six hours and the ending is all wrapped up nicely setting up the events of the first game. It's a nice nod to the series while also introducing it to people who have never played Simon the Sorcerer games before. I had a blast with it and I would be thrilled to see them continue more of Simon's adventures.
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| Simon breaks the fourth wall. |
*Simon the Sorcerer Origins is available on the following platforms: Steam, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, and Nintendo Switch
