Game:

The Colonel's Bequest (1989)

Duration: 3:52

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The Colonel's Bequest is a computer game published by Sierra On-Line in 1989. This graphic adventure game was the first of the short-lived Laura Bow Mysteries series created by Roberta Williams and used many elements from the original Mystery House. It was created with SCI0. It uses 4-bit color (16 colors) and a typing interface. A sequel, The Dagger of Amon Ra, was released in 1992.

The Colonel's Bequest is set in 1925, and the game employs a distinctive, Art Deco style.

The game's main character is Laura Bow, a Tulane University student, daughter of a detective and aspiring journalist. Laura is invited by her flapper friend Lillian to spend a weekend at the decaying sugar plantation of Colonel Dijon. When the reclusive, childless Colonel gathers his quarrelsome relatives for a reading of his will, tensions explode and the bickering leads to murder.

Throughout the game, Laura remains stranded on the island surrounded by suspects and potential victims in a classical Agatha Christie manner. Laura's task is to learn the family secrets, and, ultimately, who the murderer is. There is also an optional, secondary backplot concerning a hidden treasure.

The storyline advances by a quarter-hour when new plot elements are witnessed. Sometimes a quarter-hour can advance in a few real-time seconds, if Laura happens to be in the proper place.