Literary mystery game set in Oxford and Borneo

Sarawak

Oxford, England. A university professor is found dead on the steps outside your hotel. The police arrest someone very close to you for his murder.

The dead professor has left behind him a web of secrets that you alone can unravel.

Sarawak is a narrative adventure game that takes you from the dreaming spires of Oxford to the jungles of Borneo as you make interactive choices and solve puzzles in a story that blurs the boundaries between narrative games and conventional literature.

Out now Available to play now on Windows, Linux and Mac.

For fans of narrative adventure games or old-fashioned mystery novels

Sarawak will appeal to players who enjoyed the likes of 80 Days, A Case of Distrust, LucasArts adventure games or Agatha Christie novels. Sarawak is best described as a narrative adventure, and gameplay is split between interactive text choices and puzzles.

Choose your words wisely

Through dialogue choices, you interact with a whimsical cast of characters who help or hinder your progress. The more you unravel, the more conflicted you become as you start to question who's lying and who's telling the truth.

Solve image-based puzzles

Discover Sarawak's beautiful and interactive illustrations as you open locks and doors, discover secret rooms, hack into police equipment, pore through newspaper archives, and light up a jungle research station.

Coverage

  • “ A charming, pleasant and relaxing game ”
  • “ Sarawak puts forward an engaging tale that will keep you enticed for its duration ”

8/10 - Gamereactor

  • “ I can’t gush enough about how much I enjoyed this game and can find no fault. It features a well-written story that’s brimming with character, charm, and wit. It has incredible art that complements incredibly vivid prose, and fun, engaging puzzles to help make the experience a little more interactive. This is truly one of the best narrative experiences I’ve had in a while, the kind that makes me happy I’m a games journalist. ”

10/10 - The Game Crater

  • “ If you’re looking for a story-driven mystery with plenty of intrigue and fun, give this one a go. ”
  • “ With an interesting story and creative art style, it’s well up there as one of the more unique games I’ve played. ”

Gamespew

  • “ Sarawak is a delightfully cozy piece of interactive fiction. ”
  • “ Had me hooked on both cracking the mystery and simply existing as this witty traveling anthropology student. ”

Goombastomp

  • “ ...a literary-based point and click masterpiece. This is in large part thanks its narrative stylings similar to a Telltale game and an illusion of choice as convincing as the best Bioware RPGs ”

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Read more about Sarawak in our press kit.

About us

We are Marina and Duncan, a BAFTA-nominated husband-and-wife team, and we develop games and art inspired by our love for management games, literature, puzzles and travelling. While we don't have defined roles, Duncan tends to be responsible for writing the engine and game design, and Marina does the writing and illustrations. Cowleyfornia is a nickname for the area of Oxford in the UK where our little studio is based.

Get in touch at marina@cowleyforniastudios.com , or sign up for updates.

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