The Terrible Old Man

The Terrible Old Man

I never write bad reviews for games, because, if I don’t like one, I usually just put it aside and move along, but I cannot, for the life of me, understand how this game is so highly rated. Am I missing something??

The dialogue was bland and I noticed some very obvious mistakes, which just resonates on the fact that they didn’t put much effort into it.

The portraits were terrifying in an absolutely hilarious way, but it feels unintentional. It gave me serious Legend of Zelda: Wand of Gamelon vibes. The movement was awkward and sticky and there was no. goddamn. plot.

Real player with 0.9 hrs in game


Read More: Best Drama 2D Games.


This isn’t so much of a “reinterpretation” or “retelling” as it is a straight up clone of Lovecraft’s 1921 short story of the same name with a few unimportant details omitted. It says that it’s “based off” the 1921 story in its credits, but this game easily only uses 2% originality (if that) while the rest of the plot comes directly from Howard Phillips' own typewriter. I thought that this was going to more or less be a point-and-click adventure game with puzzles and various threads you can follow. However, there’s only one path to go down and only one ending that you can get. Sure, you can try all the bits of dialogue with each character (of which there are a few), but there’s only one selection per character that’s actually correct. You can easily find the correct answer by process of elimination. While you are supposed to go back and talk to people you’ve already annoyed or conversed with, this isn’t so much a “puzzle” as it’s something that players assume that they already need to do from the get-go (especially with point-and-click interactive fiction adventure games). Just so you know: I don’t care that this isn’t a puzzle game. What I care about is getting invested in a game whose plot from its original source material can’t just be looked up on Google in 10 seconds. If everything that’s going to happen can be revealed with a couple mouse clicks, I feel like something is definitely wrong with the game in question. I genuinely was looking for my expectations to be subverted, and they were not. Although I rather enjoyed the art design (the people’s faces were brilliantly scary and had a unique clay-like quality to them), it still wasn’t enough to keep me interested for longer than its expected 25 minute length. Maybe a longer game with more paths to go down could be worthwhile.

Real player with 0.8 hrs in game

The Terrible Old Man on Steam

Stormhill Mystery: Family Shadows

Stormhill Mystery: Family Shadows

FYI: I got this game for free and played the developer’s edition of this game but that shall not influence my opinion on this game.

At first I thought this would be a hidden object adventure but der there isn' t a single classic hidden objects scene. The only “hidden” objects are morphing objects in almost every scene. You still gather items to use as you do in hidden object oder point & click adventures. Also, there are some interesting mini games.

It’s nice to see that the protagonist doesn’t throw away every item after a single use but that he keeps some for later. That’s quite refreshing since you could ALWAYS have a crowbar in these kind of games!

Real player with 10.1 hrs in game


Read More: Best Drama Hidden Object Games.


The game is worth the full price nevermind about random sales. Worthy purchase for 2D point&click games fans.

As you see from Store Page screens, the game takes place in a mansion. You know the myths that are surrounding old, dilapidated mansions? This game takes the gist from there with an enough level of plot (NOT like a cringey B-movie you stumble upon) and continue with various hidden-objects & puzzles. The important thing in here is that ALL those hardships inside the game to continue to story takes place as it would happen in REAL life. I mean, even those supernatural things exist in a realistic manner. The whole game is designed and written as if the story is real as well as the Mansion itself. The tasks you have to complete in game is kind of stuff that you expect to do if you REALLY had been there.

Real player with 8.4 hrs in game

Stormhill Mystery: Family Shadows on Steam

The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker

The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker

FMV games have made quite the comeback in the last few years, and The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker adds to the growing library of great titles in the genre. Of course, it’s not a perfect game (what game is?), but the quality of the writing, acting and production all place this murder mystery amid the cream of the FMV crop here on Steam.

Doctor Dekker has been violently murdered by one of his patients. As his replacement at the psychiatric clinic, you are now tasked with investigating his death while helping his patients navigate their various maladies. Toss in a little Cthulhu mythos, and you have a recipe for madness that’s altogether delightful to behold.

Real player with 63.2 hrs in game


Read More: Best Drama Detective Games.


I thought you knew what you were doing, Doctor.

Once you find the genres you love, you absolutely can not get enough of them. Looking through pre existing games to see which ones you will most likely like and seeing if more are going to be released. Craving more and more as you become more aware of what makes a good game and a bad game in that specific genre. FMV games are one of those genres I adore but also look into them as it can frequently not work out.

In The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker, you come in right after the events of a dramatic event. A psychiatrist by the name of Doctor Dekker was violently murdered in his office by one of his patients. But who? No one knows except the one that did the act. This is where you come in, not as some cop asking them questions but taking Dekker’s spot as a psychiatrist for the same patients he had. The same patients that hides the mysterious killer.

Real player with 47.9 hrs in game

The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker on Steam

Human Guise: Chapter Ⅰ

Human Guise: Chapter Ⅰ

A dark point&click adventure where you become Ada Thornton, an FBI agent. She and her partner will investigate a series of murders in a small town. They are both professionals, focused and well-prepared. But don’t forget that they are just people, with their own stories, secrets and fears.

Get to know the locals, interrogate them and remember that everyone you meet may not be who they seem at first sight.

Investigate the case, uncover the truth, whatever it may be, but remember - you may regret it, this investigation will irrevocably change the lives of the protagonists.

GAME FEATURES:

  • The game is based on H.P. Lovecraft’s universe

  • An elaborate, dark plot

  • An ambient black and white world blanketed in snow

  • The game is made by one person

Human Guise: Chapter Ⅰ on Steam

Marginalia

Marginalia

Super interesting. Didn’t quite get the story but I think it’s supposed to be vague in that regard. Really enjoyed the music, atmosphere and environment. I didn’t expect it to be inspiring but seeing the distant pink lights and hearing about an old family story really made me want to start brainstorming a new music project. I don’t know if any of these characters or events are real or based on real events, but I think researching it would remove its mystique, so I won’t. I played it again straight after finishing it (mainly because the ending dialogue cut out mid-way through) to see if there was anything I missed but I couldn’t find anything. A short fun little experience!

Real player with 1.6 hrs in game

There’s a moment early on when you’re following the traditional walking simulator flow of moving from exposition drop to exposition drop that you’ll see something… weird.

And there’s a moment where you’ll get lost in the woods and stumble upon something unpleasant but unremarked upon.

And there’s a moment where you’ll realize something is extremely- well… the less said about it the better.

I really enjoyed this interactive story. The writing and voice acting is excellent and the level design is incredible. You won’t understand why I say that at first but… you will eventually.

Real player with 1.3 hrs in game

Marginalia on Steam

Haunted by Evil

Haunted by Evil

«Haunted by Evil» — is a psycho-intellectual horror about a man who fights nightmares in reality using his madness and weapons.

This game contains 5 episodes.

Episode 1 - coming soon.

Episode 2 - TBD.

Episode 3 - TBD.

Episode 4 - TBD.

Episode 5 - TBD.

Plunge into a mysterious world of an imaginary city, Summerveil, in Eastern Virginia (USA).

Patrick has been seeing more and more nightmares recently. The last one was such a real nightmare that he woke up covered in bruises and scratches.

Patrick is a usual frontend developer at the IT company U.I.T.S. He constantly works overtime. He suspects that maybe he just needs a usual vacation to come around. He thinks that all the nightmares may be a sort of mental disorder and the wounds are the result of his uncontrolled movement while sleeping.

But the events become more terrifying when a long forgotten unsolved case about people disappearing becomes known. Patrick starts seeing things that people in their right mind can’t see. Is it a usual schizophrenia or interference of some evil forces?

You have to deal with these events as well as decide your fate and a lot of other people’s fates in Summerveil and maybe in the whole world…

  • Plunge into an uneasy life of the IT worker who rents a flat on the city outskirts;

  • Get to know your colleagues more, team up solving tasks at work and get on well with them outside of work;

  • Investigate every corner of mysterious and at the first sight unremarkable city Summerveil;

  • Try not to lose your sanity while fighting with your and other people’s nightmares;

  • Fight a huge number of monsters in extensive/large/wide/huge worlds;

  • Solve a lot of puzzles to find your way out of nightmares;

  • Try to find out if somebody is behind these mysterious events…

It’s all in your hands!

Features:

  • Fascinating and exciting plot;

  • Travelling into your personal nightmares and other people’s nightmares;

  • Unique system of character’s “sanity” which will make your game more difficult or maybe you’ll get some benefit out of it;

  • A huge variety of monsters and their special features which also include behaviour;

  • Weapon range for fighting evil forces;

  • Influence on other people’s fates and the change of story because of your choice while playing;

  • Wonderful music and sound effects that emphasize game’s atmosphere and range from emotional to terrifying.

Haunted by Evil on Steam

Arkhangel: The House of the Seven Stars

Arkhangel: The House of the Seven Stars

So far I have read the equivalent of a 300 page book and I’m only an hour in. I don’t mind that there aren’t any voice actors. What bothers me is that every place our hero goes, he “finds” a stack of books and instead of going about his business, decides to pick each one up and read from it. I understand there’s a theme to the books, but why would you kick off a game with this much reading? Our hero goes into the library where there are about 20 shelves filled with books. I’m not exaggerating when I say that he picks a book from each one of the shelves and reads about 3-5 paragraphs from each book. Then he goes around and reads books on stands too. I love to read but today I decided to play a game instead of reading a book. Unfortunately, the game disagreed with me and made me read a book anyway.

Real player with 15.0 hrs in game

Arkhangel: The House of the Seven Stars is a beautifully great haunting Lovecraftian game; okay let’s talk about the story.

It’s a cold wintery day as Michael Kearney is on a train with his wife Lily and their daughter Gabrielle as they head to their new life in the little town of Haven, where they can put all their troubles behind them and start anew.

But Michael has been having strange dreams about dark waters and an unknown ancient evil resting beneath the cold waves, what could it mean? Is it just anxiety or is it something else. Whatever it is if Michael is not careful it could destroy his whole world.

Real player with 11.5 hrs in game

Arkhangel: The House of the Seven Stars on Steam

Blackout: The Darkest Night

Blackout: The Darkest Night

Cool game if you like choose your own adventures.

Real player with 6.2 hrs in game

It has my recommendation for solid writing and an intriguing little mystery, but the emphasis is on little.

Maybe this was my bad luck, but I happened to get to the bottom of the mystery on my first playthrough, about 40 minutes in. I’ve played through it a few more times since then and while it’s possible I’ve missed some side stories, and I haven’t gotten a halfway “good” ending yet, without the central mystery to drive the plot my willingness to keep playing is mostly gone. Most branching narrative games in this vein lock the True Ending type story behind a few playthroughs for a reason.

Real player with 4.0 hrs in game

Blackout: The Darkest Night on Steam

Midnight Scenes Episode 2 (Special Edition)

Midnight Scenes Episode 2 (Special Edition)

I really like this series. After ‘The Highway’, this game is another Twilight zone inspired point ‘n click game. It’s very short, but don’t let that stop you from playing this. The artwork, music, story is great and it really plays as a twilight zone episode. I hope the developer makes more of these games… and maybe in the future he can bundle them in one game with a overarching storyline like tales from the crypt.

Real player with 0.8 hrs in game

I had played this one last night and I saw major improvements on the developers part, what started off as a sad story quickly takes a turn for the worst for our character. I truely had fun with this one and was looking forward to playing the next one

Real player with 0.8 hrs in game

Midnight Scenes Episode 2 (Special Edition) on Steam

Decarnation

Decarnation

Where do you run when the monsters are chasing you from inside your mind?

Explore a haunting world, both real and metaphorical, and find the keys needed to battle inner and outer monsters. Get caught up in an intensely emotional story unfolding in a malignant, elaborate setting. Experience diverse gameplay featuring twisted puzzles, threatening creatures, lovecraftian environments, and metaphorical minigames.

Decarnation takes inspiration from the best 2D adventure-horror and survival-horror games from the past eras, as well as cult movies from Satoshi Kon (Perfect Blue) and David Lynch (Mulholland Drive).

Paris, 1990. Gloria is at the end of her rope. A struggling cabaret dancer dealing with the fraying of her relationships, career, and self-esteem, she takes on a new artistic endeavor sponsored by a mysterious benefactor. Would the generous proposal be Gloria’s lucky break, or something worse?

A survival story with layered psychological stakes, Decarnation explores the contrast between battling limitations in the physical realm, and the subconscious landscapes one can’t escape.

Decarnation is an emotional, startling story-driven experience that will keep you on your toes until the very end.

Decarnation mixes traditional survival horror elements (cryptic puzzle to solve, inhospitable environments to explore, lethal predators to avoid, terrifying boss to defeat, etc.) with a wide variety of symbolic minigames (puzzles, reflexes, rhythm, etc.) accounting for real life situations (performing a cabaret show on stage) or metaphorical ones.

Once uncovered, key elements of Gloria’s life aid her in defeating monsters in her dreams in unique battles that marry the grotesque and the sublime to represent her struggle for survival. Overcoming challenges in her dreams strengthens Gloria against real life difficulties, and her real life issues create new challenges in her dreams.

Decarnation on Steam