ICOM Simulations, Inc.

Deja Vu I & II: The Casebooks of Ace Harding

Deja Vu I & II: The Casebooks of Ace Harding

Windows 3.X - Released - 1992

The Casebooks of Ace Harding includes Game Boy ports of Déjà Vu: A Nightmare Comes True!! (previously released on Game Boy) and Déjà Vu II: Lost in Las Vegas. Deja Vu is a port of a 1987 game that had been made for various systems. It's a classic detective story, with you waking up to a dead body with total amnesia - you don't know who you are, or how you got there, and you don't know who the corpse is, either. Déjà Vu II had never been released for Game Boy before, and was put in the same cart, selling for the price of one game.
Deja Vu II: Lost in Las Vegas

Deja Vu II: Lost in Las Vegas

Commodore Amiga - Released - 1989

Deja Vu II: Lost in Las Vegas is a point-and-click adventure game, the sequel to Deja Vu: a Nightmare Comes True!!, set in the world of 1940s hard-boiled detective novels and movies. When the original Deja Vu was first released on the Macintosh its software technology caused quite a sensation. Two more games in the same format followed, Shadowgate and Uninvited, and now a sequel to the original has arrived. Deja Vu II uses the full windowing capabilities of the Amiga, and play is almost 100% by mouse. Word icons are used to enter command verbs, and the picture and/or a graphical representation of a carried object is used to complete the command. Click on EXAMINE, and then click on an object in the picture, and a description of it is displayed in the text window. More common verbs like TAKE or DROP are executed by simply dragging the required object from picture into an INVENTORY window and vice versa. If that is not enough, there is extensive animation within the picture. But, disappointingly, on the Amiga there is no sound – and the digitised sound of a railway station, with steam trains arriving and porters shouting ‘All aboard!’ is sadly absent in comparison with the Atari ST version. The Amiga picture, too, when using a TV, is of poorer quality than that on the ST, and the window titles are very indistinct. Deja Vu II is a worthwhile but not an easy game. How can you get past the morgue attendant, for example? To what use can you put the hidden secrets you uncover in Joe’s Bar? Attention to detail and perseverance are needed to progress through the story, but will prove rewarding and result in an entertaining and enjoyable adventure.
Deja Vu II: Lost in Las Vegas

Deja Vu II: Lost in Las Vegas

Apple IIGS - Released - 1989

Deja Vu II: Lost in Las Vegas is a point-and-click adventure game, the sequel to Deja Vu: a Nightmare Comes True, set in the world of 1940s hard-boiled detective novels and movies. It was the last game made in the MacVenture series.
Deja Vu II: Lost in Las Vegas

Deja Vu II: Lost in Las Vegas

Apple Mac OS - Released - 1988

Déjà Vu II: Lost in Las Vegas is the sequel to Déjà Vu: A Nightmare Comes True. This time you wake up in Las Vegas with great headache and realize that you are Ace Harding, who has to find $112,000 of recently murdered Chicago's racketeer Joey Siegel for his boss and Las Vegas' mobster Tony Malone. You have a choice to find money in one week or classical "or else". Just for formality you are watched by Malone's thug Stogie Martin. During the investigation in Noir style you can collect and use items, talk to characters and make some decisions. The game has a multiple windows interface, which size and position you can change.
Deja Vu: A Nightmare Comes True!!

Deja Vu: A Nightmare Comes True!!

Apple IIGS - Released - 1988

Déjà Vu: A Nightmare Comes True!! is the first game made by ICOM, known for its adventure games such as Shadowgate and Uninvited. It was released in 1985 for Macintosh as the first in the MacVenture series; it was later ported to several other systems, including the Apple IIGS. 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, action takes place in Chicago in December 1941. Your character's name is Theodore "Ace" Harding - a retired boxer working as a private eye. He wakes up in a toilet stall of a sleazy pub with no memory of who he is or what he is doing there. To make matters worse, you as him 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 vegetable. To make matters worse the cops would very much like to have a word with you about that stiff.
Deja Vu: A Nightmare Comes True!!

Deja Vu: A Nightmare Comes True!!

Commodore Amiga - Released - 1986

Déjà Vu: A Nightmare Comes True!! is the first game made by ICOM, known for its adventure games such 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, action takes place in Chicago in December 1941. Your character's name is Theodore "Ace" Harding - a retired boxer working as a private eye. He wakes up in a toilet stall of a sleazy pub with no memory of who he is or what he is doing there. To make matters worse, you as him 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 vegetable. To make matters worse the cops would very much like to have a word with you about that stiff.
Deja Vu: A Nightmare Comes True!!

Deja Vu: A Nightmare Comes True!!

MS-DOS - Released - September 1, 1985

Déjà Vu: A Nightmare Comes True!! is the first game made by ICOM, known for its adventure games such 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, action takes place in Chicago in December 1941. Your character's name is Theodore "Ace" Harding - a retired boxer working as a private eye. He wakes up in a toilet stall of a sleazy pub with no memory of who he is or what he is doing there. To make matters worse, you as him 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 vegetable. To make matters worse the cops would very much like to have a word with you about that stiff.
Deja Vu: A Nightmare Comes True!!

Deja Vu: A Nightmare Comes True!!

Commodore 64 - Released - 1987

Déjà Vu: A Nightmare Comes True!! is the first game made by ICOM, known for its adventure games such 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, action takes place in Chicago in December 1941. Your character's name is Theodore "Ace" Harding - a retired boxer working as a private eye. He wakes up in a toilet stall of a sleazy pub with no memory of who he is or what he is doing there. To make matters worse, you as him 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 vegetable. To make matters worse the cops would very much like to have a word with you about that stiff.
Deja Vu: A Nightmare Comes True!!

Deja Vu: A Nightmare Comes True!!

Apple Mac OS - Released - September 1, 1985

Déjà Vu: A Nightmare Comes True!! is the first game made by ICOM, known for its adventure games such as Shadowgate and Uninvited. It was released in 1985 for Macintosh as the first in the MacVenture series; it was later ported to several other systems, including the Commodore Amiga. 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, action takes place in Chicago in December 1941. Your character's name is Theodore "Ace" Harding - a retired boxer working as a private eye. He wakes up in a toilet stall of a sleazy pub with no memory of who he is or what he is doing there. To make matters worse, you as him 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 vegetable. To make matters worse the cops would very much like to have a word with you about that stiff.
Deja Vu: A Nightmare Comes True!!

Deja Vu: A Nightmare Comes True!!

Atari ST - Released - 1987

Déjà Vu: A Nightmare Comes True!! is the first game made by ICOM, known for its adventure games such 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, action takes place in Chicago in December 1941. Your character's name is Theodore "Ace" Harding - a retired boxer working as a private eye. He wakes up in a toilet stall of a sleazy pub with no memory of who he is or what he is doing there. To make matters worse, you as him 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 vegetable. To make matters worse the cops would very much like to have a word with you about that stiff.
Dracula Unleashed

Dracula Unleashed

MS-DOS - Released - 1993

Dracula Unleashed is an interactive movie in the same vein as Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective. Basically, you can choose from several locations to go to, and at each location you are shown different events through live-action video clips. Clues in the videos will point you to where you should go next. You also have an "inventory" which you can use to affect the outcome of certain clips (for example, if you enter an asylum with the blackjack you'll be able to defend yourself against any escaped inmates, but if you don't bring the blackjack with you you'll be killed). Time is constantly moving and new events will pop up at different times of the day. In Dracula Unleashed it is the year 1899, ten years after the destruction of count Dracula chronicled in Bram Stoker's novel. You take the role of Alexander Morris, the younger brother of Texan Quincey Morris who died defeating Dracula. Alexander has come to London to investigate the circumstances of his brother's death, but became sidetracked when he fell in love with and proposed to a local girl named Annisette. Now, the dawn of a new millennium approaches and an evil force is stalking the streets of London, draining victims of their blood and transforming innocent women into bloodthirsty vampiresses. With the aide of your brother's old friends, the survivors of Dracula's evil, you must uncover the identity of this new vampire and prevent him from transforming Annisette into his queen of the night. Do not fail her, or she will personally rip your throat out.
Shadowgate

Shadowgate

MS-DOS - Released - 1987

Using the same graphical interface as Deja Vu, Shadowgate is an adventure game set in a fantasy world. Players take the part of an adventurer sent to the ancient keep of Shadowgate on a quest to find a mystic artifact known as the Staff of Ages and stop the evil Warlock Lord from summoning a horrific demon known as the Behemoth. However, Shadowgate has become infested with the Warlock Lord's demonic minions, not to mention the castle's still functional booby-traps. Unlike Deja Vu, death comes at the protagonist suddenly, unexpectedly and, most of all, often. Such simple acts as pulling the wrong switch or opening the wrong door can cause the hero to be skewered by a booby-trap or disemboweled by a monster. If the player character's torch burns out (this happens quite regularly) and the player forgets to light a new one, the protagonist will trip in the dark and break his neck.
Shadowgate

Shadowgate

Windows 3.X - Released - 1993

Using the same graphical interface as Deja Vu, Shadowgate is an adventure game set in a fantasy world. Players take the part of an adventurer sent to the ancient keep of Shadowgate on a quest to find a mystic artifact known as the Staff of Ages and stop the evil Warlock Lord from summoning a horrific demon known as the Behemoth. However, Shadowgate has become infested with the Warlock Lord's demonic minions, not to mention the castle's still functional booby-traps. Unlike Deja Vu, death comes at the protagonist suddenly, unexpectedly and, most of all, often. Such simple acts as pulling the wrong switch or opening the wrong door can cause the hero to be skewered by a booby-trap or disemboweled by a monster. If the player character's torch burns out (this happens quite regularly) and the player forgets to light a new one, the protagonist will trip in the dark and break his neck.
Shadowgate

Shadowgate

Apple Mac OS - Released - July 30, 1987

Shadowgate is a 1987 point-and-click adventure video game originally for the Apple Macintosh in the MacVenture series. It was also ported to various other systems. The game is named for its setting, Castle Shadowgate, residence of the evil Warlock Lord. The player, as the "last of a great line of hero-kings" is charged with the task of saving the world by defeating the Warlock Lord, who is attempting to summon up the demon Behemoth out of Hell.
Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective

Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective

Fujitsu FM Towns Marty - Released - 1991

In this game, the player is cast into the roles of Sherlock Holmes, the greatest fictional detective of all times, and his friend and partner Dr. Watson, as they have to investigate and successfully solve three criminal cases: The Mummy's Curse deals with the horrifying death of three men, which were apparently murdered by an ancient mummy; The Mystified Murderess involves a woman who has been convicted for murdering her beloved one, but cannot seem to recall anything of what had happened to her; The Tin Soldier concerns the murder of an old general, whose past must be investigated in order to find the killer. Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective can be described as a hybrid of adventure game and simulation. Gameplay process involves traveling to various locations in London, interrogating suspects, gathering clues, checking out the newspapers, and eventually presenting all the evidence to the judge; if the latter finds the circumstances incriminating, he will accept the results of the investigation, and the case will be considered solved. Though the basic gameplay is rather typical for adventure games, the amount of real detective work and the focus of the game on purely case-related actions rather than exploration and manipulation of items makes it comparable to a simulation of a criminal investigation. The game is notable for being one of the earliest "multimedia" titles, having been released on a CD ROM and featuring rather long (though windowed) video sequences with live actors as introductions and cutscenes, which frequently occur when the heroes investigate suspects.
Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective Volume I

Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective Volume I

MS-DOS - Released - 1991

In this game, the player is cast into the roles of Sherlock Holmes, the greatest fictional detective of all times, and his friend and partner Dr. Watson, as they have to investigate and successfully solve three criminal cases: The Mummy's Curse deals with the horrifying death of three men, which were apparently murdered by an ancient mummy; The Mystified Murderess involves a woman who has been convicted for murdering her beloved one, but cannot seem to recall anything of what had happened to her; The Tin Soldier concerns the murder of an old general, whose past must be investigated in order to find the killer. Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective can be described as a hybrid of adventure game and simulation. Gameplay process involves traveling to various locations in London, interrogating suspects, gathering clues, checking out the newspapers, and eventually presenting all the evidence to the judge; if the latter finds the circumstances incriminating, he will accept the results of the investigation, and the case will be considered solved. Though the basic gameplay is rather typical for adventure games, the amount of real detective work and the focus of the game on purely case-related actions rather than exploration and manipulation of items makes it comparable to a simulation of a criminal investigation. The game is notable for being one of the earliest "multimedia" titles, having been released on a CD ROM and featuring rather long (though windowed) video sequences with live actors as introductions and cutscenes, which frequently occur when the heroes investigate suspects.
Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective Volume II

Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective Volume II

MS-DOS - Released - 1992

"What they said about Sherlock I, you'll say about Sherlock II"...reads the advert in the box, based on the nice critics about Volume I. - The same video technology (this is 1992), keeps offering true interactive environment: actually letting you "feel" the traffic in the streets of the old London… - The same structure brings a familiar look, inviting to channel all attention to the task of solving mysteries: your intelligence, skills and patience are required to find clues by listening to people, observing details, or even reading the London Times - but don't let yourself be misguided by a wrong hint. - The same number of cases: 3 But, each situation is completely different: “The Two Lions” involving the murder of circus lions, “The Pilfered Paintings” just bought by The National Gallery...and “The Murdered Munitions Magnate”, where hints reveal different possible motives...have nothing in common, except the detective in charge: you…
Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective: Volume III

Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective: Volume III

MS-DOS - Released - 1993

In this third installment of Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective your task is to solve three separate crimes by visiting various locations, listening to the dialogues and reading the in the package included mock London newspapers. Once you have gathered enough evidence, you have to present your case in court and answer all of the judge’s questions correctly. The three cases are: * The Solicitous Solicitor This case involves the sudden death of Melvin Tuttle, a solicitor who apparently has died of a heart attack. You are visited by Inspector Lestrade, who believes that Tuttle was murdered, poisoned to be exact. * The Banker's Final Debt This case involves the murder of Oswald Mason at his home. Scotland Yard believes that the murder was a result of Mason disturbing a burglar, but the Treasury wants you to investigate the case as Mason was dealing with sensitive Treasury work at the time. * The Thames Murders This case requests your assistance in solving five murder cases in which the bodies are all found on the bank of the Thames, this at first being the only thing linking the murders.
Uninvited

Uninvited

MS-DOS - Released - 1986

Another game using the graphical adventure interface found in Déjà Vu and Shadowgate, Uninvited comes with a "horror" theme. While driving on a lonely road at night, a strange figure blocks your vision causing you to swerve and crash your car. When you regain consciousness, you find that your brother is missing (in the NES-Version it's your sister who is missing). The only place he could have gone is a creepy old mansion which looms in front of you. With nowhere else to go, you enter the mansion in search of your brother. It turns out the mansion once belonged to an old wizard and his apprentice, and somehow it has become infested with the Undead.
Uninvited

Uninvited

Windows 3.X - Released - 1993

Another game using the graphical adventure interface found in Déjà Vu and Shadowgate, Uninvited comes with a "horror" theme. While driving on a lonely road at night, a strange figure blocks your vision causing you to swerve and crash your car. When you regain consciousness, you find that your brother is missing (in the NES-Version it's your sister who is missing). The only place he could have gone is a creepy old mansion which looms in front of you. With nowhere else to go, you enter the mansion in search of your brother. It turns out the mansion once belonged to an old wizard and his apprentice, and somehow it has become infested with the Undead.
Uninvited.

Uninvited.

Commodore 64 - Released - 1988

Another game using the graphical adventure interface found in Déjà Vu and Shadowgate, Uninvited comes with a "horror" theme. While driving on a lonely road at night, a strange figure blocks your vision causing you to swerve and crash your car. When you regain consciousness, you find that your brother is missing. The only place he could have gone is a creepy old mansion which looms in front of you. With nowhere else to go, you enter the mansion in search of your brother. It turns out the mansion once belonged to an old wizard and his apprentice, and somehow it has become infested with the Undead.
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