Play Golden Compass, The (E)(XenoPhobia) Online

I picked up The Golden Compass on the Nintendo DS back in 2007, a time when licensed movie games were everywhere. Sega published it, and it was one of those titles that tried to do something a bit different on the dual screen handheld. It didn't get a ton of attention, but it had its own quiet spot among action-adventure games on the system.

You control Lyra Belacqua, navigating through a series of linear environments inspired by the film's world. The main goal is to rescue kidnapped children while uncovering a sinister conspiracy. Two mechanics stand out: using the stylus to quickly shift her daemon, Pan, between animal forms to solve environmental puzzles, and engaging in real time combat against enemies like the armored bears. The pacing is deliberate, with exploration broken up by frequent, sometimes challenging, enemy encounters. It feels like a condensed adventure that relies heavily on its unique touch screen interactions to set it apart.