Loom

One of the games I truly enjoyed on my 8088 was, of course, the UNIQUE, even for its time, Loom! It was released in 1990 by the beloved Lucasfilm Games, with Brian Moriarty as its creator and lead designer. Among others, Gary Winnick and Steve Purcell were involved in the design and character animation, while the artwork was handled by Mark Ferrari. The game used SCUMM, but was deliberately very different from the company's other adventure games.

The original version was released for DOS, featuring 16-color EGA graphics, followed by versions for Amiga, Atari ST, and Macintosh. In 1991, the FM Towns version arrived with 256-color graphics, while in 1992 the PC CD-ROM version was released, featuring improved graphics, digital music, and full voice acting!!

Brian Moriarty has explained that the initial spark for the game came when he saw an advertisement for an electronic circuit in a computer magazine, underneath which was the word “loom.” From there, the idea began to take shape: a world where the Weavers did not simply weave fabrics, but could actually “weave” reality itself.

For its visual style, the team drew heavily from Sleeping Beauty (1959) by Disney, particularly the backgrounds by Eyvind Earle and Marc Davis' design of Maleficent. Chaos, in particular, is an obvious tribute to that distinctive aesthetic.

And there is another beautiful connection: the game's music is based on Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and especially Swan Lake, which naturally fits perfectly with the story and its swans. Moriarty has said that Swan Lake was essentially “the soundtrack of his life” and that, when he got the opportunity to put music into a game, there was never any doubt about which music he would use.

Loom essentially throws out a large part of the traditional adventure formula. There is no inventory filled with objects, there are no classic commands such as “pick up,” “use,” or “look,” and you don't have to try dozens of different objects together.

Bobbin uses his distaff and learns four-note melodies known as Drafts. Each melody produces a different effect, and the player has to listen, remember, and recognize the notes in order to use the right melody in the right place. And here is something that was well ahead of its time: the game featured three difficulty levels, with the easiest displaying the notes, the normal mode providing visual cues, and Expert essentially requiring the player to recognize the melodies by ear alone. The result is an adventure game based more on observation, exploration, and atmosphere than on solving complicated puzzles.

Bobbin Threadbare is a young Weaver who lives on the mysterious island of Loom. On his 17th birthday, something terrifying happens: the elders of the Guild are transformed into swans and disappear, leaving Bobbin essentially on his own.

From there, his adventure begins as he travels through the world of the Great Guilds and encounters Weavers, Glassmakers, Shepherds, Blacksmiths, and Clerics, while trying to understand what happened and confront the threat of Chaos. What makes the story interesting is that the game does not treat Bobbin like a traditional action hero. He is an inexperienced young man who suddenly finds himself facing an enormous problem, giving the story a strong sense of coming of age.

The original package of Loom also included a 30-minute audio drama cassette, which essentially served as a prologue to the story. It was not simply a promotional gimmick. The cassette's story was developed alongside the game and recorded in 1989 with British actors. Its purpose was to introduce players to the world of the Great Guilds and the history of the Weavers before starting the game itself. Today this might seem almost obvious, but in 1990 it was a very unusual way of telling a story.

The original package also included the Book of Patterns, an illustrated booklet where players could record the Drafts they learned.

The Loom manual clearly explained that the creators did not want players to die or become stuck simply because they had made a mistake. The philosophy was that the game should be completable and that players should discover the story rather than constantly be punished. Lucasfilm Games itself later highlighted this philosophy as an important part of the game's identity. This also explains why Loom is so easy compared with other adventure games of the era.

The criticism it received at the time was, naturally, also about its length. You could complete it in just 3–4 hours! The simplicity of its puzzles was, by the standards of the time, almost... childish. On the other hand, that very simplicity was also part of the game's philosophy, as Loom did not want to punish you for failing to think of some “absurd” combination of two objects.

The game generally received positive critical reception, but its commercial performance was not enough to lead to a sequel. And that is a shame, because Loom had been designed as part of a larger story that was ultimately never completed.

Loom may not have been the biggest or most complete adventure game of its time, but it had something that is difficult to replicate: its own kind of magic. A small, different journey that proved that sometimes you don't need more puzzles and bigger worlds, but simply a great idea and the right atmosphere to become unforgettable.