Pale Cachexia
Beautiful Sadness
Lonely. This is the first word that greets you when you start Pale Cachexia. Alone in the dark wood. The contrast between forest’s spring awakening and “ghostly gloom” of the night, with “rustling sounds of crickets”, nocturnal creatures and “ominous howls”, the feeling that someone is breathing right behind you while you venture among the endless unmoving trees - all set the mood of the VN right from the start and mark it as decidedly Gothic and Romanticist. With a sense of crippling loneliness and smallness the main character Esther stumbles through this vast, misty forest in search of a cure for her terminal illness, and finds herself in a gloomy Gothic manor, almost like she just stepped into a dream.
– Real player with 12.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Gothic Dark Fantasy Games.
Short Review:
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Kinetic visual novel (no choices)
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Complexity in story and characters
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Heavy topics of death, illness, grief, guilt, and loneliness
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Somewhat open ending
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Nice art, including unlockables
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Soundtrack that perfectly enhances mood
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Overall an atmospheric, emotional story I enjoyed!
Full Review:
What an atmospheric, emotionally complex story. This kinetic novel (visual novel without any choices) has elements of horror and fantasy, and there are some creepy parts, but it’s mostly mysterious and melancholic, dealing with the heavy topics of death/dying, illness, grief, guilt, and loneliness.
– Real player with 8.7 hrs in game
Red Embrace: Mezzanine
Red Embrace: Mezzanine is a short (~1 hour or even less) free visual novel with point-&click elements, 2 endings rewarded with 2 achs. Unfortunately, for now the game has limited features, so those achs won’t appear on steam profile((
I’m sure even if someone didn’t play Red Embrace or Red Embrace: Hollywood the game will be interesting enough. I have almost nothing to complain about: visuals are great, music is perfect to set that gloomy mood, the writing is so potent dragging you deep into that dark atmosphere. That’s really amazing how that short story, maybe not even the whole story but some kind of prologue for the future game, can awake such powerful emotions. Really impressive!
– Real player with 3.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Gothic Point & Click Games.
As usual, fine. As usual, there is a light sadness after passing the game. And not only because the story itself is sad, because it concerns loneliness, loss and hopelessness, but because it shows us what we dream about at some point. We all probably dreamed that on some day someone (and preferably some handsome guy) would offer us to change our lives. But this did not happen.
It’s very nice that the story echoes Red Embrace: Hollywood. I am very glad that I somehow found Argent Games.
Как обычно, прекрасно. Как обычно, после прохождения игры возникает легкая грусть. И не только потому, что сама история печальна, ведь она касается одиночества, потери и безнадежности, но и потому, что она показывает нам, о чем мы мечтаем в какой-то момент. Мы все, наверное, мечтали, что когда-нибудь кто-нибудь (и желательно какой-нибудь красавчик) предложит нам изменить нашу жизнь. Но этого не произошло.
– Real player with 2.9 hrs in game
Dante’s Hotel
Dante’s Hotel is a first-person psychological horror game.
Assume the role of Dante, a soul in search of redemption and experience every
battle and terrifying events up-close, through a first-person perspective.
Explore a mysterious ever-changing hotel in a reinterpretation of Dante Alighieri’s epic poem (The Divine Comedy), and enjoy a genuinely terrifying experience.
Experience survival horror like never before.
You’ll wander through dark corridors, explore every room and get lost in endless mazes. This twisted environment is full of lost and demonic souls.
Read More: Best Gothic Action Games.
Dreamer
An engaging story that made me cry… but I still don’t know how it ends.
– Real player with 4.3 hrs in game
Alright. Since this game got an update ,I deleted my old review and I’m gonna make a new one.
First things first: The game has a nice unique look that I like a lot. The music is pretty too and is fitting for the short cute story.
When I first played the game I ran into an issue I couldn’t fix. Meanwhile I also discovered that the game wouldn’t save if you quit it. I was very pleased when I saw, that the developer saw my review. The update improved the game and i liked the changes. I played the game again and finished it.
– Real player with 3.4 hrs in game
ZLO
Go in search of the ultimate evil!
Cast out evil spirits with the word of God and the cross.
Prepare for the horror that lurks in this forest and uncover the mystery of the priest protagonist.
Psychological horror inspired by the Silent Hill series and movies like The Exorcist, The Blair Witch Project and many others.
Zlo is a story-driven horror adventure game.
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Collect notes;
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Exorcise evil spirits;
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Explore atmospheric locations;
If On A Winter’s Night, Four Travelers
This was a wonderful point and click experience. The pixel art is really beautifully done, great story telling, fun puzzles. I will definitely be purchasing the supporter pack. Great job and thanks 3
☾ DIFFICULTY ☾
🔲 Easy
✅ You have to use your brain
🔲 Normal
🔲 Hard
🔲 Dark Souls
☾ GRAPHICS ☾
🔲 Bad
🔲 Okay
🔲 Good
✅ Beautiful
🔲 Masterpiece
☾ MUSIC ☾
🔲 Bad
🔲 Not special
🔲 Good
✅ Excellent
🔲 Best
☾ STORY ☾
🔲 No Story
🔲 Bad
🔲 Average
🔲 Good
✅ Very Rich
☾ PRICE ☾
🔲 Perfect price
✅ Cheap (It’s free!)
– Real player with 6.9 hrs in game
“If on a winter’s night a traveler, outside the town of Malbork, leaning from the steep slope without fear of wind or vertigo, looks down in the gathering shadow in a network of lines that enlace, in a network of lines that intersect, on the carpet of leaves illuminated by the moon around an empty grave - What story down there awaits its end? - he asks, anxious to hear the story.”
“If on a Winter’s night, a traveler” is a novel by Italo Calvino and possibly one of the greatest italian literary works published in the last two centuries. Each chapter consists of the beginning of a new novel, in a search for the pleasure of reading.
– Real player with 5.1 hrs in game
Notch - The Innocent LunA: Eclipsed SinnerS
Notch - The Innocent LunA: Eclipsed SinnerS is the first Angels Blue novel published on Steam, and a fairly solid entry at that. Despite being clearly inspired by Higurashi When They Cry, the intriguing story, imaginative ideas and gorgeous artwork make up for a somewhat shaky translation.
The story opens with Yuhito Asakawa trapped in a dream-like world filled with death and horror. He discovers his childhood sweetheart amidst the mayhem and attempts to escape together, only to end up lost and alone before he awakens from what was only a nightmare. He soon realizes that the nightmare may not have ended as young, mutilated girls begin appearing throughout town. Determined to catch the murderer, his pursuit will lead him on a nightmarish journey that will change his understanding of the peaceful world he’s always known.
– Real player with 31.2 hrs in game
Memories are so vulnerable in the face of cruel reality. What is goodness? What is evil? What is love? What is hatred? Your world has become an inverted image in my dream…
Notch - The Innocent LunA: Eclipsed SinnerS is a Chinese Visual Novel that tells the tales of broken forms, iron wills and unbearable truths. Through my many experiences with either emotional, philosophical or psychological narrations in visual novels, I’ve rarely felt thoroughly shaken until this one little tale of loss and misunderstanding…
– Real player with 30.7 hrs in game
Saint Kotar
It’s an interesting game, and has many excellent points. But all in all I can only give it a weak recommendation.
Pros:
–Excellent, dark art style.
–Very atmospheric.
–Subtle but fitting music, with a couple of tracks that are so good that I find myself excited for the soundtrack.
–Extremely dark, in a way that few games are willing to go.
–I played through it twice and generally enjoyed the experience both times.
Cons:
–Extremely thin story that often doesn’t make sense. A huge chunk of the game is spent wondering why your sister would have ever had you all come here. Having played through the game twice, I find myself still unable to answer that. Possibly the answer is, “Actually, she didn’t.” But if that’s the correct answer, a HUGE amount of story that fleshes out how the character who did knew to do that and why they’d want to just isn’t in the game (but absolutely should be).
– Real player with 41.6 hrs in game
Full disclosure: I backed this game’s Kickstarter and have reviewed it for the Croatian gaming portal FFA. You can find the Croatian review here . This is an abbreviated version of that review.
Saint Kotar is a traditional p’n’c adventure game trying its best to fit in with the rest of the adventure greats. It plays like most standard examples in the genre - you explore a variety of locations, examine and interact with objects, talk with people quite a bit and try to piece together what exactly is going on.
– Real player with 28.2 hrs in game
Stitched
+ Atmosphere and tension, courtesy of the “fog of war”.
+ Jump scares are just enough to keep you paranoid but not so much that they’re annoying (subjective)
+ Health/Fright system gives you a little bit of leeway by slowly recovering to 70% if it gets too high (100% = Game Over). That way, you still can’t blunder your way through the game, removing all the tension, yet you’re not completely screwed if you run out of meds. Adds an additional layer of strategy and risk vs. reward: Use up more meds for a better health buffer when needed? Or risk a higher chance of dying for now to save up on meds?
– Real player with 19.8 hrs in game
A fun indie horror game starring a girl who wakes up in a cursed doll factory, stitched up like a doll, herself. To escape, you must solve a bunch of really enjoyable puzzles. Most of these puzzles involve useful clues you can find, many of which are thankfully displayed onscreen when it comes time to solve them. Color puzzles are often labelled, which is good if you’re colorblind. A few puzzles had me stumped (I’m not good at word jumbles), and I’m pretty sure there was one optional puzzle that I could never figure out. For the record, there are other puzzle types besides the ones I just mentioned.
– Real player with 18.1 hrs in game
The Swine
How does this game have good ratings ? I love the horror genre, but they completely dropped the ball on this one . By the end of it I thought to myself , that’s it ? Thankfully it was only 1.99. The graphics on the other hand are top notch and if they would have taken a different route this could have been a fantastic game . Going into it it , I was hoping it was going to be like Granny or Evil Nun , 2 of of my fav hide and seek horror games, but the potential was wasted on a mediocre plot that’s not unique and just wasn’t fun to play . It’s a walking sim , which I actually like if there’s more exploration involved, but most of the time the only thing you’re doing is picking up books laid out through the house and picking up tarot cards … yep that’s the whole game . Terrible
– Real player with 6.0 hrs in game
Not bad, and not very good either.
This is a short, cheap walking simulator in a house in rural America that has a small Texas Chainsaw Massacre vibe to it.
You go about your life while your wife is stuck in the bathroom and “intruders” slowly disorient your household, with excellent visuals and decent sound. The main problem is that this game is very short and has only one or two solid jump scares and then it ends! Not much else to it… examining drawers and classic books is really the only side part to this game.
– Real player with 3.6 hrs in game