If you grew up playing PC games in the early 90s, the name Gobliiins probably triggers a very specific mixture of core memories: incredible cartoon artwork, hilarious slapstick animations, and puzzles that occasionally made you want to pull your hair out.
For the uninitiated, the series is a legendary line of point-and-click adventure games in which you control a team of goblins—each with a single unique ability—to solve absurdly creative environmental puzzles.
Well, Red Art Games just dropped the Gobliiins Collection on Xbox Series X|S, and I’ve spent the last few days completely glued to my controller. If you love classic puzzle games or are just looking for something genuinely charming to play, here is why this collection deserves a spot in your digital library.
The Ultimate Preservation Piece
First off, this isn’t just a lazy port. The team has bundled together all five classic entries in the series. But what blew me away is the sheer commitment to video game preservation.
For Gobliiins 1, 2, and 3, the collection includes both the original Floppy Disk and CD-ROM versions. Even cooler? You can literally switch between the Floppy and CD versions right in the middle of gameplay without losing an ounce of your progress. It’s a fascinating look back at how audio and visuals evolved over just a few short years in the 90s. They even went ahead and fixed the “Joker” hint functionality in the Gobliins 2 CD version, a feature that never actually worked properly in the original commercial release decades ago!
Smooth, Modernized Controls
Point-and-click games can sometimes feel like a chore on a console controller, but the developers nailed the optimization here. The inclusion of Quick Goblin switching using the controller’s shoulder buttons completely changes the flow of the game. Instead of clunkily dragging a cursor to change characters, swapping between your heavy-lifting goblin, your magic user, or your item collector is instantaneous and smooth.
Plus, if you’re playing on Xbox Series X|S, Gobliiins 4 gets a buttery-smooth 120 FPS performance mode, giving these classic 3D models a wonderfully crisp modern feel.
Respect for Your Time (No More Password Menus!)
Old-school adventure games were notoriously punishing. The original Gobliiins, for example, forced you to write down passwords to save your progress and featured a brutal health bar that could force a total restart.
The collection modernizes the progression beautifully. The clunky password system is gone, replaced with automatic level resumes. If you mess up, there’s an “AGAIN” button that lets you instantly restart a level with your health bar fully restored. Gobliiins 5—originally released as four separate chunks—has been stitched together into one seamless, massive adventure with an integrated auto-save system.
Puzzles with a Safety Net
Let’s be honest: 90s adventure game logic could be wonderfully unhinged. To make sure modern players don’t end up permanently stuck, the collection introduces a brand-new hint system complete with hotspot indicators for the first three games. It gives you just enough assistance to keep the momentum going without ruining the satisfaction of solving the puzzle yourself. (Though if you’re a purist, you can absolutely ignore it and try to clear the levels raw!)
Final Verdict
With 47 achievements to hunt for across the entire package, the Gobliiins Collection is the gold standard of how classic retro games should be brought to modern hardware. It treats the source material with immense respect while removing all the archaic friction that used to bog down the genre.
Whether you’re revisiting a childhood favorite or stepping into this wacky fantasy world for the very first time, this collection is an absolute joy. Head over to the Xbox Store and grab it—you won’t regret it!
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