[Longplay] Loom (1992, PC-Engine CD), Part 2

Loom is a point-and-click adventure. It was originally developed and released by Lucasfilm Games (later called LucasArts). The PC-Engine CD/ Turbografx CD was developed by Realtime Associates and released by Turbo Technologies (in the US) and Victor Musical Industries (in Japan). The game was also released for PC, Amiga, Atari ST, FM Towns, classic Mac and CDTV.

Loom takes place in a fantasy world where the people are organized in guilds. You take the role of Bobbin Threadbare, a young member of the Guild of Weavers. The Weavers have mastered to weave with light and music, and they are able to cast magic by using their distaffs. Bobbin has been kept from learning this art, however, since the Elders of the Guild are afraid of him. Ever since his birth, more and more chaos has spread throughout the world, and the Elders are convinced that Bobbin is the cause of it. On his 17th birthday he is summoned by the Elders who are going to decide over his fate. But things do not turn out as intended. All of a sudden, a swan appears in the room and magically transforms the Elders and later all other Weavers into swans, then they all fly away. Now Bobbin is left alone and needs to find out what has happened.

Loom controls a bit differently than other LucasArts adventures. You do not have an inventory and thus no object puzzles. Instead, Bobbin can cast spells by playing a sequence of four notes on his distaff. The spells are obtained by examining various objects. Some spells can be used for the opposite effect by playing the notes backwards. For example, an opening spell can be used to close things this way.

Fun fact: According to the book "Rogue Leaders", Loom was not planned to be part of a trilogy, but two sequels called "Forge" and "The Fold" were considered later on. Both of them were not made, however.