3> ... less than three

Having just finished the game Ben304 just released, I can't help but suggest you hurry over to Ben's blog and grab the brand new <3. It's an escape-the-room, point-and-click adventure game that Ben created with the help of qptain_Nemo and the ever excellent Adventure Game Studio. As usual, the thing sports amazing pixel-art graphics, a fantastic soundtrack, a few (well, one complex one in reality) interesting puzzles, lush descriptions, rich dialog and a brilliant and well written plot.

Actually, what, besides its quality, sets the game apart from most adventure games is the fact that it happily embraces D&D and CRPG cliches we have all come to love, cherish and understand. The mechanics and interface might be of the typical adventure sort, but the logic, setting, mystical treasures, +2 weapons and characters are definitely as RPG-y as they get. Oh, and <3 isn't afraid to turn into a well-written and rather odd love story either as its name should already have made abundantly clear. Play it and see if the bard, the cleric and the mage can escape the ancient treasure room of Emperor Kemal.

You can grab <3 (Less than Three) over at the AGS forums. It's freeware, comes in less than 10MBs and was created for the May 2011 MAGS competition.

Related @ Gnome's Lair:

• Love, Hate and the Mysterious Ocean Tower
• King's Quest III Redux - the review
• I Fought the Law, and the Law One
• A virtual box of four freeware games