If anyone reading this review knows anything at all about General George Armstrong Custer it is probably through the Dustin Hoffman movie, The Little Big Man.  In the movie, Custer is portrayed as a vain, self centered egomaniac.  He is known as Squaw Killer for his strategy of waiting until all the braves leave camp and then riding in and killing all the woman and children.  His vanity finally gets the best of him as he ignores warnings of the presence of a large party of warriors, and rides to his doom at Little Big Horn.

Custer's contemporaries had a much different view of him.  In the mid 1800's the country was suffering terrorist attacks from several bands of Native Americans who would kill settlers and burn down farms.  It could be argued that most Native Americans were peaceful and the violence came from only a small minority.  But the prevailing sentiment was not in the mood to quibble over details.  The only good Indian was a dead Indian and they had to be crushed.  The newspapers of the day portrayed Custer as a hero, protecting the country from a terroristic threat and dying a martyr's death.

The game, Sterling's Gift, is a work of historical fiction.  Immediately after the Civil War (or, War Between the States if you are from south of the Mason-Dixon Line) General Custer was assigned to Austin, Texas to help keep the peace.  “The governor of Texas offered Custer the Blind Asylum, which had been closed during the war, for his headquarters. A few miles away, Custer used what is now known as the Neill-Cochran House as a hospital for his sick and wounded soldiers.”  Custer moved there along with his staff, brother Tom and wife, Libbie. Libbie Custer would go on to write three books about her life with George.  In “Tenting on the Plains” she tells of her time in Texas.

Sterling's Gift takes place in the modern Neill-Cochran house which is now a museum.  Some old artifacts of Libbie Custer's have just been discovered hidden in a wall and you are invited to come examine them.  They tell of a mysterious blind boy who was orphaned by the war and of a secret which would affect the Custer family for the rest of their lives.  You must uncover this secret and find out just what happened in that house so long ago.

This is a classic point-n-click adventure game.  The graphics are all photographs of the actual museum, although some of the props were carefully re-created.  The game itself is a simple treasure hunt as you try to find the additional artifacts which Libbie carefully hid almost 150 years ago.  However, the hot spots for a particular artifact won't appear until you have uncovered the clues which indicate you should be looking for it.  So you actually have to repeat the treasure hunt more than once.  Each time you find another piece, a little more of the story is revealed.

There are no people to interact with.  There is no voice acting.  But there is some pleasant background music.

The game has a built in hint system, but it is of limited use.  When turned on, it will come up when you are near something of interest and tell you that something of interest is near.  That's nice, but the hint I needed was “Hey, I've looked through the entire house and can't find what I'm looking for.  Which room should I concentrate on?”   There is also a spoiler system you can turn on which will tell you how to solve the different puzzles.  But the puzzles are all fairly easy and shouldn't require much thought.

Conclusion

All in all the game is nicely done, for an independent effort.  It is a little short, but it isn't expensive either.  I would recommend it to anyone who likes historical fiction.

Final Grade: B- (find out more about our grading system)

If you liked this game, then Play: Qin Watch: Centenial Read: The books by Libbie Custer

System Requirements:

• WINDOWS 98, 2000, ME, XP, or Equivalent
• 256 MB RAM
• 800X600 Display
• CDROM Dirve
• 800 MB Hard Drive Space