The Stone of Madness

Very different from the their previous titles but I like that they decided to explore other types of gameplay. If you're looking for a beautiful stealth game with very unique mechanics and an even more unique setting consider supporting these developers

The Stone of Madness is original and interesting. You have tons of fun mechanics that can be combined to solve exploration puzzles in many different ways. As expected from The Game Kitchen, the characters are iconic, the scenery is great and the dub is amazing. I'm playing in normal difficulty and although the resource management can feel tight initially, it's not a problem after a few nights. The game has some rough edges, but they are not too disruptive. The controlls work well given the complex and unusual gameplay, but they are not polished to perfection and can feel a bit confusing. Additionaly, I've had some weird dialogues with characters when talking to them before reaching a new area or triggering a cutscene. I'm also not the biggest fan of the way the animated mini-cutscenes are integrated with the gameplay during the narrative. However, the game gives many hours of fun content and is absolutely worth it. With some additional polishing it would be a much smoother experience.

An isometric stealth was what I was looking for and recieved. I like how the health/sanity/resource system makes failure more than a matter of reloading and brute forcing. Failure to evade guards costs health, failure to complete you objective for the day sends you to bed fifteen sanity poorer, failure to stay unseen raises suspicion, making it so you can't move around as easy.It's a refreshing different direction from the Shadow Tactics, where the larger map and more complex gaurd patrols all but necessitates the quick-save-reload for all but the true psychos of RTS Stealth. Whereas, in The Stone of Madness, your relatively shorter path requires a more thought out approach, or you'll be sent to bed a little poorer than you started. Leonora being the only murderer in the group is a novel approach to address a problem in many stealth games, which is just being able to murder everyone. Murders make a gap that you can sneak through. It's an intended mechanic. Problem is that it then becomes most optimal to isolate all guards in an increasingly growing blind spot, then make for the objective, no guile required. Leonora's murders cost health, (a flaggelant penance deal), and sometimes her knife breaks. Incapacitations also cost resources. Passifism isn't just a vain challenge run or cheevo hunt for your third playthrough, it'll often be your most optimal or only option. Why waste a precious wood board when you can just get the kid to have them chase her to a hole? The writing is shockingly unsharp. I suspect an AI tool was used, but then, an AI tool could be prompted to be more suscinct. It's at its best with Eduardo, the mute, where his gestures and affirmations convey all necessary information, and I suspect the the game would have benefitted from each character having the narrator voice convey the information and intent of each interaction. As it stands, the dialog is unacceptable, and incongruous for the ambitious setting and striking art style.