I loved playing this game! Reminds me of the kinds of puzzles you would find in games like "Da Vinci House", or "The Room". If you like those, you will like this. The puzzles are simple but beautiful and fun to solve, where each has their own theme. There are 3 sets of 20 locations, each with a number of interconnected puzzles that aim to open the exit door that leads to the next location. There is no story, so this is just a casual game. The puzzles are on the easy side, but a few can be quite challenging. Nonetheless, I have found a deep satisfaction in solving each one of them because they are beautiful and well-constructed. I recommended for those who enjoy this kind of puzzle.
with beautiful art and immersive story, but has different kinds of gameplay that are not typical of it - like quick-time events. There are also timed puzzles, which I am not a big fan of, but it's manageable. I could complete all puzzles, without frustration, except for the last one (time limit). The world and lore are familiar if you have read Jules Verne, and gives the impression of a largescale adventure, but not really. I have finished the game in 5h (found and read all collectables), while some others here did it in 3h. It has the setup for a much bigger story, so I was surprised it was rather short. If you know the lore, some characters may look out of character, but it's explained why in the end. For some reason, nearly all Nautilus crew are strong female stereotypes, and the corridors were decorated with Soviet-era-like revolutionary posters. Somehow those looked forced and out of place for the period. All in all, it was fun, and I greatly enjoyed it. My only gripe was with the (cumbersome) controls that can be hard to get used to, and the timed puzzles. I played with a controller, and it was still confusing. The character moves slowly, but we can run. However, there are sections where running is disabled, and it has tested my patience. I recommend this to all point-and-click lovers, you won't regret it. And don't rush it, because it's short.
I love the eerie atmosphere and locations in this game, for they bring me back to the times of Black Mirror. We start with 2 protagonists, and we can switch between them - but only when the game wants you to. We can't switch for most of the game. They are traveling together, but they seem to hate each other. As a matter of fact, they argue for the most part, trying to convince me (the player) of which version was the correct one. I wish they would just let me play and find out by myself. The general story and dialogs were well written, and this is very important in this kind of game. However, many here have complained some dialogs were too long, and I have to agree. I found myself getting anxious when some dialogs took too long. Perhaps those could had been split between different dialogs, instead of pouring them all at once. The exotic location was a big plus, making me want to explore all of them. But I suddenly started having trouble keeping track of Croatian names because they are hard for me to remember, and some game plot items were linked to them by name, but I couldn't remember who they were. I couldn't even tell if that was a male or female name, and that's a problem when the gameplay depends on it. It seems to be a feature in this game that selected NPCs can give you a map of the location, but it can't be used for anything. It doesn't tell you where you are, and you cannot fast travel. It's totally useless. There are game locations that can work as a traveling hub to different places, but some destinations change later in the game, making navigation VERY confusing. There are game locations you CAN walk to, but your character says he doesn't want to. Why? Don't know. One last observation is that the plot keeps the horror atmosphere from beginning to end, which seems a bit heavy handed. It could have periods of horror, but nope, it's 100% horror all the time. I have enjoyed playing nonetheless.
I didn't know what to expect from this game, and it was reminiscing of the Flash games that used to be popular back in the day. However, the game lore is so elaborated that the game comes with an encyclopedia to cover it. It makes efficient use of South Park-like graphics, with plenty of animations, locations, and characters to interact with. The story is engaging, with exotic locations, well-written dialogs, and some wacky options to choose. So wacky that you will want to save and choose something else to see what happens. Most situations have multiple solutions, where they are all satisfying on their own right. The basic gameplay is like watching a movie, and from time to time we have to make a choice. As opposed to other games out there, choices you make will have consequences - some immediate, and some much later in the game. A positive side is that it doesn't pressure or judge your actions, so you can play anyway you like. I have finished the game in about 9 hours, and at no time I was bored. So much that I finished the game in 2 seats - I couldn't stop playing. If you like South Park, chances are you will like this.
What a wonderful old-school point-and-click adventure game! It has all the key elements to make it fun: plenty of things to do, places to go, and fully voiced characters to interact with. All art is hand-painted and remind me of the classic LucasArts games. Dialogs are well-written, and the story is entertaining. Although this is mostly targeting a younger audience, I had plenty of fun playing it. The puzzles were fun, where most were trivial, but some will get some thinking to solve. Most of the objects you need to solve a puzzle are either nearby, or in nearby locations. And hold and behold - there is almost no backtracking! At least to me, this was one of those games I played longer than I should, and was eager to return to it the next day. I have completed it in 16 hours, so it's not a long game, but also not a short one. I recommend it for all lovers of point-and-click adventure games.
I love point and click adventure games, and the pixel art here has that nostalgic look, so I immediately bought this game based on that. It happens in medieval Germany, so it's also a period game. The gameplay is crude and simplistic. They ask us NOT to enable the hotspot revealer, but I did, and it has indeed improved the experience. However, the hotspots can easily merge with the background, making them hard to see in some cases. You can collect and combine items, and for the most part, it makes sense in the game context. Another plus is that this game has little to no backtracking. However, characters are stereotyped, shallow, and 1-sided, so I couldn't get attached to anyone. They are never developed. I am supposed to be a Doctor, but it doesn't feel like it. The main story is a bit heavy-handed on politics, where early on that started to annoy me. Catholics are demonized as greedy murderous fanatics, and the medieval era is depicted as a by-the-book Hollywood cliche. Without a good story to drive the game, or likable characters to play and interact with, playing the game wasn't engaging. We are set up to make the "wrong" choice right at the beginning, hoping that would make us replay the game. Is that what they call replayability? The fact that the game is so short becomes a plus, since the protagonist has no story arch, and characters won't develop. I don't regret having played the game, but it's nothing memorable. If you are Ok with a cliche story, shallow characters, and simple puzzles, go for it.
From the moment I started playing, I got immersed into the game world and period. The protagonist is likable and believable, which for some reason has become rare nowadays. The pixel art is beautiful and right on spot. This was probably the first point-and-click game I have played in a long time where I could solve all the puzzles without feeling frustrated. Even the more challenging ones at the end were pretty fair - I was just overthinking them. There is no frustrating backtracking, since every location you have visited is added to the fast-travel map. There is a To-Do list, so we always know what we have to do, and talking to people will give you hints if you get stuck. Your character walks fast, so no waiting for animation frustration either. It's like they thought of everything. The game locations transported me into the game world, making it quite moody and immersive. I really wanted to go places and talk to the local people. It helps that the game is fully voiced, and the voice acting is very good. It also helps that the game tells us when there is nothing else to talk about with specific characters. The occasional visions the protagonist has add tension to the game, adding tension and suspense. Story-wise, it's not very long, but that was Ok with me. Like others have said here, some parts were never explained, while some others were underdeveloped. The end was certainly cast on stone, since we keep receiving so many warnings about it, but when the time comes, there is no other option. Even narration from the protagonist already tells us (repeatedly) that this is how it's going to end, so no big surprise there. I think that was supposed to add tension? In spite of the above, it's a good story, immersive, enjoyable, beautiful, and well done. Most of what we do in the game makes sense. All in all, I recommend this game - probably the best one from Wadjet Eye Games in a while. I am happy I played it.
Point and click adventure games are all about the story. I didn't know what I was getting into, and I am not a fan of horror stories. All I know is that once I started playing, I couldn't stop! I just needed to know what happens next, and I kept being amused with every step. You play a traumatized character at the edge of madness from the eyes of a child. The game often blurs the line between reality and insanity, and then makes that part of the gameplay, which is ingenious. As opposed to other horror games, it didn't feel like an exploitation of cheap jump scares, which is rare nowadays. At all times I kept wondering if Fran was insane, or if it was something else. You don't know who to trust, which keeps us on our toes. Fran wants to know what happened to her parents, and that's what keep us playing. We are given hints, but since she is potentially insane, we don't know what's real. Right at the beginning there is a sense of conspiracy, but the game never tells you what to believe. What is the most endearing to me is how Fran interprets this horrifying world as a child, considering adults would react very differently. Her love for her cat is also a compelling force to push the story forwards, even if we don't know if Fran or her cat were actually dead or alive. All I know is that I was sucked into this world, wanting to read everything, and talk to everyone. Most puzzles were simple, though a few were unnecessarily obscure to me. I am still stunned how they managed to balance this between being terrifying and whimsical. It was a trip between a child's rich imagination and the edge of madness. It can be difficult to tell them apart. This was one of the most intriguing experiences I had from a game in a long time, and I strongly recommend. But beware, it's disturbing with plenty of blood and gore, which can come as a shock considering Fran is a 10-year-old child - this is NOT for kids.
I was immediately captivated by this Victorian Steampunk detective game. The retro low-res graphics brought me back to the golden era of point and click adventures. I had a smile on my face when I started playing it, being totally immersed into the story. That was... until it started to unfold. Very early on, I was being preached on critical race theory, LGBT+, feminism, Marxism, virtue signaling, and the whole 9-yards of woke propaganda that completely broke game immersion. If this is a Victorian story, none of these things belong there. Your disembodied companion keeps preaching modern Marxist activism the entire game, as a constant immersion breaker. I had to make a mental block to be able to keep playing because the game was beautiful, and the protagonist was likable. I have enjoyed solving all of the 5 murder mysteries - kudos for how some of the stories had intertwined, which was an extra nice touch. However, some dialog choices WILL block investigations, forcing us to declare them unsolvable. Is that what they call replayability? In the final chapter, it became obvious where the story was going, which was rather disappointing. The writers have injected the maximum wokeness into the conclusion to make sure we won't miss their political message. To me, that made the ending rather cheesy for the wokeness sake. All in all, I was only able to keep playing and enjoy the game by making an effort to ignore the modern Marxist preaching embedded into the story and characters. I don't regret playing the game, as long as I was able to stomach the mandatory preaching. Much love was put into this game, and it had all the elements to become a CLASSIC, but instead, they chose to turn it into a political propaganda outlet, and not in a subtle way. It's a beautifully made game, and I love its Victorian Steampunk atmosphere, but I recommend this game with hesitation. Play it if you are not easily offended by those subjects.
