Developer: Owl Cave
Publisher: Mastertronic
Rrp: £4.79 (Steam), £4.79 (Humblebundle)
Released: 16th April 2015
Available on Steam and Humblebundle
Played Using: Keyboard and Mouse
A charnel house is a place where skeletal remains of humans are stored, it also is more often used to describe a place filled with death and destruction. So I think its safe to assume a game named after such a thing probably isn’t going to be a bunch of laughs.
As the name suggests The Charnel House Trilogy is split into three chapters, which is represented on the title screen as three books. It’s a point and click horror themed adventure game in which you play as Alex (mostly). Alex is a woman who, for reasons revealed later in the game, is a shut in. I said mostly when refering to who you play as in the game because between the chapters the character you play as will switch. In the first you play as the Alex, the second as Dr. Lang (who Alex meets in the first) and finally as Alex again in the third.
As is the case with most games within the point and click genre you can bring up your inventory by moving the cursor to the top of the screen. Occasionally an item will need to be combined, or dismantled within the inventory screen to allow you to solve a puzzle. On the subject of the puzzles, I found that they weren’t too difficult but then they aren’t really meant to be, they’re more of an engine to move the plot along.
The story leading through this game is intriguing and one that is very personal to Alex (the main character). It can be a little hard to follow if you aren’t paying attention especially as it has been purposefully written to be confusing.
Every character is fully voice acted with a cast that includes Jim Sterling (the host of a show and website called The Jimquisition). I’m sure it helped that there are very few characters involved in the story, sadly the audio quality on one or two of the characters is a little questionable. Its not that the quality is terrible, its more a case of being able to spot the one with less than suitable equipment when compared with the others.
Graphically the game has a aesthetic similar to the old Lucas Arts point and clicks like the Indiana Jones Series or The Dig. That isn’t to say that the game looks old, not at all, you can just spot the games that have influenced the developers.
For such a short game its quite well paced and manages to keep the tension going with only a few subtle tricks. Not only is the story as a whole well paced but so are each of the chapters within it. The chapter first is the most mundane, creating expectations that the other two completely dismantle. Ordinarily that would make it sound like the least interesting of the three chapters but its not, it serves a very crucial purpose of setting up the story, developing a understanding of the characters and setting the tone.
Sadly nothing is perfect and this game is no exception, it has a few flaws which must be mentioned. For starters there is no way to change the resolution of the game, meaning those black bars to the sides are there to stay. Also tabbing out of the game is something of a gamble as occasionally it will crash if you attempt to.
Final thoughts time, is it worth it? Well, I think it is. I had a great time and the themes of the story really stuck with me. If you like point and click games I don’t think this is a bad purchase. Just bear in mind that the game only lasts about two to three hours and there isn’t any alternative endings… because that would make no sense for the story.
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