I have mixed feelings about this game. It is a point-and-click puzzler in the style of a Rusty Lake title but lacks the macabre elements that make that franchise so engaging. Simple artwork, still scenes with occasional animation, and a brief storyline. This is complemented by soothing background music and nicely done narration. The story is familiar. You receive a letter and a key in the mail and proceed to a location to solve a mystery.

Unknown Ravenfield is a small environment with less than 10 primary scenes to explore. You move between scenes by clicking on directional arrows and items of interest are indicated by a change in the cursor. Inventory is easily accessed and examined, and items are used by dragging and dropping. A brief tutorial is provided when you start a new game.

The initial puzzles are straight-forward and then the difficulty level increases. There are several mechanical puzzles, including a slider (which is my least favorite). Most require interpreting patterns to find codes or retrieve keys. I did not find the clues intuitive at all, despite a full solution walkthrough posted by the developer. Usually, I am challenged by obtuse puzzles. In Unknown Ravenfield, I felt set up to fail. The game took the developer 30 minutes to solve on YouTube. For me, it took almost 4 hours. Perhaps I am less smart than I would like to think, because I gave up and watched the walkthrough for several puzzles.

Achievements are all story related and finishing the game results in a perfect score. There is no menu. The game is played in a window which can be expanded to full screen. Your progress is auto saved on exit. You exit the game by closing the window.

The story concludes within the game but leaves a path open for future installments. I admit that I remain a bit lost on some of the details in the ending. However, without a way to reload the final section, I am not willing to replay the entire game for clarification.

If you enjoy challenging point-and-click mysteries that are a tad light on story but heavy on puzzles, then Unknown Ravenfield may be just right for you.

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