Strahd's Possession is the more memorable of these two, but still hard to recommend without reservations. It has a number of hostile design decisions (enemies that drain your levels, "spinner" and teleport traps that make navigation difficult, and at least one quest trigger (the ghost) that can completely ruin a playthrough if encountered too early. The interface is clunky, the framerate is poor, and the music can be difficult to take at times. However, the game's got a great atmosphere and the story wastes no time getting its hooks in and setting up a great villain. The titular vampire is a foreboding presence you never forget even when he's out of sight, and the land itself feels hostile. Even those design elements that kinda suck from a gameplay perspective nevertheless support the atmosphere -- Barovia is hostile and any would-be heroes are doomed, so why not have level draining enemies? Both games comes with not just a manual but a "cluebook" that serves as a slightly inexact strategy guide. The Stone Prophet guide is mostly just a stack of annotated maps. The Strahd's Possession guide, on the other hand, is a really lovingly made first person "journal" from the perspective of the player characters. It smooths out some of the game's worst aspects while adding more atmosphere to the world, and I would recommend that anybody interested in Strahd's Possession embrace the cluebook. 4 stars for the first game. Stone Prophet's design is significantly less hostile -- dungeons easier to navigate, etc. However, despite the improved interface it seems amateurish in comparison. The killer portrait art from the first game is sorely missed. It's a smoother but less interesting experience, up until the very last major encounter, which is like a brick wall, made worse by the fact that the ending cinematic froze the game -- had to watch it on YouTube. 3 stars for the second game, despite some cool ideas. I didn't hate it but it felt like a time waster rather than a gem.
