Guard Duty

Guard Duty is a point-and-click adventure game using classic mechanics. The protagonist is Tondbert, a guard to the Castle of Wrinklewood, who wakes up with a terrible hangover. His first task is locating his clothes, but soon enough there are more pressing matters. A hooded figure snuck into the kingdom and kidnapped princess Theremin. Knights are sent away to bring her back, but Tondbert decides he should be the one to rescue her. This story covers the first two acts and then the third and final act offers a very different story. Set a thousand years later in a futuristic environment, players get to control Agent Starborn, a member of a resistance group, in a small orbital station. Eventually both fates intertwine.

The game mixes typical exploring with conversations, collecting items and solving puzzles. In the first two chapters playing as Tondberg with a medieval fantasy theme there is an inventory system that also contains a RPG-like quest tracker. All actions are done using the mouse. The left mouse button is used to move around and interact, the right one to examine. Items from the inventory can be used in the environment and can be examined, but no inventory items need to be combined. It is not possible to die. There is a save game system with both auto saving and manual saves. The game often uses a lighthearted tone with humorous elements.

The final chapter playing as Agent Starborn has a dark sci-fi theme and more serious tone. It also has different game mechanics. Starborn can use a communicator to talk to the rest of his team to ask questions or have them help. There is no longer an inventory button and all available items are now shown near the top of the screen. Items no longer needed to be clicked to be used in the environment they are used contextually right away.