The Letter That Came Over Time

About

The Letter That Came Over Time is a 1994 adventure game from Thinking Rabbit that drops you into a dual timeline mystery. You play Jerry Randolph, a reporter using a time machine to track down her missing friend and figure out a century-spanning conspiracy. The gameplay leans on a text-based interface with graphical scenes, letting you issue commands via keyboard shortcuts or typed input. Function keys handle common actions like searching or knocking while directional arrows let you move between locations. The story bounces between 1945 and 1916, blending detective work with science fiction. This one stands out for its hybrid approach to old-school adventure design. While most 90s titles were ditching text, it keeps typing core interactions but adds menu options for accessibility. Japanese text dominates with limited English support, though basic commands work in either language. As a remake of an earlier title, it swaps pure text for visual elements without overhauling the core mechanics. Niche but polished, it’s a relic of early interactive fiction’s transition to graphical interfaces. The 3DO and PC release made it one of the few adventure games on that platform, though its real charm lies in how tightly it weaves time travel into a classic whodunit structure.

Storyline

The year is 1945. Jerry Randolph, a female reporter working for the Chicago newspaper "Daily Casablanca", finds a diary belonging to her high school friend May Elgar, who has disappeared several years ago under mysterious circumstances. Jerry discovers that May's father was working on a groundbreaking scientific project. Too late to save Dr. Elgar from untimely death, Jerry uses a time machine constructed by him to travel to 1916, following the traces left by the criminals. In spite of its title, the game has little to do with the famous movie Casablanca beyond a few loose references. It is a text adventure with graphics, in which the player types text commands to interact with the environment. Several useful commands (including Look, Search, Take and Knock) can be accessed directly through function keys. Limited navigation between screens can be performed with directional arrows. English text input is supported to a certain degree, though text descriptions are in Japanese only.