Loom (1990)
Loom is a 1990 point-and-click video game made by Lucasfilm Games and U.S. Gold.
In an age when the world is ruled by secretive Guilds, the Weavers learned to weave more than cloth: they spin the fabric of reality itself. Then something sweeps the whole Guild away, leaving one boy, Bobbin Threadbare, alone with a distaff and a gift for magic. LucasArts made Loom in 1990 as a quieter kind of adventure. You cast spells by playing musical notes, learning melodies as you go rather than hoarding an inventory. Short, dreamlike, and threaded through with a somber fairy-tale score, it feels less like a puzzle box than a myth you are walking through.
Quick answers
What is Loom about?
In an age when the world is ruled by secretive Guilds, the Weavers learned to weave more than cloth: they spin the fabric of reality itself. Then something sweeps the whole Guild away, leaving one boy, Bobbin Threadbare, alone with a distaff and a gift for magic. LucasArts made Loom in 1990 as a quieter kind of adventure. You cast spells by playing musical notes, learning melodies as you go rather than hoarding an inventory. Short, dreamlike, and threaded through with a somber fairy-tale score, it feels less like a puzzle box than a myth you are walking through.
When was Loom released?
Loom was released on 1 January 1990.
Who made Loom?
Loom was made by Lucasfilm Games and U.S. Gold.
Similar games
Explore Loom guides
Loom in our writing
- Companion guide: LucasArts: The SCUMM Adventures & the Star Wars Empire
A few thoughts on Loom
For the same solemn, storybook fantasy, Dragonslayer is a grave old film of magic and dragons that shares Loom's mist-and-twilight mood. Dragon's Kin takes you into a world of craft-guilds and dragons much like the one Bobbin walks, if you want to keep dreaming in that key.
Fairy-tale fantasy on the page
Loom feels like a somber fairy tale, all guilds, magic, and a lone boy with a gift. These books chase that same enchanted, otherworldly register, from dragon-riders and old spellcraft to fantasy tie-ins that build whole mythologies out of thread and lore.
Magic and dragons on screen
The game's dreamlike world of Weavers and spells has plenty of company at the movies. These fantasy films share its sense of wonder and dread, with dragons, boy-heroes, and hidden kingdoms, the kind of storybook adventures Loom clearly grew up on.
Spellcasting and enchanted quests
You cast magic here by playing musical notes, learning melodies instead of hoarding items. That spirit of enchantment runs through these games, worlds where a single figure wields old power against the dark, and exploring the mystery matters as much as any fight.
Dreamlike, melancholy journeys
Short, quiet, and threaded with a mournful score, Loom is more mood than mechanics. These games reach for the same wistful, dreamlike feeling, small and strange and often sad, trading spectacle for atmosphere and letting the silence and the music do the heavy lifting.