Beware that the original controls are gone into oblivion - the game can't be fully played using the keyboard. I did play the original many-many times and the lack of keyboard controls shocked me at first, but that shock was gone in about 5 minutes. The game works just fine with controller and even mouse, so it could be a point-and-click adventure.

Otherwise, this is a gem. It still looks and sounds as good as I remember it when I was a child. Totally recommended!

Edit: Thank you for listening to us DotEmu! This review has been revised due to post-release changes to alleviate some of my and others concerns.

It's fantastic to finally see the original Little Big Adventure on Steam! The "Enhanced Edition" now available on Steam contains a port of the mobile version along with the original emulated in DosBox. I really recommend getting this version not due to the mobile port, but rather due to the original bundled herein.

If you have never heard of this games series before and do not intend on playing the mobile port there isn't much more to say; stop reading now and get this gem! You won't regret it.

The intended main attraction of this "Enhanced Edition" is unmistakenly a port of the mobile version for Android/iOS and as of writing this retains the controls established for said port. Contrary to the original which is controlled by keyboard alone this Steam version can only be played using either mouse or a gamepad. While not being my preferred way of playing this game the mouse works mostly alright but detracts from the way I feel this game is meant to be experienced. Gamepad controls are severly underworked and bugged at this time, where control of the character is snapped at strange angles.

Showing evidence of misplaced priorities on part of the DotEmu team when porting this game from mobile to PC (read Steam), we can see that the main focus of this release has been a change of the aesthetics. I'm sorry to say but icons look like they've been made by a 12 year old trying out Photoshop for the first time and fails to retain the original feel of the game. The look of the menu have also been changed, having gone from the distinct LBA blue color we know and love to being gray and dull.

Now don't let the two paragraphs above get you down. This game is still fantastic and truely unique, it's a must for any gamer who may have missed it up until this point. Just don't play the "Enhanced Edition" at this point in time and instead launch the original version.

It's also well worth noting that all DosBox releases of LBA have issue in common with mistimed audio tracks (music) and poor midi quality out of the box. Just make a search for how to fix this on the forum here on Steam or on GOG and you should be home free.

This is incredible! I used to play LBA 2 as a kid, so I imagine the original first one, was similar in gameplay and graphics. This enhanced version features higher resolution, widescreen, a zoom in and out funktion, native gamepad support, it works like a freaking charm, I would had never expected ever to play a LBA game again, let alone play the first one in 2015 but with a controller and with way better and intuitive gameplay. This how a re-release of an old game should be, I hope the devloper gains licenses to other old games and gives them the same tread. Thanks for this awesome pieace of gaming history!

The new non-DotEmu version doesn't even have widescreen or custom resolutions.
This is a step BACK from the DotEmu version. Yes, it has achievements and NG+ (which isn't really NG+, it's an option to start the game with some OP presets, there isn't a "carry over" system).
But ignoring the graphical advantages and keyboard controls from the DotEmu version is just absolutely staggering.
Achievements of course don't work in the DotEmu version, so no point replaying it for that.

While I love LBA to death, I can not recommend as is. You have to choose between the "improved" version that REMOVES features like widescreen, higher resolution, zooming etc. or play the good DotEmu version, but not having achievements or the other features the "improved" version has.

It's absolutely mindboggling the way they went with on this latest update. Who in their right mind thought ignoring widescreen-support that we already had and the better keyboard controls was a good idea?
I get this is a separate work from DotEmu, but don't release a half-baked "update" which removes the most important features.

Recommended, with reservations. Movement is mouse driven ONLY unless you have a game pad. The lack of keyboard movement with the arrow keys like in the original can cause many moments of rage, and makes for long work of puzzles that would normally take seconds. If you remember and love this game but lost the disks or just can't get it working on modern hardware, it's worth the reasonably low price. If nothing else it's worth it for the convenience of having it in your Steam library.

I would strongly recommend to the developer that they patch in the keyboard control as soon as possible. It's going to be a showstopper for many.

One of the best adventure games ever <3 <3

Upon seeing my childhood gem in the store, I couldn't help but pick this up again, However, starting the game and realizing the control layout and how it reduces the game to being completely unplayable with a keyboard, I can't quite choose on whether I should recommend this title to anyone. I personally have no controller for this PC and because of this, it literally makes the game unplayable, but for those who do have said controllers, I would recommend this to them, it's a real masterpiece. But because of the obvious loops that I have to jump through despite this being on a PC store, I just cannot overall recommend this, the original button/keyboard layout should have returned, and not the obvious mobile setup they actually put on the store.

Enhanced Edition is a mobile port with mouse controls. It's unplayable and useless.
You do get an original game as well, it runs in dosbox, you can select it before launching.

One question is... why would you pay for it. I did, but LBA1 is abandonware, it's free and legal to acquire, in fact WinLBA was created by the lead programmer of the LBA1 himself.

Technicalities aside, let's get to the point:
Game itself is amazing. For 1994, it offers a story and a world better than some modern AAA titles. You start imprisoned for having dreams. There is no evil mage with skeletons laughing outside your cage. There's an authoritarian dictator running a police state that you don't really meet. Because why would you, right? Even with its cheesy names (Rabbibunnies species, srsly), it's more rooted in reality than half of the bullcrap AAA presents.

Keyboard controls didn't age all that much either, it's still playable - tank controls will take you some 5 minutes to get used to, especially if you change stances with F1-F4 (F1 is interacting stance, F2 running stance, F3 fight stance, F4 stealth). The only caveat is that running into a wall damages you which can be a Little Bit Annoying (see what I did there?). It's a solid game, with 1984 dystopian vibes all over the place and serves as a nice warm up before diving into LBA2, which is this game, but ten times bigger, prettier and with even more incredible worlds to discover.

An absolute classic adventure/platformer game, not the sort that you see get made anymore.
I really loved it many years ago and still a great game to this day.

Originally it was released on steam with just the newest version but after lots of feedback the classic version was added.
Both versions are good but play out differently, The enhanced edition is a little more simplified but also easier to control (moving around and attacking).
It's worth checking both out and playing through them.

It's a little unfortunate that you can't unlock achievements on the original (Dos) version, so if you want them you have to play the enhanced edition.

There's a nice storyline although the voice acting is a little bad for todays time - yet it works nicely with the game still.
It's open world but the story line is very linier, not much replay value except it's nice to go back to every once in a while.
Some areas can be difficult and a little frustrating.

The two worst aspects of the game is running into walls - taking damage - and being get caught in stun-locks until you die by repeated enemy attacks.

Combat and movment can be changed by selecting one of the four 'moods', they alter the distance and angle of the attack which a magic throwing ball. how fast you move and how you interact with other things.

There's some really nice music tracks worth listening to but others are more atmospheric.

Definitely worth a try if you like adventure/RPG/Puzzle games.
Given it's age some might want to get it on sale instead of it's full price.

I've played the second game before, cause it was the only one that came to Brazil at the time. I had the oportunity to play this one years later. Somethings were strange about the gameplay but this revamp they gave was really good. Loved it a lot. ♥