Name: The Next Big Thing
Item: The Next Big Thing
Author: Retro Replay

The Next Big Thing

The Next Big Thing pulls you in with a wonderfully odd version of 1950s Los Angeles, where monsters, robots, and humans share the film business without anybody treating it as unusual. Following rival reporters Liz Allaire and Dan Murray through a movie-industry conspiracy gives the adventure a lively screwball edge, especially once a routine festival assignment turns into a kidnapping case.

This is a traditional point-and-select adventure built around inventory use, object combinations, and talking to the right people. Its hotspot button, task list, and narrator-delivered hints make it friendlier than many old-school puzzlers, even when a solution asks you to make one of the game’s more eccentric logical leaps.

Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

The first hour has an easy pull: you are dropped into a bizarre Hollywood where horror-movie monsters are actual actors, then asked to chase a story that rapidly gets messier than a celebrity scoop ought to be. The Next Big Thing is firmly in the classic adventure-game tradition. You move through scenes, inspect objects, speak to characters, gather items, and figure out which pieces belong together.

Liz and Dan take turns as the controlled character across eight chapters, which helps keep the routine from becoming too static. Their ongoing bickering gives even basic investigation some personality, while the chapter structure supplies a steady sense that you are pushing the case forward rather than simply clearing a pile of disconnected screens.

Most puzzles lean on object combination, so success often comes from looking closely at your inventory and reconsidering what an item might be useful for. That can be satisfying when the connection clicks, but it can also be the point where patience is tested. If you enjoy trying odd combinations and exhausting a scene’s interactions, you will be at home; if you want every solution to follow strict real-world logic, expect some friction.

Fortunately, the game does not leave you completely stranded. A hotspot function reveals usable objects and exits, while the task menu tracks both completed and current problems. The narrator also offers vague hints tied to the current situation. These tools do not solve the adventure for you, but they cut down on the least enjoyable form of point-and-click wandering: repeatedly sweeping the mouse over every inch of a room.

Graphics

Hand-drawn backgrounds and cel-shaded 3D characters give the game a bright cartoon look that suits its monster-filled movie world. You will spend your time looking at alternate-1950s Los Angeles locations, horror-film figures, robots, and the two reporters as they move through the investigation, with the stylized characters standing clearly against the painted scenery.

Story

Liz Allaire and Dan Murray are the right leads for this kind of caper because neither seems inclined to let the other have the last word. Their love-hate rapport turns the investigation into more than a string of puzzles, and the film-industry setting gives their reporter instincts a natural reason to keep digging.

The plot begins at a local horror movie festival, where the pair witness movie star Big Albert breaking into the office of mogul William A. Fitzrandolph. Liz sees the chance for a major kiss-and-tell story, but her pursuit opens up a larger thread involving kidnapping, conspiracy, and increasingly strange incidents. It is a deliberately silly foundation, and the game benefits from treating a world of working monsters as everyday business.

A narrator pushes the plot along and doubles as the source of hints. That framing is a good fit for an adventure that wants to tell a playful, twisty tale rather than a grim detective story. Come for the oddball movie-business premise and the sparring reporters; the mystery has enough momentum to give the item puzzles a reason to matter.

Overall Experience

The Next Big Thing is an easy recommendation for you if traditional graphic adventures still scratch an itch: unusual locations, eccentric characters, an inventory full of possible answers, and a mystery that keeps asking you to chase one more lead. It knows exactly what kind of game it is and leans into the charm of that format.

Its rough edge is also the familiar one. Object-combination puzzles can make you feel clever, then abruptly leave you trying possibilities until the intended connection appears. The hotspot display, task list, and narrator hints soften that problem considerably, so you can keep the story moving without turning every stalled moment into a pixel hunt.

The payoff is a colorful conspiracy adventure carried by an entertaining setting and a combative reporter duo. At 7.3, it lands as a good, not essential, pick for fans of old-fashioned point-and-click design: worth your time if you can enjoy a few deliberately goofy puzzle leaps along with the jokes.