Pilgrim

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

A first-person Adventure Game by Arxel Tribe, released in 1998, and loosely based on a novel by Paulo Coelho, The Pilgrimage.

The story is set in 13th century France, and is about a young boy, Simon de Lancrois, who is charged by his dying father to bring a precious manuscript in the town of Toulouse, to a mysterious man called Petrus. On his way there, he shall meet circus performers, mad monks, Spanish inquisitors, corrupt knights...

Seen by today's standards, the game may not stand as very technically advanced for its time. The characters speak while staying motionless, moving from scene to scene is choppy, and most of the puzzles become very easy when you just click a "hint" button - not to mention the game comes with a walkthrough.

Tropes used in Pilgrim include:
  • Actually, I Am Him: Happens both with Petrus and Bélibaste.
  • Back From the Dead: Happens to Simon himself.
  • Badass Spaniard: Pablo the knife-thrower.
  • Battle Amongst the Flames: In Simon's dream, when he first fights Hades.
  • Cartoon Cheese: When Simon is shrunk in size and must find his way inside a maze, the end is marked by a piece of yellow holey cheese (referring to Bélibaste's pet mouse he had when pretending to be a mad monk).
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: Isabeau, who is arrogant and indifferent towards Simon when he meets her at the bridge. When he meets her again at the banquet preparations, she becomes much friendlier as Petronus has gotten very ill and she needs help to prepare a show. She even admires Simon later as he frees her from a cage.
  • Dream Within a Dream: In the opening, Simon is seen sleeping in the snow, dreaming about fighting Hades. Then he wakes up and hears Isabeau calling for his help, leading him to fight Hades who is holding her prisoner. After the fight, Simon wakes up for good as he feels his father is calling him.
  • Eyepatch of Power: Worn by Pablo, who is still a very good knife-thrower.
  • The Fundamentalist: The monk and Diego. It's a facade.
  • Gonk: The luthier's daughter. He is definitely not ashamed of her, as he puts her picture on his shop's counter.
  • Good All Along: Diego.
  • Hair of Gold: Isabeau has them.
  • Hannibal Lecture: Hades is doing his best to convince Simon to give him Durandal. "You sure trust a lot people who ask so much of you! How about trusting someone who only asks so little?"
  • I'm Cold... So Cold...: Said by Isabeau in Simon's dream, although she is saying this not because she is dying but because they are in a snowy area.
  • Improbable Aiming Skills: Pablo manages to hit a small silk balloon by throwing a knife, while not even looking at it.
  • Infinity-1 Sword: Simon has to - and actually finds- the legendary sword Durandal, that is pretty much the French equivalent of Excalibur.
  • Jerkass: The knife salesman, who is disliked by almost every other shopkeeper in Toulouse. When a guy tells you that his knives are meant to slice the tongues of people who ask too many questions, you know he is not going to be fun at parties.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Knight William used to be in the Crusades, committing various acts of violence towards innocent civilians, in the name of his faith. "I saw them, and I was one of them. I was Hell."
  • No Ending: If you choose to go live with Isabeau in the end, you don't get an ending sequence.
  • Not the Fall That Kills You: When the mouse's silk balloon is deflated, she falls back in the monk's hands and is later seen being perfectly healthy. Even for a small mouse, this is quite a feat to endure.
  • The Obi-Wan: Adalard, who dies in the beginning of the game.
  • Old Master: Petrus towards Simon during most of the game. Saint James himself makes a few appearances.
  • Our Angels Are Different: The angel Simon meets looks like a classic one, except she is all white and very slender.
  • Poirot Speak: "Hola, mi nombre es Pablo, and I am the greatest knife-thrower del mundo!"
  • Puzzle Boss: Boy, Hades sure looks like an incredible badass to fight, especially when you consider that opening and the manual! What's this? You are supposed to drop the sword he wants in the water and later best him at chess to beat him? This is an adventure game, remember?
  • Redemption Equals Death: William wants to redeem himself from his acts of violence in the Crusades. He then decides to go fight the evil knight Hades, and gets killed by him immediately.
  • Shadow Archetype: Hades is presented as this to Simon.
  • Sins of Our Fathers: The ghost wants to get revenge, even if it means scaring away innocent villagers. They are the same type of people as those who got her killed, anyway.
  • So Beautiful It's a Curse: When Simon has to confront a ghost haunting a house, he learns that her death was caused by being accused of witchery, simply because she attracted a lot of married men and really got around.
  • Temple of Doom: The catacombs where you have to manipulate machinery to demonstrate your knowledge of the Ten Commandments and the Plagues of Egypt.
  • Unwinnable By Mistake: Let's hope you don't give all your coins to the beggar. Make sure you still have one.
  • You Cannot Grasp the True Form: Simon meets incarnations of Strength, Faith and Knowledge. Respectively, they take the form of Marc, Diego and Adalard because he associates these concepts with those people he knows in his mind.