A cute game that provides hours of fun. I saw someone else make the comment that the whole using the third dimension to "look at things from a different angle" is cool at first but the novelty wears off and that's almost the only novel game-action trick you have (and you use it over and over many times). Otherwise, it's very much an old-school platform exploration game (a lot like Treasure Adventure Game which I think I enjoyed more). There are a lot of secrets, which is fun. In order to uncover them all, you'll need to decipher this language which (I swear) requires a degree in cryptography.
I remember playing this game soon after it came out. Sierra and Roberta Williams had set out to create the first game (a) with a dramatic horror story for adults and (b) using actors and full motion video technology. Not a total success on either account. The "adult" story is the kind you might encounter in a B horror movie. You play the female half of a young heterosexual couple, a successful writer whose photographer husband pushes the idea that they should move into this big creepy mansion. One look at this place and you'd guess it was haunted, and the previous owner is like part-wicked magician/part-six wives of henry viii/part-serial murderer? What's more, the bad vibes are really affecting your husband (early on I remember joking that the game was really just about a couple with martial problems). Gameplay consists of exploring the mansion with lots of rooms that are inaccessible until later in the story, piecing together the place's history and what's going on. You also make some trips into town where you meet helpful locals. The game starts out slow (and feels like its full of potential), but as more gets revealed things get increasingly cheesy. An irritating feature of gameplay is that it makes liberal use of event flags where you need to do something in particular in order for time to pass and for the story to progress. Sometimes you have no idea what's holding you back, and it might be a matter of like checking the liquor cabinet to see that your husband's been hitting the sauce. As for the actors and the full motion video. Well... there's a reason they don't make games like that anymore. During normal gameplay characters look super-imposed on backdrops. And some of the acting is quite hammy. It's hard to take it too seriously. I'm ragging a lot on this game, but if you like the idea of playing an interactive B horror film (Roberta would hate me calling it an interactive movie) it's worth buying on sale and spending some time with.
i wasn't expecting much when i downloaded this, but i ended up enjoying it more than the other game i purchased on gog. on the surface it looks a bit like kings quest or quest for glory, and it's really not so different. rest easy that there's no time limit or way to get stuck, and if the story seems a little dull at first know that it gets more interesting as the game unfolds.
