Developer: No Code
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Rrp: £6.99 (Gog.com, Steam, Humblebundle)
Released: 27th February 2017
Available on: Steam, Gog.com and Humblebundle
Played Using: Mouse and Keyboard
Over a week I’ve spent agonising over this review, but its just so damn slippery. I can’t seem to nail it down to any particular genre or set of genres. Is it a puzzle game? Text adventure? Mystery? Horror? Umm… yes, kind of.
What I can tell you is that its definitely interesting and a challenge in its subject matter and its puzzles. The question is, is it any good? Well the answer is yes…kinda’. I mean its debatable because someone who doesn’t want to read or has trouble with puzzles in games will find this nothing but a struggle. However if you can solve the puzzles there is a genuinely good game here, it just takes a little work.
Its hard to speak on this game without spoiling something, whether its the plot or the many small and surprising bits that make this game something special. For example the video accompanying the review (I apologise for how long it is) essentially gives you almost all of the first chapter.
Some of you, quite a few I imagine, have probably never played a text adventure. Or even see the appeal. I’ll be honest, I never got it either, or at least not until I was in my twenties.
It was at that point I realised that as long as the story was fulfilling I was fine with the graphics taking a backseat. Short of reading a book (which I do also enjoy) text adventures are this idea at its most extreme. Zero graphics, just text that you read and react to. In some ways these old text adventures like ‘Return to Zork’ are precursors to games like Myst and the point and click genre. That’s not to say that this game is without graphics or even a text adventure. It definitely has text adventure elements, but its so much more than that. The graphics on show are actually quite impressive especially for what the game actually is. If you look at the video below you will get a sense of what I mean. Bear in mind that that video only shows the first chapter. The second chapter is different entirely with you only using the keyboard a few times.
Each of the chapters is more like a short puzzle game. Each chapter gets progressively more complex until the forth and final one which is actually not all that difficult but ties all the story elements that have been woven throughout the game together. Speaking of difficulty, I highly recommend using a pen and paper for the third chapter, because some of the puzzles are pretty tricky and require you to remember quite a lot of information.
I hate to do this but I think this is where my review has to end. Its near impossible to give you any information without spoiling it. What I can say is that to me, this game is more of a mystery with horror elements than a pure horror game. If you fancy trying something a bit different, or perhaps you liked Stranger Things, then I suspect you may enjoy what you get from this title.
If this appeals to you perhaps try;
