This free prologue serves to pique interest for the full game that was recently funded on Kickstarter. For me, it has failed miserably at that and i will be sure pass on the full release. It features two superbly annoying protagonists and some of the worst dialogues i have been subjected to. Nothing but a full rewrite and some serious editing will make this work. Graphics are fine for a Unity game and there is some pretty basic point and clicking to be done. Hopefully the full game will be better written, but i have my doubts.
Well, this is just a prologue or sample for the full game the studio is working to produce. Their kickstarter was funded so the full game should be coming out at some point.
Right off the bat, this is a gripping horror mystery. It was unsettling, unnerving, and kept me on the edge of my seat up until the ending. This prologue takes roughly an hour or so to play through.
The other important note: this is a very Slavic game. Things like the names, manner of speaking, openly discussing religious themes, and even some of the folklore was very reminiscent of Eastern Europe. There is a lot of religious reference (mainly Eastern Orthodox), and as several other reviewers have pointed out, the game launches right into that from the get-go. If you're turned off by Eastern-Orthodox Christianity then this game will probably not be for you.
What did this game do pretty well?
-2d background with 3d sprites. Like many (good) modern PNCs
-highlightable action points. Yes, it does take away some of the mystery, but it's worth not having to "pixel-hunt"
-good voice acting.
-intriguing (albeit somewhat frustrating) characters.
-gripping, suspenseful atmosphere.
-Great artwork.
What didn't it do so well?
-Writing/dialogue riddled with typos & grammar mistakes. You have to keep in mind, though, that this was written by non-native English speakers.
-No real puzzles. I'm assuming the full version will have these, but you can't make a good PNC without some good logic puzzles.
Final verdict:
4/5 stars and I'll definitely be picking up the full game at some point.
Extra stuff:
Though I'd likely never choose to hang out with either Benedek or Nikolai in person, I found both their personalities relatable and familiar, especially to some of the wonderfully varied people I met or know in Eastern Europe. Religious culture is a far more ingrained part of society there than in America for example, and many "fanatics" are like that. Poor Nikolai is genuine enough, but a slave to addiction.
A big thumb up! If you love point-and-click adventure games with a deep story, chilling atmosphere, and slightly deranged characters, don't look anymore.
I was one of the early testers of the demo, so I could have observed the development progress. I was really impressed by how quickly the development team responded to my bug reports, and although the current version is not completely bug-free, I am sure that the full game will be polished to the last detail.
I agree that the storytelling used in the game could give a misleading impression to a new player. However, I think that it is what makes Saint Kotar something better than just another point-and-click adventure. The story is unveiled quite slowly, and it will probably require to play the game several times to understand all details fully (it reminds me of some Black Mirror episodes). It's just my opinion, but I prefer this approach over something like "You are here. This is your task. Follow clear instructions.".
I strongly recommend Saint Kotar: The Yellow Mask to everyone.
Okay, so this is a demo for the full game coming out this summer, so I have hope that the game can be tweaked a bit to improve the final product. First the good parts - the scenery is gorgeously oppressive in the way that only a small, isolated, fog-shrouded mountain town can be. The update to the King in Yellow mythos is plausible, and the programmers have followed the cardinal rule of not actually showing any of the horrible elements, because the audience will almost always come up with something far worse in their imaginations anyway. The handy feature that allows one to highlight all the interactive elements in a scene is a *very* useful one (more on that in a bit).
Now the bad bits. The dialogue is really bad - stilted, filled with non-sequiturs, and just generally not how I'd imagine even Lovecraftian protagonists talking. Also, both the protagonists are awful people. Benedek is a neurotic, fanatical rabbit of a man, and Nikolai is just a dick (granted, I'd probably be a dick too if I was a morphine addict jonesing for a fix, but still, at least *one* of them should be relatively sympathetic). On a more technical note, the lakeside scene was totally black apart from the old man and a grey sillhouette of the boat. Luckily, I was able to muddle through the scene because of the highlight function. (For purposes of debugging - I'm playing on a MacBook Air with the M1 processor.)
Pretty unique and atmospheric point and click game that evokes the same feeling as playing old genre titles such as the first Black Mirror, but with a Robert W. Chambers/Lovecraft bend.
Certainly unique in design and ideas, which I enjoyed very much.
Protagonists are well-written (including personality flaws that other reviewers seemed to blame the game for), and the environments are quite pretty.
What we got from the story so far seems quite enticing and certainly raised my curiosity to continue once the full game is out.
