Pirates and point-and-click adventures are hardly strangers, especially if you grew up playing games such as Monkey Island. But Willy Morgan and the Curse of Bone Town manages to take that old-school formula and give it a much more modern 3D presentation.
Developed by imaginarylab, Willy Morgan and the Curse of Bone Town is very clearly inspired by the classic point-and-click adventures of the 1990s. From the puzzles to the humor and pirate-themed setting, there are plenty of moments that feel like a nod to the games many of us grew up playing.
Unlike some traditional point-and-click games, Willy Morgan gives you a reasonable amount of freedom to explore Bone Town at your own pace. That’s a good thing too, because the strange streets, buildings, and characters are easily some of the game’s biggest strengths.
If you’re from the same generation as me and grew up playing games such as Monkey Island, or even Simon the Sorcerer there’s a good chance you’ll feel right at home.
Willy Morgan and the Curse of Bone Town
Look for clues and help Willy Morgan find out what happened to his father in Willy Morgan and the Curse of Bone Town, an epic point-and-click puzzle game that takes us back to the gaming days of old.
- Reviewed on
- Nintendo Switch
- Time played
- 3 Hours
- Version / build
- Release
- Graphics7.5
- Audio6
- Gameplay7
- Replayability6
The Good
- 3D Scenery
- Great Puzzles
- Nostalgic gameplay
The Bad (& Ugly)
- Too short
- One and done gameplay
Reviewed byKegan MooneyA Modern Throwback to Classic Point-And-Click Adventures
Willy Morgan and the Curse of Bone Town doesn’t try to hide where its inspiration comes from.
The game feels very much like a modern tribute to classic point-and-click adventures, taking the familiar item collecting, strange puzzle logic, and eccentric characters of older games and wrapping them in a fully 3D world.
It’s a similar approach to what we’ve seen in other modern games that revive older styles of gameplay. Our Tormented Souls review looked at another game that leaned heavily into nostalgia while modernizing a classic genre.
Willy Morgan takes that same nostalgic approach, but instead of survival horror, it’s trying to recreate the charm of old-school adventure games. And for the most part, it works.
Clever Puzzles, Strange Logic, and Old-School Charm
You can’t really judge a point-and-click adventure without talking about its puzzles, and Willy Morgan certainly has plenty of them. Some are logical. Others are considerably… Well, weirder.
Right at the start of the game, you’ll need to heat up some sunscreen and use it as lubrication to remove a dreamcatcher from the wall. Yes, that’s an actual solution.
It’s exactly the kind of slightly ridiculous logic anyone who played older adventure games will probably recognize.
Most of the puzzles aren’t particularly difficult, and I rarely felt completely stuck. There’s usually enough information around you to work out what needs to be done, even if the solution sometimes requires a slightly questionable leap in logic. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. The strange solutions are part of the charm.
At times they arrive so frequently that they start getting in the way of something I actually wanted to do more of: explore Bone Town. The environments have so much personality that I would have happily traded a few puzzles for more opportunities to wander around and discover the town.
If puzzle-heavy games are your thing, our Killer Frequency review is another good example of a modern game built around solving problems while leaning heavily into nostalgia.
A Missing Father and a Very Strange Town
You play as Willy Morgan, the son of two famous archeologists who, unlike his adventurous parents, would usually rather spend his time with a good book.
That changes when Willy receives a letter from his father, who has been missing for ten years. The letter tells Willy to head to Bone Town and, more importantly, to trust no one.
With his mother away on an expedition, Willy sets off to find out what happened to his father. But not before we lube up a dreamcatcher and build a bike, of course.
Once you reach Bone Town, the mystery starts opening up and you’re introduced to an increasingly strange collection of characters. The story isn’t particularly complicated, but the unusual town and its inhabitants give it enough personality to keep things interesting.
There’s a nice sense of mystery running through the game, even if the relatively short runtime means some parts of the story don’t have as much time to develop as I would have liked.
Exploring Bone Town
Bone Town is easily one of the best parts of the game. The town is filled with oddly shaped buildings, exaggerated architecture, colorful locations, and plenty of little visual details that make it feel more interesting than your average puzzle game.
The fully 3D environments also help Willy Morgan feel more immersive than many traditional point-and-click adventures. Instead of simply moving between static screens, you’re able to walk around locations and explore them more freely.
It’s not an open-world game by any means, but that extra freedom makes exploring Bone Town much more enjoyable. In fact, the town looks so good that I found myself wishing the game gave me more reasons to explore it.
More optional areas, hidden interactions, or side stories would have gone a long way toward making Bone Town feel even more alive.
Simple Controls, Smooth Performance
Willy Morgan and the Curse of Bone Town offers an optional tutorial at the beginning, which is a small detail I appreciate.
If you’re already familiar with point-and-click games, you can get straight into the adventure. If you’re new to the genre, the tutorial is there when you need it.
On Nintendo Switch, you also have the choice of using traditional controls or the touchscreen, making it easy to play whichever way feels more natural. The touchscreen feels particularly well suited to this kind of game.
It’s also worth mentioning how polished my experience was. I didn’t encounter a single bug during my time with Willy Morgan and the Curse of Bone Town. Considering how common it has become to see games, including major AAA releases, arrive with technical problems, that’s worth highlighting.
And it wasn’t for lack of trying.
Everything ran smoothly throughout my time in Bone Town, with no crashes, major glitches, or progression-breaking issues getting in the way.
Bone Town Looks Better Than It Sounds
The visual design is one of Willy Morgan’s biggest strengths.
Bone Town has a slightly exaggerated, almost cartoon-like look, with crooked buildings, unusual proportions, and plenty of personality packed into its environments.
It’s colorful without being overly bright, and the slightly strange architecture fits the tone of the game perfectly. The audio doesn’t make quite the same impression.
The music and voice acting do their job, but neither stood out to me in the same way as the environments and overall visual design.
There’s nothing particularly wrong with the audio, but it’s not something I found myself thinking about once I had finished playing.
The Biggest Problem: It Ends Too Soon
Unfortunately, Willy Morgan and the Curse of Bone Town isn’t a particularly long game. And that’s probably its biggest weakness.
Just as Bone Town starts feeling like somewhere I want to spend more time exploring, the adventure is already moving toward its conclusion.
A short game isn’t automatically a bad thing, especially for a point-and-click adventure, but Willy Morgan creates a town that feels like it should have much more to discover.
More locations, more characters, and a few additional story threads could have made the adventure feel much more substantial. There’s also not a huge amount of replay value once you’ve solved the puzzles.
You might return to pick up anything you missed, but once you know the solutions to most of the puzzles, much of the challenge disappears. That makes the short runtime harder to ignore.
Willy Morgan and the Curse of Bone Town Review Verdict
Willy Morgan and the Curse of Bone Town is a charming throwback to the point-and-click adventures many of us grew up playing.
Its distinctive 3D environments, strange characters, and nostalgic puzzle design make Bone Town an enjoyable place to explore.
Some puzzle solutions occasionally cross the line from clever into downright bizarre, but that’s also part of the old-school charm the game is trying to recreate. The biggest disappointment is simply that there isn’t enough of it.
Just as I found myself wanting to explore more of Bone Town, meet more of its inhabitants, and uncover more of its secrets, the adventure was already wrapping up.
If you grew up playing games like Monkey Island or Broken Sword, there’s plenty here that will feel familiar.
Willy Morgan doesn’t quite reach the heights of the classics that inspired it, but it’s an enjoyable tribute to them and an easy recommendation for point-and-click fans looking for a short, nostalgic adventure.
Support Unboxed Reviews
Unboxed Reviews is fully independent — no publisher funding, no pay-to-win scores. If our reviews, news and guides have helped you, consider buying us a coffee. It helps keep the lights on.
Donations are entirely voluntary. Supporters receive no editorial influence — our reviews remain 100% independent.