Gobliiins Collection: Gobliiins Collection is a fascinating look at a classic point-and-click series, but its age is impossible to ignore. Creative puzzles and retro charm are balanced by outdated design and occasional frustration. A solid choice for retro adventure fans, but a harder sell for modern players. – NemanjaKocica
There are games that helped define a genre, and then there are games that have become artifacts of gaming history. Gobliiins Collection falls somewhere in between. Bringing together the first five entries in Pierre Gilhodes‘ quirky adventure series, this package offers players a chance to revisit one of the most unusual point-and-click franchises of the 1990s. The question is whether these classics still hold up today.
What made Gobliiins stand out from its contemporaries was its unconventional approach to puzzle-solving. Instead of controlling a single protagonist, players often had to switch between multiple characters, each with their own unique abilities. Even decades later, that concept remains refreshing and gives the series much of its identity.
Unfortunately, it also highlights some of its biggest weaknesses.
Many puzzles rely on obscure logic and trial-and-error experimentation. While longtime fans may appreciate the challenge, modern players will likely find themselves clicking through every possible interaction in search of progress. What once felt creative and mysterious now often feels frustrating and outdated.
The collection itself is presented competently. Having five games bundled together is certainly appreciated, and the included bonus materials help provide some historical context for the series. However, newcomers may find the experience difficult to approach, as the games offer little guidance and expect players to adapt to design philosophies from a very different era.
Age is perhaps Gobliiins Collection's biggest obstacle. The controls function well enough, but these games were clearly designed with a mouse in mind. Combined with puzzle design that frequently lacks clarity, the experience can become exhausting in longer play sessions.
That said, I found myself enjoying the collection most while playing on Nintendo Switch 2 in handheld mode. These aren't games I wanted to sit down and play for hours at a time. Instead, they worked surprisingly well in shorter sessions, solving a puzzle or two before putting the console to sleep and returning later. In that regard, the portability of Switch 2 helps soften some of the frustrations that come with the game's age.
Ultimately, Gobliiins Collection feels more important as a preservation project than as a must-play adventure game in 2026. Retro enthusiasts and genre historians will find plenty to appreciate here, but most modern players may struggle to overlook the dated design and occasionally baffling puzzle logic.
Gobliiins Collection successfully preserves a small piece of gaming history, but nostalgia alone cannot erase the limitations of a 30-year-old design philosophy
