When Anachronox released in 2001, it peeked from under the shadow of Ion Storm Dallas’ more infamous fiasco. With John Romero’s Daikatana soaking up all the resources, attention and infamy, Tom Hall’s quirky sci-fi RPG barely jettisoned out before the studio imploded. In the quarter-century since, it has accrued a more devout, cult audience, who adore its absurdist humor, detailed world and mismatched sensibilities. Now to celebrate its anniversary, Hall is unlocking his personal vaults, promising a peek behind the PC game too weird to live and too rare to die.
You play as Sly Bucelli, a surly, indebted private eye who lives in a pod above his local space bar and struggles to spell. Needing to make cash fast, Bucelli takes on a case that demands he confront the most dangerous criminals in the solar system in pursuit of mysterious techno relics.
This all sounds like the set up to a bog standard, late ‘90s sci-fi PC RPG, and Anachronox certainly resembles a lot of those darker affairs being put out by Eidos at the time. But beneath those 3D trench coats is an absurdist farce. The cosmos a playground of high concept gags in-line with something Douglas Adams might pen. Your mouse cursor is an actual character. One of your party members is an entire planet whose face is composed of satellite relays. The Canadian dollar somehow became the standard currency of humanity’s space future. And on top of all that, the game plays more like Japanese console RPGs. Chrono Trigger specifically, another game that’s renown for not selling great in the west in spite of its quality.
Critics sympathized with the quirky humor but by the time it was released, the writing was on the wall. Eidos pinned a lot of hopes on Daikatana making millions when it ended up shipping tens of thousands. Anachronox was already earmarked as the underdog and, like Earthbound before it, a little south of eclectic for an easy ad campaign. For years it languished in obscurity until it reemerged on digital marketplaces such as GOG and Steam. While still scrappy, its following has grown. Now Hall wants to celebrate his strange creation in kind.
“It’s been 25 years since the game’s release,” says Hall in a video. “Let’s do some spelunkin’.”
Prying open old bins, Hall says he’s come across old design documents and story outlines for Anachronox and will focus his newsletter to a thorough behind the scenes. The original game ended on a cliffhanger, as Hall thought the already 40+ hour game wasn’t enough to tell the whole story. Obviously a sequel never materialized, but hopefully we’ll get a hint at what became of ol Sly Boots.