Heir of the Dog – A Bloody Brilliant Point-and-Click Mystery

“Man is not truly one, but truly two.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

Overview

Heir of the Dog began as a short game jam project called Hair of the Dog in 2020. It was made available for free and drew tens of thousands of players. The positive response encouraged the developers, Tall Story Games, to revisit the concept, and in 2024 a full version of the game was backed by over a thousand Kickstarter supporters, including Ron Gilbert, who collectively pledged over £60,000 to see the game fully realised.

Heir of the Dog is the studio’s second commercial title, following their 2022 debut Lucy Dreaming, which was praised for its writing, humour, pixel art, and voice acting. Tall Story Games’ new title is another point-and-click adventure, this time set in Victorian England and starring Cummerbund Bandersnatch, an upper-class nitwit who suffers a monstrous transformation after drinking his uncle’s ‘good time formula’.

Narrative

Heir of the Dog follows a young man named Cummerbund Bandersnatch through Victorian London. It all starts when, after a strange explosion over the city, he visits his uncle’s house and discovers an unfamiliar concoction. Not being the brightest crayon in the box, he decides it is safe to drink and subsequently undergoes a strange transformation. From here, he embarks on an unexpectedly perilous adventure to find his uncle and find a solution to his unusual predicament. However, in the process, he discovers a sinister plot involving a secret society, the royal family, and a whole lot of dogs.

The narrative is told largely through the well-written dialogue, though some visual storytelling is also utilised, as well as the gameplay itself. The dialogue is riddled with pop culture references, cliché Britishisms, and innuendo, in the most wonderful and comedic way and is sure to keep players laughing throughout.

Gameplay

Heir of the Dog makes use of traditional point-and-click mechanics and fits solidly within the genre. Players can use either keyboard and mouse or a controller to move Cummerbund around each scene and interact with objects or people. Where it strays is that Mr Bandersnatch has three forms throughout the game: human, dog, and monster. Throughout most of the game, he can use a pocketwatch to go forward in time and trigger the transformation between human and dog, becoming a dog only during the night. As a human, he can look at, pick up, and use objects, as well as speak to people; as a dog, he can sniff people and things instead of speaking, though this will instigate conversations with other dogs.

The game mostly uses typical inventory-based puzzles that are well-designed and solvable with logic. It may be necessary to do a bit of back and forth, and remember specific details, but fast travel is enabled when Cummerbund obtains a map, and any dialogue containing important information can be repeated. The many tasks Mr Bandernatch must complete include things such as cleaning a chimney, returning home without exposing himself, and competing in a rather slippery Tug-o-Eel tournament.

Early on in the game, a louse named Hugo jumps onto the protagonist and takes on the role of assistant. Interacting with Hugo will not only bring up a list of objectives, but also prompt him to pay Cummerbund a delightfully worded compliment.

Styling

Heir of the Dog boasts detailed pixel art that wonderfully depicts the vast array of scenes and characters. A dark, muted colour palette is used, accented with pops of vibrant colour such as slightly creepy shades of green, purple, red, and orange. The animations are smooth, helping bring out the different personalities and breathe life into the various environments. Much like in Lucy Dreaming, the visuals bring an old-school point-and-click vibe that fits perfectly with the gameplay.

There is a good range of music in the game, from quaint and jaunty little numbers to much more dramatic and foreboding tracks, each emphasising the tone of its respective scene in an effective but unimposing way. A myriad of sound effects not only help build an immersive game world, but also, at times, accentuate humorous moments within the story.

Heir of the Dog is voiced by a fantastic array of actors such as Sally Beaumont (Prim, Séance of Blake Manor), Shaun Mendum (Baldur’s Gate III), and Alistair Beckett-King (Nelly Cootalot, Earth Must Die). They bring alive a host of characters such as the pompous newspaper editor Billious Fogg, a big game hunter named Sir Reginald Spamhammer, a ragtag group of resourceful street urchins, and a trio of brave dogs. The voice acting is spectacular and really works to elevate the narrative. Despite actors playing multiple characters, they bring a unique voice to each, emphasising their personalities and emotions, which in turn increases the player’s level of investment in the story and the fates of those within it.

Summary

Heir of the Dog will take around 15-20 hours to complete, providing hours of fun for an incredibly reasonable price. It offers beautiful pixel art and animations, immersive sound design, a captivating narrative full of red herrings and misdirection, fabulously funny dialogue, and engaging point-and-click gameplay that makes it a brilliant addition to the genre. Overall, I think it was rather spiffing, tip-top, and could be justly described as (excuse the language) the dog’s bollocks. I thoroughly enjoyed this game and enthusiastically recommend it to anyone who enjoys point-and-click games, or even just a good story with some great jokes. I take my hat off to the developers, Tall Story Games, and say “jolly good show ol’ chaps!”

Looking for more slightly spooky point-and-click games? You may enjoy these reviews:
Shadows of the Afterland – The Night is Grey – The Plague Doctor of Wippra

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