Draugen is a single-player, first-person Fjord Noir tale of suspense and mystery, set in 1920s Norway.
About Draugen
From the studio that brought you Dreamfall Chapters, and the creative team behind The Longest Journey and The Secret World, comes a first-person psychological mystery set in 19...
Draugen is a single-player, first-person Fjord Noir tale of suspense and mystery, set in 1920s Norway.
About Draugen
From the studio that brought you Dreamfall Chapters, and the creative team behind The Longest Journey and The Secret World, comes a first-person psychological mystery set in 1920s Norway.
The year is 1923. You play Edward Charles Harden, an American traveller who's come to Norway to find his missing sister. But you're not alone: at every step of the way, Edward's accompanied by his ward, Lissie; a gregarious, independent and enigmatic young woman. Together, you must explore this scenic coastal community — nestled amongst the fjords and mountains of rural Norway — in your search for Edward's sister, and unearth the darkness that lies beneath the picturesque surface.
Key features
"I am not alone": explore 1920s coastal Norway accompanied by a living, breathing, independent companion
Interact with your companion, Lissie, through a realistic and dynamic dialogue system
Experience a thrilling tale through the eyes of an increasingly unreliable narrator
Find your own path through a scenic setting that changes with the weather and Edward's mental state
"A story about what lies beneath": piece together a gripping narrative with unexpected twists and turns
Additional features
A beautiful original musical score from award-winning composer Simon Poole (Dreamfall, The Secret World, The Park, Dreamfall Chapters)
Written by Ragnar Tørnquist (The Longest Journey, Dreamfall, The Secret World, Dreamfall Chapters)
Designed and developed by the team behind Dreamfall Chapters
Fully voiced in English, with motion-captured characters
It was a pleasant surprise and an unforgettable journey. Draugen is a thrilling and captivating cinematic adventure in the 'walking simulator' genre, skillfully blending psychological thriller, light supernatural elements, and mystery. The game stands out for its exceptional storytelling, strong voice acting, and a perfect balance in its short length. With nice visuals and a great sound design, the game immerses you quickly into its eerie and captivating plot. If you're a fan of adventure games that prioritize storytelling, atmosphere, and thematic depth, Draugen comes highly recommended.
Music is good, and nothing else. A quite small area you walk throug over and over again for about 3h following a highly linear plot that will reach IMHO unsatysfying end. Played this with my wife and while we have quite different tastes both of us felt hugely dissapointed. I wouldn't call this a game, just a slow story elling that was IMHO subpar. I don't recommend unless you are very sure you love slightly interactive movies.
Production values are top notch, beutifull graphics and scenery, a great score, well written and acted and the story is overall well done (even if a little predictable). Overall well worth playing even if it's quite short (took me just under 3 hours)
One thing you should know before going in however, is that if you read up on the game when it was annouced it has changed significantly. This is a walking simulator (i.e. an adventure game with focus on exploration and story and with practically no convensional gameplay), it's a very good example, just shy of what i concider the top games in the genre (Firewatch, Gone Home and What Remains of Edith Finch). You are an american who together with your ward, explore a remote norwegian village in search for your missing sister. But when you arrive the entire town seams deserted and you try to figure out what happend to the villagers all while searching for your sister.
The name draugen might give you some ideas if you know your folklore trivia, but here comes the thing I mentioned earlier about the game changing. It was first announced as a survival horror game, and while there are still some horror elements pressent, it's nothing close to a survival horror. The name is not exactly missleading, but you might get disapointed if you expect something that's not there. If you go in expecting a narrative driven adventure, not something similar to Alien Isolation where you are hunted by a Draug, you will probably like this one.
Summary: Decent, pretty exploration game you can finish in a long evening.
Positives:
- everything is voiced
- artwork is great. This is the first exploration game where they nailed /some/ 3D characters
- if this game were longer than 3-4 hours, i would not have made it
- the dialogue tree system is refreshing
- overall the feeling of the game is really cool; is the main character going crazy? was he always crazy? i liked that
negatives:
- Story is so predictably obvious in some places and completely under developed in others. And the underdeveloped parts seem more important than the completely obvious, cliche parts
- the main character is a loser
- there's a journal system that isn't used at all
- the only character that's always on screen is terribly animated when she talks.
Seriously. The narrative is perfectly fine, with some neat ideas, but the gameplay side of things just isn't engaging. Even as walking sims go, letting the player get lost or make deductions doesn't really add much.
