I'm always delighted to see more horror games being made available on Steam. One that really appeals because of its intimidating, but very charming art style.

A pleasant surprise to see the level of customization the game has, considering that most games made in the Ren'py engine don't go that far. Another pleasant surprise would be to see an erotic publisher publish something outside their area of "pleasure". *wink wink*

Jokes aside, I think it's fantastic what they've done, and I hope they keep doing it, because if it wasn't for them, I'd probably never discover this hidden-gem.

This review was submitted for Arcane Burajiru™

Analise em Português aqui.

Story

We follow the story of Wickeina Gestalt where she has just moved into her new house that belonged to an elderly woman who recently passed away. Unfortunately, it's not a house like any other, the house is haunted by ghosts, or in Wicke's words, something much older than ghosts.

Thus we observe Wicke's day-to-day life in her new home and what she faces before and after arriving home from her job, which she hates. But she only has five days before a powerful entity arrives.

The mere fact that we can witness the horrors that this supposedly haunted house will offer us already caught my attention. I really liked the way the story is told, there are parts that don't really explain what it is or why it's happening, but I think that's part of the charm of the game itself.

What I liked most was how the days are separated, on the first we have the opportunity to explore the house, then on the second we are introduced to the entities that reside there. This only continues until the fourth day, since the fifth day we face the great 'insect' that has come to cleanse our house of the evil infesting it.

The fact that you have three days to experience everything the house has to offer is quite striking, especially when you realize that each day there are three events, which are randomized for each game. It's a well-written and enjoyable story, with a bit of humor in certain parts, such as Emma's scenario, which gives the story a nice variation.

Gameplay

Each day you have objectives to accomplish in the game, most of which will be to find items for rituals or to defeat the entities of the house, while in others you have puzzles to solve.

In some scenarios you'll have to think carefully about which path to take before the entity gets strong enough to kick you out of the house for a day. Other scenarios only have a time limit until the monster finds you... Or you become one.

Puzzles also are featured heavily in the game, and they're very good by the way, not easy, but not difficult either. I'm usually terrible at puzzles, I can stay solving a simple puzzle for an hour, but I find that some puzzles don't make much sense...

I don't want to give away spoilers, but... I can't see the connection between something that hates rats and a piece of salmon, it might be due to the language barrier, since riddles are used between the puzzles, and I'm not so used to some English words.

There are other parts where the puzzle tries to confuse you, such as the codes in the Eternity scenario where one code has the number one, and the other the number two, making you confuse which order to put it in.

It would be better to have a drawing of where you found the codes, instead of numbers that can be confusing at the time. As I've already said, I'm pretty bad at puzzles, so in the end it doesn't feel like a big deal.

Graphics

What attracted me the most was the graphics, as always. It has this strangeness that makes you feel uneasy at every moment of the game, you really don't know what to expect as the game goes on. Both the artwork and the little jumpscares left a very terrifying and surreal atmosphere while playing.

The worst thing is that at certain times the game doesn't scare you right away, most of it is very predictable and you don't get scared, but at other times everything is perfect, as if you were really there.

The entities are very well done actually, nothing very creative to the point of being close to the creativity of Junji-Ito or similar, but they give a great charm to everything around, something expected to see in that house, rather. I thought it was nice that there was a small reference to The Mandela Catalogue in one of the scenes as well.

Audio

What disappointed me most was the fact that the music didn't stand out a lot at all in the game. This can be ignored, since silence is what makes the house so morbid. The ones that are in the game are good and do their job well. What was disappointing was that there were plenty of opportunities for some eerie music. I really liked Henry Hall's radio theme, it was just perfect!

What really stands out are the sound effects. What I loved most is that many of them don't scare you, but give you a disgusting discomfort. Every time an entity appeared, I felt like there was a something stroking my back, I always had to look behind me to be sure haha.

Verdict

The aim here is not to scare you, but to make you feel uncomfortable. Everything is perfect, the artwork is a little strange, but it's very angelic. The puzzles are a bit confusing, but in a way they're well thought out. It doesn't have a fantastic story, but it's a very interesting and well-written one.

I only noticed 2 small words that seem to be incomplete, but apart from that everything is well formed. A good purchase if you want to have a companion in the back of your head while you play. It's nice that the game has Easter eggs, but it's a shame they're not very active in the game.

If you're going to read everything the game has to offer, you'll spend a good few hours playing, maybe 5-6 hours. If you're going to complete the game, it might take a little longer. A fair price for the amount of content it has to offer, at least on my coin (BRL).

Score:
7.5

Strong Points:

+ Attractive and well-written story.
+ Characters like Emma are very charismatic.
+ Random events each day.
+ Art makes the game what it is.
+ Bizarre and disturbing sound effects.
+ Achievements :)
+ Emma
+ The uncle that gives hints is very charismatic :p

Weak Points:

- Very well-done puzzles, but confusing.
- No hints in the sigils puzzle on Emma's Scenario
- Lack of music in certain parts that should have it.
- Some achievements seem to be a bit buggy.
- Small bug where Emma returns to the living room if her dialogs are exhausted.

Note: Some positive/negative points do not affect the final grade. Some have been placed here because they are not very important/necessary in themselves.

Note²: The review has been translated from my original review written in Portuguese (Brazil). Even though I did my best to correct and convert some slangs used, I'm sorry if something looks sloppy or amiss.

Some not important parts where removed from the review, since I couldn't post everything...

04/16/24: There seems to be a random bug where it erases all your achievements, so if you're just going to buy it for them, it's better to wait for them to fix it.

As with all reviews, this is my opinion on what I thought of the game. If you find it interesting, I recommend you buy and play it to see if it's worth it or not.

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The events in the game are very rich, with terrifying visuals formed by the black-and-white art style, mild jump scares, and the overall eerie and unsettling sound effects, which work incredibly well together. The gameplay is essentially a mix of click-based adventure and deduction. Additionally, each day's random events correspond to a set of "puzzles," some of which are straightforward while others are quite challenging and not easy to understand. The game folder includes an official guide, allowing players to reach the true ending without spoilers, but discovering other endings requires exploration. It's a highly replayable game, with the first playthrough taking only about half an hour, but likely ending in failure. There are numerous Easter eggs in the game that require repeating certain actions to uncover.

Love the black & white visual design!
Rlly gives the horror vibe🖤🖤🖤
Some puzzles were a little hard
But it was fun to solve lol
Also love the chat between Wicke and Emma XX

I like the eerie atmosphere of this game.

spooky. love the art style

Interesting puzzles, great atmosphere. Love the game!

This is a solid point-and-click horror game with a ton of replay value! Making different choices in game allows you different paths and different endings. The theme is enjoyably creepy, a psychological thriller that includes a few jump-scare opportunities. The puzzles make you think; pay attention to the clues and look around everywhere in the house for more content! I've already played it over again once to see what would happen with different choices and I'm about to jump into a third playthrough to explore different endings!

It scared me...( ´ •̥ × •̥ ` )

THIS GAME IS AMAZING I'VE ONLY GOTTEN TWO ENDINGS BUT IT'S STILL ONE OF THE COOLEST HORROR/PUZZLE GAMES I'VE PLAYED I CAN'T RECOMMEND IT ENOUGH :) 10/10 For me

Time limit that doesn't stop ticking during dialog.