Although the original Simon the Sorcerer was a huge part of my childhood, I’ll admit to not remembering much more than the broader strokes of the 1993 original. I recall specific moments, like going through the trials to become a wizard, or the first meeting with Calypso. But as I booted up Simon the Sorcerer Origins, it dawned on me that we already definitely had an origin in 1993.
It feels weird then, when Simon meets Calypso in this prequel-reboot and acts like he knows him, only for Calypso to remind the lad that this is a prequel and they don’t know each other yet. It’s not as though the first game began with their relationship established. In fact it all starts in a very similar way to this.
I wondered from that moment how much care and attention Smallthings Studios had paid to the original, and how much they’d sacrificed to shoehorn in more awkward fourth-wall-breaking jokes. I get the gag, but the way Simon mugs to camera to comment on almost everything he sees or hears becomes irritating very quickly.
He’s also a bit of a toerag in this game, with obvious shades of Horrid Henry, a character I detest beyond the bounds of reason. Simon hasn’t got a lot of charm, but makes up for it with the good-natured way he just accepts his bizarre fate and gets on with it. Very British.
Of course, being very British was the main through line of the original Simon the Sorcerer. With voice talent like a Chris Barrie (who returns in this), and the kind of dry humour we expected from something heavily influenced by the Discworld novels and the Hitchhiker’s Guide, it was quintessentially British through and through. There are elements of that in Origins as well, but some of it has lost its sheen over time.
Gameplay feels very similar in a lot of ways. A point & click adventure like its predecessors, Simon the Sorcerer Origins presents you with static scenes that require you to solve a variety of logic puzzles using reasoning, deduction, and the tried and tested method of rubbing the contents of your inventory all over the screen until something lets you advance.
Puzzles range from super simple to absolute head-scratchers, and the lack of a hint system makes it a real uphill challenge on the odd occasion. Partly this is because of a lack of context, but is often solved by abandoning logical thought and just clicking everything. I struggled with one very early, very simple puzzle because I failed to notice I could open a drawer inside a fridge and stand on it. You can press TAB to highlight stuff, though, so this was mostly on me.
Graphically, Simon the Sorcerer Origins gives away its low budget with some pretty uninspired backdrops and intentionally retro animation that comes across as, well, a bit slow and cumbersome. It’s deliberate, yes, but still not great, and some of the backdrops are just very rudimentary. It fails to capture the simple magic of the original games, which is a shame considering how much it relies on nods to them.
Simon the Sorcerer Origins is inoffensive enough and occasionally amusing, but I wonder who it will appeal to. The younger generation will be bored in moments, while the older generations who may fondly remember the original would be better off just playing that again, or its sequel. This just feels like it exists as an answer to a question no one asked, and does little with its vaunted legacy. That said, for those who carry a nostalgic torch for the franchise, Simon the Sorcerer: Origins is as close as you’ll get to the original in 2025.