In terms of academic video video games, the Carmen Sandiego franchise is a benchmark. The unique pc recreation, The place within the World is Carmen Sandiego?, got here out in 1985 and has gotten tens of sequels and spinoffs since. In 2025, the primary new franchise installment in 10 years, merely titled Carmen Sandiego, will hit retailer cabinets (or, maybe extra precisely, public library cabinets). gamerlifemedia’s early playthrough of some hours of the sport confirmed it was not only for followers of the franchise — the sport can also be profoundly academic, which is refreshing within the age of overstimulating and rapidly created content material for youngsters. Carmen Sandiego additionally appears to be a wonderful, kid-friendly crash course in tips on how to play video video games.
Within the new puzzle-adventure recreation, Carmen Sandiego is a spy working case-by-case to take down a malicious thieving group referred to as V.I.L.E. (simply as she does in her Netflix TV present adaptation). As Carmen, the participant visits areas world wide to uncover clues about suspects, chase down V.I.L.E. operatives, and finally situation a warrant to arrest the important thing perpetrator.
The tutorial components are woven into the sport mechanics, so you may’t assist however be taught information in regards to the international locations you’re visiting. For instance, a witness who noticed the thief might provide you with a number of items of knowledge, like that the thief spoke about learning Mayan ruins and that they’d pink hair. You need to use that first bit of knowledge to pick out your subsequent vacation spot — Mexico Metropolis, on this case. Concurrently, you utilize data you be taught in regards to the thieves themselves to slim down your suspect database, marking off “pink hair” as “sure,” for instance.
The training doesn’t simply come within the type of static information; Carmen Sandiego is designed in such a means as to encourage gamers to concentrate and soak up the complete image. There’ll at all times be youngsters (and gamers generally) who need to skip all of the dialogue and textual content and focus solely on interactive gameplay mechanics. However on this case, you’ll fail rapidly at your missions should you don’t try this studying, so the inducement to soak up the information and make knowledgeable selections is excessive — and enjoyable gameplay mechanics are nonetheless sprinkled in closely all through. On this means, Carmen Sandiego additionally efficiently teaches the participant tips on how to play completely different sorts of video video games generally; you’ll management Carmen first-person in a single minigame, then remedy a tangled-wires puzzle within the subsequent. You’ll end up jotting down fast math issues to find out how a lot time you may have left to unravel the case should you take yet one more 10-hour flight the world over. You’ll sit idle for a number of moments at your pc, figuring out whether or not to chase a suspected thief or to easily pickpocket them as a substitute.
The sport isn’t overly simple, and with no voice reads, it’s probably solely a very good match for sturdy readers or youngsters who play video games with adults who can learn. There are some quirks that make me assume it’d make a very good slot in a classroom, the place a trainer may help college students seek for clues on-line (like, What nation is Nara Park in?) and outline powerful vocab (like “southpaw” for left-handed). However based mostly on this preview, Carmen Sandiego appears like will probably be a near-perfect new addition to the franchise, and extra importantly, a near-perfect recreation for teenagers who wish to be taught.
The sport isn’t sanitized, neither is it a watered-down model of the unique — in brief, it isn’t attempting too exhausting to attraction to the youngest members of its viewers, although I believe they’ll prefer it. It’s a Carmen Sandiego recreation via and thru, which suggests it’s real enjoyable and subtly academic. I, an grownup with no youngsters, will most likely spend a number of extra hours with it only for enjoyable — but when I did have youngsters, I really feel assured it’d be a killer first RPG/puzzle recreation for them.
Carmen Sandiego shall be launched in Q1 2025 on PC, PS5, Xbox Collection X, and Nintendo Change. This preview was performed on PC utilizing a pre-release obtain code offered by Gameloft and HarperCollins Productions. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These don’t affect editorial content material, although Vox Media might earn commissions for merchandise bought by way of affiliate hyperlinks. Yow will discover further details about gamerlifemedia’s ethics coverage right here.
