Amanda the Adventurer

Amanda the Adventurer
Amanda the Adventurer logo
Genre(s)	Horror
Developer(s)	MANGLEDmaw Games
Publisher(s)	DreadXP
Platform(s)	PC Steam PS4 Switch
First release	2022
Latest release	2024

Amanda the Adventurer is a horror video game series developed by MANGLEDmaw Games and published by DreadXP, the video game publishing arm of Dread Central. The series started as an entry into a game jam and was developed into a full game after it was acquired by DreadXP. The game's latest release is titled Amanda The Adventurer 2.

The series centers upon the protagonist Riley, who has become involved with the mystery surrounding the children's show Amanda the Adventurer.

Gameplay

Chapter 1

During the game, players must solve puzzles and locate VHS tapes containing episodes from the children's series Amanda the Adventurer. While screening the tapes players can interact with Amanda and her companion Wooly The Sheep, which can in turn impact the player's environment and game endings. The player assumes control of Riley, a non-gender specific character who is tasked with investigating the mystery surrounding the show and the sinister company, Hameln Entertainment. The setting is similar to the escape room concept.

Chapter 2

Similar to the first game, Chapter 2 also has puzzles to be solved and VHS tapes to be located. Each tape contains an episode of Amanda the Adventurer. There is a mysterious masked figure that guides Riley at the beginning of the game, who turns out to be Joanne Cook, one of Kate Park's accomplices, in one of the secret endings. There are a few secret tapes to unlock such secret endings. Each decision you make can affect how the game ends.

Synopsis

Amanda the Adventurer (2023)

Players control Riley Park, who has moved to Kensdale, Ohio after receiving a goodbye letter from their Aunt Kate. In the letter Kate leaves her home to Riley and makes vague statements about running out of time. After arriving Riley discovers that Kate was researching the children's series Amanda the Adventurer, which had started off as a live-action show and became a 3D cartoon after it was acquired by a studio called Hameln Entertainment. During its run parents became concerned about some of the show's plots and messages. Several children also went missing while watching the show, causing Kate to investigate the show and suspect that supernatural forces may be at play.

Riley discovers a VHS tape in Kate's attic and plays the tape, during which Riley is able to interact with Amanda and her companion Wooly. As Riley finishes a tape and the associated puzzles, Riley discovers more tapes and learns that Kate was correct in assuming that the show had ties to the supernatural. Depending on the choices Riley can discover additional, secret tapes that give out more information about the series, the people who created it, and the child who was the original Amanda, Rebecca Colton. Players can also trigger an ending where Riley is killed by a demonic entity of Amanda bearing her hairstyle. If they achieve the true ending, Riley is left alive and Amanda tells Riley that she is out there somewhere. Riley is forced to destroy the TV they used to play the VHS tapes just as a masked figure enters the attic.

Amanda the Adventurer 2 (2024)

In the second game the masked figure reveals herself to be Joanne, a friend and associate of Kate's, who was helping in the investigation of the show after the disappearance of Joanne's little brother Jordan. She takes Riley to Kate's former workplace, the Kensdale Public Library, where Riley is again tasked with finding more VHS tapes and revealing further secrets about the show, Hamelin Entertainment, and the forces that may be at work. As with the previous entry, the game's ending will depend on whether or not Riley has discovered all of the VHS tapes and responded to prompts correctly. There are multiple points where the player can die depending on their actions, such as giving the Amanda entity the wrong toy or telling Amanda the wrong story.

If Riley has found all of the secret tapes and successfully warded off a new, disruptive possum character, the game will end with Joanne getting attacked and killed by the Amanda monster after destroying one of the tapes. Riley is given a blank VHS tape and urged to flee through an escape tunnel that Kate had installed in the library. Johanne tells Riley that Hamlin workers had also burned down Kate's House in an attempt to destroy the tapes there.

If Riley chose not to ward off the possum in the final tape, the possum will call out for "JOH" when it hears Joanne speak. Riley is later sent away down the escape tunnel with the blank VHS tape, and Joanne is attacked by a different more monstrous demonic entity with Wooly's fleece.

Characters

Real world

• Riley Park: Riley is a character of unspecified age and gender. Their aunt Kate had an untimely death prior to the first game, and have been tasked with uncovering the mystery surrounding the show Amanda the Adventurer.
• Kate Park: Kate is Riley's aunt who is shown to have died prior to the events of the first game. Before her death Kate was a public librarian who ran the local library in Kensdale. In the games Kate is shown to have promoted Amanda the Adventurer when it was a live-action show and was friends with Rebecca Colton, the girl who portrayed Amanda.
• Sam Colton: Sam is creator of Amanda the Adventurer. Years ago he had adopted an orphan by the name of Rebecca Colton. Admiring her spirit after some traumatic event, she went through the two created a live-action show through local public-access television. This show was promoted through local library events in the Kensdale Public Library and got the attention of the Hameln Entertainment studio. For reasons unknown to the public, he went missing with Hameln, claiming he abandoned the show and Rebecca whom they gained custody over.
• Rebecca Colton: Rebecca is the adopted daughter of Sam Colton. According to Sam, Rebecca had a positive world view despite something traumatic she went through in life. Together with Sam, they created the original "Amanda The Adventurer" show, a live-action version over public access television where Rebecca portrayed Amanda, gaining public notoriety. Hameln eventually bought the show and proposed it become an animated feature with Rebecca providing the voice for the title character. However, production was not normal. During a test recording, she was required to recite unusual words, homophonic to the names of demons, culminating in her hearing a "man in the headphones" and was persuaded to sign away her custody after Sam went missing. The last she was seen thus far was unconscious in a hospital bed with a mechanical helmet. Kate initially believed that Rebecca was attempting to contact her through Amanda, though later said for reasons currently unknown: "She was never ours to save."
• Joanne Cook: Koanne is a self appointed investigator in a red coat and black mask. She became involved with the dark mystery surrounding the show after her own brother went missing while watching it. She had vowed to find the VHS tapes and destroy them, though in the end was diverted from this goal after finding that Hameln also wanted the tapes destroyed. She is last seen being attacked by one of the entities.

Within the show

• Amanda: In the 3D cartoon series Amanda is portrayed as an adventurous, friendly child with bun hair who is eager to see new things. When Riley interacts with the character, Amanda is shown to have a darker streak and is capable of expressing a wider range of emotions not typically shown in a children's cartoon aimed at young children, such as playing with cutting knives, making light of cannibalism and death, encouraging viewers to defy parents, running away, and putting themselves in danger. Outside of the show a homicidal demonic entity with her bun hairstyle comes out to kill those who are not cooperative with her while watching the show.
• Wooly the Sheep: Wooly is the initial sidekick but often the abused foil to Amanda. She and he are initially antagonistic toward one another as he encourages more safe content for the show. He is portrayed as being the victim of various violence, disrespect, hostage taking, and sometimes murder though he inexplicably returns every time. Though initially benevolent in nature, he has occasionally also taken control of the show discreetly. Outside of the show, he also has a demonic entity even worse than the one Amanda is connected too.
• The Possum: A mostly mute animal who neither Amanda nor Wooly seem to know about or even like having around. He appears randomly to snatch and eat random things not limited to coins and sometimes body parts as he once stole one of Wooly's eyes. It is later implied that he is connected in some way to Joanne Cook as he attempted to call out her name with great difficulty after Riley heard her voice over radio, implying that he could be Joanne's missing brother, Jordan Cook himself.

Development

The first Amanda the Adventurer game was released in 2022 as part of DreadXP's Found Footage Jam on Itch.io. The game, which has been referred to as Amanda the Adventurer: Pilot Episode, was developed by Ontario-based developer MANGLEDmaw Games, along with Arcadim and SinsterCid. In October 2022 DreadXP made an announcement that they had acquired the title for Amanda the Adventurer and would work with MANGLEDmaw to create a full game. A demo of the full game was premiered at PAX East in early 2023.

The first full Amanda the Adventurer game was released on April 25, 2023 via Steam and featured localized subtitles for multiple languages. The game was given a release on the Nintendo Switch in September of the same year and in 2024, Amanda the Adventurer released to the PlayStation and Xbox.

A sequel entitled Amanda the Adventurer 2 was released to Steam on October 22, 2024.

Reception

After its release the first Amanda the Adventurer game became popular with online gaming streamers and per PCGamesN, videos relating to the game received approximately 1.5 billion views on YouTube. Vice.com praised the game for its aesthetics and puzzles, as well as the choice to make the game start off "disarmingly sweet and wholesome."

GamesRadar+ reviewed the first game, warning readers that some of the game's visuals could be disturbing and that it did not end with any definitive answers while also noting that "Otherwise, Amanda the Adventurer is a startlingly effective horror game deceptively wrapped in the aesthetics of an old analog horror game and retro children's TV shows." Prima Games was also critical of the game ending with too many unanswered questions; they also praised the game's writing, world building, and puzzles. TouchArcade reviewed the first game's port to the Nintendo Switch, stating that it was an overall good port but that "I feel like the change to how you interact with preset options rather than inputting on a keyboard like in the PC version holds this back from its true potential."

Hardcore Gamer reviewed the second game, stating that it was "a fun adventure title that delivers solid puzzles, great performances and a nice mixture of dread and humor, but a few sloppy decisions and a lack of anything substantial in either the gameplay or story areas hold it back."

External links

• Amanda the Adventurer at DreadXP