‘THE BUM’ Is the Tale of a Man, His Sock Puppet and the Quest For a Soccer Ball

If there’s one genre I can never get enough of, it’s point ‘n click adventures – especially those with old-school visuals and/or gameplay. Incidentally, THE BUM is exactly one such, with pixelized visuals, an interface reminiscent of later Sierra classics and of course, a homeless man who talks through his sock puppet, because why not?

Life can’t get much worse for the main character in THE BUM, because not only is he without a place to call home, I suspect he might also be going slightly mad – I mean, sock puppet and all that, you know? That’s pretty bad, right? Surely nothing else could go wrong… except, it does. His everyday life consists for the most part of enjoying what little he has, minding his own business in a back alley and playing soccer. As such, surely fate would not inflict further harm upon this poor guy, right? Wrong! One day, he’s dealt a handful of ‘up yours’ cards as a bully destroy his one joy in life: the football. This obviously won’t do, so fueled by rage over the loss, he sets out to find a new ball and confront the big bully.

Now he must pull himself together, team up with a local superhero, find a new ball and confront his oppressor again.

Crafted with the popular Adventure Game Studio, THE BUM is styled with adventure games from yesteryear in mind, both in terms of visuals, but also the interface itself as it sports the walk/eye/hand/sock puppet/etc. icon interface; some of you might remember this from certain Sierra classics. Did I mention it’s free? Go download it already, and I’m sure the developer would love some feedback in the AGS forums thread. Just saying.

Update: 1.01 has been released.