An Underrated Puzzle Horror
The Tartarus Key is a horror-puzzler inspired by some of the OG survival horror games, particularly Resident Evil but with a twist: imagine you had to go through a classic RE mansion but without any of the actual combat and the puzzles were more fleshed out, that's what The Tartarus Key is.
There's clearly a lot of love and care put into this game, from its wonderful UI (perhaps irrelevant to some, but to me a huge boon in this instance), the great aesthetics, fun puzzles, and lovable characters, the game pretty much has it all. The puzzles are generally simple, often times being more about noticing patterns than about strictly solving anything (although there is some of that here), but with it being an escape room style game and that being something I love, it fills out a niche that I am always ready to get more of.
I was surprised to find the character dialogue to actually be pretty enjoyable across the board. Each character is very charming in their own ways, at times even a bit funny, and above all else I appreciate the endless optimism and kindness of Alex, our main character. There are no complex characters here, but I don't think complexity is needed in this case.
If I were to say the game lacks in any regard, it would be in its somewhat lackluster true ending. I love the revelation that the copies of yourself come about as a result of your true ending act and I do appreciate that this ties up the cult-ish stuff, but it caught me by surprise that
Alex ultimately died - in kind of a goofy way too. Jumping at a god seems to work, I suppose, but I reckon there's some meaning to the idea that the god wasn't really strong enough even to stop that. In any case, I thought that there would be a bit more to Alex's demise after the fact, but you more or less get the same ending as if you do the good ending, though with a bit of extra writing at the end for each character summary.
I wouldn't say I dislike the ending by any means, but I suppose I would say I didn't expect that to be all there was after the fact. I assumed even that there would be a true TRUE ending where Alex survives, but evidently not.
Nevertheless, I consider The Tartarus Key to be an achievement when it comes to this PSX-style aesthetic. Plenty of games replicate the OG aesthetic, but this one comes with an added sense of coziness and tactile feeling that just makes everything pop in a super satisfying way. And of course, for anyone with a love for escape room style puzzles, this game should be an absolute winner.
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