Conarium

Ok, I think there is a great misconception about this particular "walking simulator." And, unfortunately, it is brought on by the games own description... That's the only reason I docked a star. It says "Study clues and unlock secrets, whilst avoiding macabre beings at all costs." If you read that and think this will be like SOMA, then you're wrong. This description is very misleading as there are only a handful of monsters... and they are planned scenes where you can't hide. You cannot avoid them at any cost, much less at all costs. Put that into your decision making when purchasing this game. You are not buying a jump-scare survival horror. This is a STORY. And, honestly, it's a great story. If you have read any of H.P. Lovecraft's works then you will feel right at home once the strangeness starts. It gives so many nods to his works it's crazy. It is a slow-paced exploration story with horror elements. Honestly the lack of the monsters from the description is the games only downfall in my opinion... Let me list it's strengths: -Great cosmic horror atmosphere. -Graphics are realistic and believable and immersive. -Mechanics are great. Walk, run, crouch. Interact with objects. Controls are easy to grasp and use. -Exploration factor is top notch! Lots to discover! I took my sweet time exploring and still by the end only completed 57% of everything. I missed over half of the possible "trophy" items that there were to discover, as well as over half of the secret areas. I'm going to have to go play again and really, really take my time to find everything. -Voice acting is great. -Story-line is practically straight from Lovecraft's works. -Multiple endings based on what you've discovered. -Great soundtrack! It saddens me to see so many bad reviews, but I can understand them! The description is a lil misleading. Please look past that and invest in this if you love a good story and want a Lovecraftian experience!

I think this is one of the best H.P. Love Craft game to date. The art is exactly what one expect. The creatures could have used some extra flushing out, most creatures in H.P. Love Craft books are far more grewsome and strange, this intern causes the people to go mad. The world had to many torches ext.... this and models that seemed out of place in this world causes the played to not fully become immersed in the world. I like the fact that there is no hand holding, if there was it would have finished the game in 2 hours instead of 5 hours. Note to the developers: the mind effects were to digital, a more misty effect would have been more in line with H.P. Love Crafts worlds. That being said great game and please make more like this.

Conarium is yet another hodge podge of puzzles, only this time they take place in a nice looking 3D environment, and the game is supposed to be connected to the works of H.P. Lovecraft. But like most works inspired by Lovecraft, it comes nowhere near the quality of his work, nor manages to duplicate the sense of dread and awe found in his better works. In fact, it seems Lovecraft hurt the game more than he aided it, since you spend your time wandering around encountering callbacks to Lovecraft's work, which distracts from this game. It doesn't help that most of the plot to this game seems to be conveyed through text, which you can completely ignore. The visual design is also not good enough to instill any horror in me while I play - each area of the game is so well lit, there aren't any surprises, and for the few darker segments, you get a flashlight to light the way. Design elements also get repeated far too often, leading to areas feeling like a copy and paste of previous areas. There are just too many statues all over the place, for them to become creepy. It does work at first, conveying the sense of exploring the underground dwelling of a long forgotten race, but the game jumps between areas so many times, the suspension of disbelief never lasts. The design of each area is also lacking, since it repeats itself in structure - each area is large and sprawling visually, but fairly empty puzzle-wise. Once you learn the general layout of the game, you have no incentive to explore. Each area has 3 or 4 points of interest, which you can sprint between, since the only thing to do is located there. Every time you get stuck, you just need to explore those small areas for that one thing you missed. Everything in between is superfluous. The game is also sparse with puzzles, opting to have some puzzles be skippable, so you'll only need to solve them for a 100% run, which isn't very fun. At times I skipped a puzzle unintentionally, since I got whisked off to a new area.

I don't think many games do classic lovecraftian adventure as well as Conarium and the game nails it with it's atmosphere, story and locations. It's a simple game which you can complete under four or five hours even if you manage to find all the secrets and hidden trophies as the puzzles aren't much of a challenge. As much as I loved the game, I wouldn't recommend buying it for the full price as it's such a short experience.