Draft:Amanda the Adventurer (video game)

• Comment: Right now the article lacks enough reliable, secondary sources. There is a PC Gamer article on it that could be used, but I am still not sure whether the game is notable. ᴢxᴄᴠʙɴᴍ (ᴛ) 10:38, 4 May 2024 (UTC)

• Comment: Pointless re-submit with no improvement KylieTastic (talk) 15:23, 23 July 2023 (UTC)

• Comment: Fails GNG, needs more time in the oven. ᴢxᴄᴠʙɴᴍ (ᴛ) 08:37, 14 May 2023 (UTC)

Amanda the Adventurer is a 2023 indie horror puzzle game developed by MANGLEDmaw Games and published by DreadXP. The first in the series, it released on April 25, 2023 on Steam,^[1] after a demo release on April 8, 2022 on Itch.io.^[2]

A sequel to the game titled Amanda the Adventurer 2 was released on October 22, 2024.^[3]

The gameplay of Amanda the Adventurer mainly on its puzzle element; each tape is unlocked after completing a puzzle by looking around the attic for the necessary object and using a hint or instruction given in one of the tapes. Tapes can be played on a CRT television, and the player will sometimes be prompted to pick an option or type an answer.^[4] Depending on what the player chooses, events in the episode or the game may change or cause the characters to react, such as the player being forced to type the correct answer after failing several times, Amanda and Wooly breaking the fourth wall, Amanda removing all wrong answers, or her losing her temper and the television screen corrupting as she gets angry.

The game's playable protagonist, Riley Park, has inherited the house of their deceased aunt Kate, who was presumably a parapsychologist. They find a VHS tape in the attic, containing the first episode of a children's television series titled "Amanda the Adventurer".^[5] The series stars a young girl named Amanda and an anthropomorphic sheep named Wooly, performing day-to-day activities such as making food and doing errands in a similar manner to Dora the Explorer .^[4] However, as each tape goes on, things start to get more and more suspicious and frightening as Amanda begins to lose her temper while Wooly attempts to warn Riley several times, not wanting anyone to get hurt.^{[‡ 1]}

The game has multiple endings, which can be achieved after completing one ending or avoiding the aim in a present scenario:^[6]

• The first ending, titled "A Gruesome End" has Riley be killed by a demon resembling Amanda after she asks the player if they think "everything rots".
• The second ending, titled "A Fateful End", has Riley be trapped inside one of the tapes, being a piece of meat in a butcher shop prepared to be chopped up.
• The third ending, titled "The End", considered to be the true ending, occurs when a secret tape is played on the television which has Amanda ask if she can share a secret with Riley. If they respond "yes", Amanda reveals she is "out there somewhere" before the TV becomes possessed, prompting Riley to throw a brick at it which, in turn, destroys it and the tape as the sun soon rises.
  • If the player responds by saying no, the "A Hollow End" ending will trigger, in which Amanda says "I thought you were different" before the first ending plays out.
  • If, when aiming the brick, the cursor misses the TV, a secret ending titled "The End?" will trigger in which the brick will still hit the TV, but a mysterious silhouetted figure appears behind the table in the middle of the room.

Amanda the Adventurer first released on April 8, 2022 on itch.io as a demo, originally titled Amanda the Adventurer: Pilot Episode, as part of DreadXP's Found Footage Jam.^[2] The full game released on April 25, 2023 on Steam.^[1] A port onto the Nintendo Switch was released on September 19, 2023.^[7] The game was later released for Xbox and PlayStation on October 10, 2024.^[8]

Amanda the Adventurer has received mixed to positive critical reviews. Megan Cooke of GameLuster rated the game an 8 out of 10, stating that the game is "a unique and enjoyable horror puzzle game that is worth playing through."^[9]

William Worrall of TechRaptor rated the game a 7.5 out of 10, stating that the game "will not please everyone, but it's a very niche experience."^[10]

Ariel Chloe Mann of GameGrin rated the game a 6 out of 10, stating that the game is "pretty fun and is mostly full of positives, except that the story is a huge disappointment after the demos, and there are some puzzles that don't make any sense."^[11]

In the text, these references are preceded by a double dagger (‡):