A good shepherd knows his king...
A 2015 freeware Point-and-Click Adventure Game for PC, made in Clickteam Fusion 2.5 and published on itch.io
. Expanding on scenes from Oedipus the King, the player assumes the role of a shepherd on three different days in Theban history.The author made the entire game in under two hours, and it shows.
This game provides examples of:
- Ambidextrous Sprite: The shepherd's pose is clearly the same sprite flipped horizontally.
- Anachronism Stew: Thebes has skyscrapers right next to some sort of medieval-style castle with parapets. The throne room has a Greek column and modern style Persian rug, and day 2 takes place in a log cabin with a glass window. Possibly veering into Purely Aesthetic Era considering the shepherd is wearing sunglasses.
- Artifact Title: Oedipus stops being an inventory item after the first puzzle.
- Ascended Extra: The shepherd from the original play is a minor character who only appears in a single scene. The game covers his involvement in several parts of Oedipus' history mentioned but not seen in the play itself.
- Bling-Bling-BANG!: The 'Collector's Edition' promises gold knife DLC.
- Chiptune: All the songs are very repetitive 8-bit.
- Controllable Helplessness: You can walk around on the bank of the River Styx, but the game is still over and you need to restart to try again without dying.
- Dashed Plot Line: Many years pass between each level, shown by the changing color of the shepherd's hair/beard.
- Destination Defenestration: How the shepherd apparently interpreted Jocasta's order to 'get baby Oedipus out of the castle'...
- Establishing Shot: The same wide shot of the Theban skyline is used at the beginning of every day.
- Exact Words: Again, "Get baby Oedipus out of the castle." You can send Oedipus flying towards the nearest window the millisecond she finishes speaking.
- The Ferryman: If the sentry kills you, you wind up with Charon at the River Styx and can only restart.
- Game-Over Man: Charon is waiting for you on the River Styx after you die.
- "Good Luck" Gesture: The shepherd's default pose is flashing a thumbs-up.
- Hairstyle Inertia: The shepherd has the same Spiky Hair throughout his life, though it turns dark brown and later gray as he ages.
- Item Crafting: In the lightest possible sense. The berries can only be used to dye your knife or letter pink, and even then doing so is entirely pointless.
- Kleptomaniac Hero: Like all good adventure game protagonists, the shepherd quickly grabs anything that isn't nailed down.
- Limited Special Collector's Ultimate Edition: Clicking the shepherd's staff on the main menu brings up a parody ad for a Collector's Edition boasting industry-overdone features like concept art and gold weapons.
- Misbegotten Multiplayer Mode: Probably why Multiplayer Mode takes center stage on the parody 'Collector's Edition' advertisement.
- Moses in the Bulrushes: Jocasta asks the shepherd to help her with this on day 1.
- Mythology Gag: The 'concept art' image on the 'Collector's Edition' advertisement is a screenshot from Hector's Odyssey, an earlier game made by the same author. The shepherd is a lazy Palette Swap of Hector.
- Officer O'Hara: The sentry guarding the entrance to Oedipus' castle has some sort of Scotirish accent.
- Paper Key-Retrieval Trick: The puzzle on day II uses this exact solution to retrieve the key on the wrong side of the door.
- Patricide: The shepherd is present when Oedipus kills his father on day 2.
- The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: The shepherd never actually herds any sheep.
- Press X to Die: The knife's only function on Day 3 is to get you killed if you use it on the sentry.
- Public Domain Character: Everyone. Even the shepherd is an actual character from the original play.
- Smoke Out: Jocasta and Laius both leave the scene using cartoony clouds of smoke. In the latter case it might also count as a Big Ball of Violence.
- Spiky Hair: The shepherd always has spiky hair, even in his old age.
- Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Unless you planted the tree. Then it's possible to dodge. Too bad he has bottomless swords...
- Time Skip: After each level.
- Title Drop: To the original play, when Oedipus recites his letter
- Unwinnable by Design: If the player didn't throw the seed out the window in day 1, day 3 becomes impossible to complete without dying.
- Voiceover Letter: On day 3, Oedipus' voice will read the letter aloud if you click on it.
- Walk Like an Egyptian: The Theban festival poster reads "Walk like a Theban" and features a stick figure in this pose.
