Game: Foolish Mortals
Genre: Adventure
System: Steam (Windows & macOS)
Developers | Publishers: Inklingwood Studios
Controller Support: Mouse controls
Price: US $19.99 | UK £15.49 | EU €19,99
Release Date: Nov 5, 2025
Review code provided with many thanks to Inklingwood Studios.
Point and click adventure games have been especially beloved since King’s Quest. They can offer great stories with puzzles ranging from the clever to the unhinged, and imaginative worlds for you to explore. As the genre proceeded, personality began to matter more — LucasArts started to take over, with games like Monkey Island, Grim Fandango, and more.
Foolish Mortals is continuing a long lineage of such games, but it is especially tuned to that LucasArts style. Featuring a fully-voiced cast of characters — deadpan, bizarre, and many more — in a New Orleans-inspired fictional territory, it’s arguably closest in tone to the cult classics Full Throttle and Grim Fandango. Does it all come together? Grab your gris-gris bag and let’s find out.
We Are All Foolish Mortals
“Lord, what fools these mortals be!” comes from Shakespeare, and it’s a line Puck the fae erupts with in the middle of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He’s referencing the human need to be in emotional conflict with themselves over pretty much anything, and there’s a similar theme running behind the story of Foolish Mortals.
Your protagonist is just a guy, albeit an unlucky one. Murphy McCallan (M being the 13th number of the alphabet. You’ll see this number come up a lot) is an auditor who, deep down, really wants the job he’s on to be the cool treasure hunt he’s been dreaming of having his whole life. He may finally have it: Time is running out for him to find (and audit) the missing millions of Bellamore Manor.
Bellamore has been abandoned for thirty years, becoming an islander ghost story and tourist trap draw. That’s Murphy’s introduction to Devil’s Rock, a fictional Louisiana-flavor locale that’s regularly cut off from the mainland by the tides. Once he’s there, he’s braced by taxi drivers for probably being a schmuck, warned by cagey old fishermen, harangued by the ‘40s style reporter, and assisted by a mysterious voudou practitioner living deep in the swamps.
Vodou? You Do!
Vodou (the Haitian term, although the familiar “voodoo” is common in Louisiana) can be a minefield for storytellers. It’s a real faith for millions of people, particularly members of the African diaspora, while others assume it’s just fodder for zombie stories and offensive stories about Black people. The best ways to handle it in fiction are to take cues from successful stories, like Sinners or Constantine. It’s more likely to see portrayals like The Princess and the Frog, where an excellent story about a young Black girl still has to carry some pretty stereotyped baggage about “evil” vodou sorcerers.
It’s not easy to get away from that, and in this, Foolish Mortals goes for a safe, colorful style. The visuals surrounding vodou edge close to Disney’s familiar Dr. Facilier, but the treatment of gris-gris talismans shows some real homework done, and the practitioner himself is an interesting character that starts off neither good nor evil. Just very, very interested in Murphy and his desire for adventure.
The rest of the environment around Devil’s Rock is pure bayou prettiness, from crashed steamboats and French Quarter-style residences. The sprawling Bellamore mansion is simply gorgeous to explore, and you’ll have plenty of opportunity to do so. It’s a neat, lived in world, and an exciting one.
Puzzling It Out
With a diary in your luggage that can also double as a hint-book, the puzzles of Foolish Mortals aren’t as diabolical as some classics. Most things can be sorted out with a little thought and some backtracking to see if anything’s changed somewhere after you’ve found a roadblock. Odds are, what you need is tangled up there — probably with some good dialogue with a local.
If you want to dial back your potential for stress, there’s also an option to turn off timed puzzles. Something I wish I’d had with King’s Quest back in the day. But even if a puzzle is tough, the game is fun and rich enough to soothe the troubles.
These are things Foolish Mortals really shines at. Puzzles that make enough sense based on their objects to work, and a world of people just zany enough to keep you in that kind of headspace. Exhausting your dialogue options with people is an actual joy, and the voice acting is peppy and well-paced throughout. (My favorite is a very weird little girl you’ll meet early on. The weird kids gotta stick together.)
How’s It Play?
As a point-and-click adventure game, controls couldn’t be simpler. Whether you’re using a mouse and keyboard or the swish and taps of a Steam Deck, Foolish Mortals runs smoothly, with little confusion. A bar atop the screen tracks the items you’ve collected, plus keeps the settings gear off to the side. It’s less intuitive to find your journal — swipe right on the deck — but not difficult, either.
Running without skips and with a smooth, often animated style, it’s very much like playing those ‘80s throwback adventure games, punched up in a clean, modern style. For a fresh indie developer, their love for the genre instantly comes through with a slick production you’ll enjoy playing.
Conclusion
Foolish Mortals is a loving throwback to point-and-click Lucasarts games like Full Throttle, with quality voice acting and clever puzzles set in a richly designed, fictional Louisiana bayou. It’s a ton of well-designed fun, and stunningly well-polished for a game from apparent newcomer designers Inklingwood.
With a cozy tone and a light supernatural style, it’s definitely a must-play for Tim Schaefer fans — or anyone who loves a good story.
Final Verdict: I Like It A Lot
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