Loom is one of those classics that easily got forgotten, and yet it shouldn't be. Some groundbreaking things were tried in Loom, and some to never be seen again, and some setting the standard for the future.

In this you play the role of Bobbin Threadbare, a young weaver enshrouded in mystery. What this mystery precisely means is something Bobbin himself doesn't even know or understand, but whatever it is, the other weavers fear him for that. Quite often they even refuse to refer to him by name, and just call him "Loom Child". The weavers are about to decide Bobbin's destiny, however then the great magic loom goes haywire and turns all the weavers into swans and they all fly away. All that's left for Bobbin is the Elder's distaff, and a journey for Bobbin to seek out the other guilds in order to find out what exactly happens with his own guild. The only hint is Bobbin's mother. A woman Bobbin doesn't know except for she died a long time ago leaving nothing behind but a grave.

What makes this point and click adventure unique is the fact that Bobbin's only inventory item is the Elder's distaff, and you will not get any other items. All puzzles in the game revolve around this distaff. Now one downside is that you'll need a paper and a pen in order to play this game, as Bobbin will learn patters of four notes each for all kinds of actions. Only a few are the same every game and the others are different all the time. Also note, drafts can be played forward and backward, and playing them backward will reverse the action. So when open is "ECED" then close is "DECE". You will need to write all these patterns down.

It was a system that made Loom quite unique, but not a system that formed the base for later games.

What did form a basis for later games is the fact that Bobbin cannot die, and unless you neglect to write down the draft patters Bobbin learns on the way, you cannot get stuck ruling out any chance of winning the game, and that was quite unique for adventure games at the time. As a matter of fact, Loom was the very first adventure game to follow this philosophy, only to be ridiculed by Sierra at first for this philosophy making adventure games too easy, and in Space Quest IV they even made a parody on that in the box of worthless computer games in the form of the parody game "Boom". Sierra would however soon sing a different tune since the same philosophy was upheld when Loom's successor appeared, which became the most iconic adventure game ever created: The Secret of Monkey Island, which showed that no dying in adventure games and also no dead ends can still offer a big challenge.

When it comes to Loom, I must be honest the game is not very hard and most puzzles are pretty easy to solve with a bit of common sense. Once can say this is a very good adventure games for beginners. However stating that Loom is "too" easy is a bit of an overstatement, so you must still be very keen to think though and random guesses to get past point will not get you anywhere.

Now when it comes to the presentation of the game. The original game was released for EGA featuring only 16 colors, yet this version already managed very well to bring over the dark, yet gentile theme of the game. Perhaps, this is also due to the very well chosen theme song, which really carries the mood over in the right way. Later the game was improved with VGA featuring 256 colors. And a later CD-ROM release even featured voice acting. The screenshots I used in this review were taken from the CD-ROM version with 256 colors and voice acting.

However this being a game about guilds did also require the developers to make great work of the other guilds, and where the weavers live on a dark island with a giant magic loom, so the shepherd guild lives in the meadows and the forest taking care of their sheep and the glass makers guild live in a city entirely made out of glass. There's also the forger's guild who live in a giant castle where they are all forging swords and a clerics guild and that guild will prove to be rather hostile, most notably bishop Mandible. All guilds got special attention in their graphic appearance, but also in their devotion to their own craft and general behavior.

Now the game features three difficulty settings. The storyline and the puzzles themselves will remain the same no matter what difficulty setting you pick, however the way your distaff shows will be different. In the easy mode it shows like in my shots, in medium mode it won't show the note bar, but when learning new drafts you still see the specific lights light up on your staff and in the hard mode you must do it by hearing the tones alone, which you only should do when you have a clear ear for music.

Now when it comes to playing this game in modern times, the game works very well in both DOSBox but even better might be ScummVM. Now just because this game is old does not mean it's free. I keep saying it, because some people think so, but that won't happen before the game is in some regions at least 50 years old, in Europe 70 years old and in the US even 90 years old, so that will take awhile I'm afraid. You can buy the game on both Steam and GOG. Now basically the Steam site says only Windows and Mac, while GOG also includes Linux, but as these are mostly just the original file wrapped in DOSBox, ScummVM should make it playable on any platform ScummVM supports.

All in all Loom is a classic, and although not one that bad, it did get overshadowed by its successor "The Secret of Monkey Island". And partially due to this Loom 2 (in which it was planned to have Rusty Nailbender, a young boy you meet halfway the game, as main protagonist) never came to be, and likely never will. Yet, Loom is a game that should not be forgotten. The game is certainly not a failure and it's one of those game all fans of the point-and-click-adventure genre should have played. It's certainly not the best game of its kind, I must be honest, but the game does what it was set out to do. And dispite the slight horror mood when you reach the final stage of the game, the game does also do well for a younger audience as well. All in all, Loom is a nice game and a game which is on the brink to be forgotten, and this review is my contribution not to allow that to happen. Come on peeps, now your turn to do yours 😉

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