Game review
Sfinx
7.4 / 10
- Developer
- Laboratorium Komputerowe Avalon
- Publisher
- Laboratorium Komputerowe Avalon
- Released
- 1 January 1997
- Platforms
- desktop
- Genre
- adventure,point-and-click
- Monetisation
- free
- Players
- false
The short version
Sfinx is Laboratorium Komputerowe Avalon's 1997 spiritual successor to Soltys, freely distributed by its developer and now running on a genuinely self-hosted ScummVM/WebAssembly engine. Confirmed working via two separate real dispatched mouse interactions that each correctly produced a live, accurate contextual object label ("backpack", "venetian blind") in a colourful teenage bedroom scene, with a visibly animating in-game television screen confirming the world is genuinely live rather than a static render.
Biggest strengths
- Confirmed genuinely functional - two separate real dispatched mouse interactions each correctly produced a live, accurate contextual object label ("backpack" over a backpack, "venetian blind" over a window blind), and the in-game television screen was independently observed to change state between screenshots, confirming a genuinely live, animating world rather than a static image
- A charming, colourful presentation - a memorable sphinx-and-black-cat title screen followed by a detailed, cluttered teenage bedroom opening scene with real visual character
- Runs on a legitimately self-hosted engine - ScummVM compiled to WebAssembly, served entirely from leetdom's own servers, confirmed via a clean network trace with zero third-party analytics or tracking requests
Biggest weaknesses
- This build is desktop-only by design, consistent with this engine's other titles and their shared default touch-mode limitation - the same on-screen touchpad-mode icon was observed present throughout phone testing
- A definitive walk-to-click movement confirmation, as seen in some of this engine's other titles, was not specifically captured within the tested opening scene, though the contextual-label evidence gathered is itself strong proof of live interactivity
- As a direct successor to Soltys from the same small studio, some visual and mechanical DNA carries over, so players who've already played that title may find this one a little familiar
Who it's for: Fans of colourful, comedic 90s European point-and-click adventures, especially those who enjoyed this studio's earlier Soltys.
Our recommendation: play
7.4 / 10
Opening
Sfinx is Laboratorium Komputerowe Avalon's 1997 comedy adventure, a spiritual successor to the studio's earlier Soltys built on the related CGE2 engine, freely distributed by the developer and now running on leetdom via a genuinely self-hosted ScummVM engine compiled to WebAssembly.
Real controls, confirmed with two separate contextual labels
Rather than assume the point-and-click interface simply worked once the engine booted, two separate real interactions were dispatched. Hovering and clicking near a backpack correctly produced the live status-bar label "backpack"; a further click near the window correctly produced "venetian blind." Between the two screenshots, the in-game television screen the player character was using also visibly changed state - independent confirmation that the scene is genuinely live and animating, not a static rendering.
A charming, colourful presentation
The title screen's sphinx statue with a wandering black cat is a memorable opener, and the teenage bedroom scene that follows is detailed and full of character - a colourful, cluttered room with real visual personality distinct from this engine's other, often more muted titles.
Honest about its limits
As with this engine's other titles, this ships as a desktop experience, with the same shared touchpad-mode icon observed present during phone testing. A specific walk-to-click movement confirmation, as captured for some of this engine's other titles, wasn't specifically obtained within the opening scene tested, though the two independently confirmed contextual labels are themselves strong, direct evidence that the interaction system is genuinely live.
Final Verdict
A colourful, charming comedy adventure confirmed working correctly via real contextual-object testing on a legitimately self-hosted engine with clean licensing throughout. A worthy final addition to this batch of freeware ScummVM classics.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Confirmed genuinely functional - two separate real dispatched mouse interactions each correctly produced a live, accurate contextual object label ("backpack" over a backpack, "venetian blind" over a window blind), and the in-game television screen was independently observed to change state between screenshots, confirming a genuinely live, animating world rather than a static image
- A charming, colourful presentation - a memorable sphinx-and-black-cat title screen followed by a detailed, cluttered teenage bedroom opening scene with real visual character
- Runs on a legitimately self-hosted engine - ScummVM compiled to WebAssembly, served entirely from leetdom's own servers, confirmed via a clean network trace with zero third-party analytics or tracking requests
- Correctly licensed and documented - the developer's own explicit freeware grant for the game data, GPL-3.0 for the ScummVM engine, both credited per the engine's own PROVENANCE notes
Cons
- This build is desktop-only by design, consistent with this engine's other titles and their shared default touch-mode limitation - the same on-screen touchpad-mode icon was observed present throughout phone testing
- A definitive walk-to-click movement confirmation, as seen in some of this engine's other titles, was not specifically captured within the tested opening scene, though the contextual-label evidence gathered is itself strong proof of live interactivity
- As a direct successor to Soltys from the same small studio, some visual and mechanical DNA carries over, so players who've already played that title may find this one a little familiar