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Poor little Abigail Blackwood fell out of a window at 12 years old and died in 1902, so when she woke up as a small wisp of a soul above her gravestone much, much later, you can understand her confusion. Naturally, the first thing she does is go home in search of her parents and her sister Anne, but the Blackwood manor is… strange now. The wallpaper is dirty and cracked, strange sigils and symbols are marked on walls and doorways, iron metal sheets are nailed into walls, and the house is much, much bigger than little Abigail remembers. She can’t find her family, but she’s not alone. A large white raven claims to be a demon named Malphas, and they know your sister quite well, apparently…
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3469664716
6-9 hours to complete, Goetia is a point-and-click puzzle game set in a giant manor and its surrounding locations. As you progress through the game, you will slowly unlock more rooms to explore and uncover more of the storyline. While most of the puzzles were fairly straightforward, the few that were difficult were due to vague objectives and unclear directions, since you can re-read any notes and papers you previously discovered by simply pausing the game and looking at your Codex, conveniently sorted by areas. Overall, it’s a pretty solid game I don’t mind recommending, the biggest downside to Goetia is that you’re probably going to need to look at a guide to finish it.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3469678581

I LOVED this game! The art is stunning, the story was so intriguing, and the puzzles were a great variety of difficulty. I was so captivated by this game and taken surprise with that plot twist. I will definitely replay it sometime, and I hope the second game is just as fun!

Well, let's start with the good points. The graphics and atmosphere are fantastic. Everything looks stunning. This is easily the game's strongest point. The story is okay, although I was never able to get too into it. But this game ends up destroying itself with absolutely godawful design in various ways.

First, the story. Like I said, it's okay... I guess. Except that it throws a ton of names at you with no faces to associate them with, so for half the game I hardly had any idea who anyone was. It’s a lot harder to get immersed in the story when all I’m thinking is, “Who was that guy again?” I also found a lot of the notes rather difficult to read, with small and somewhat faded handwritten fonts, which did not help my immersion in the story.

Then there's the overall game design. Waaaay too many locations at once, which is even more overwhelming given that there's no quick-travel feature. Just the manor alone is huge and a massive pain to navigate, especially when you're possessing objects, because oh yeah, you don't have an inventory, you have to pick up the objects and take them to different locations. You, as a ghost, can travel through walls, but the objects can't, which makes it rather frustrating to carry them throughout the manor. The "possessing objects" idea is not bad and might have worked for a game that kept itself more contained, but with how expansive the game is, I really don't want to spend half an hour trying to find a room that I remember seeing an object in and then painstakingly transporting it to another room only for it to be the wrong solution. I also don't want to drop objects in random locations because then I'd never find them again when I inevitably have to look up a walkthrough for the game's impossible puzzles. So basically, I had little motivation to experiment much on my own.

And then there's the puzzles, some of the most ridiculously obtuse I've encountered. If you can beat this game without a walkthrough, I don't believe you. Also, you need to have a degree in music theory because the devs expect you to have a perfect ear for tones. Possibly the worst music puzzle I've ever seen, and I hate music puzzles in general.

What a shame, because the graphics are so stunning and the story had promise.

Unique, enthralling, and dramatic. The Goetia is a breath of fresh air among computer games that follow the same formulas over and over again. Trapped by Malphus, a Goetia deamon, Abigail must figure out who she is and escape. The player takes her through the whole thrilling story as she uncovers the secrets of her family and Blackwood manor. A highly developed gothic horror story that fixates on every detail. The mystery cemented into this game will keep the player guessing until the end. Rated 9 out of 10.

Has a total of 6 trading cards.

total trash

It's a fine adventure.

The game gives the impression of horror but is actually a mystery.

Game *cannot* be completed without resorting to a walkthrough or writing a PhD thesis.

Story is convoluted.

I really enjoyed this game.

Immersive atmosphere from the environments to sounds, journal and general art.
The style is consistent and it's nice to see the notes looking hand written instead of typed which also adds to immersiveness. Though I did notice a few bits which could have used a bit more proofreading.

The puzzles in this game are more difficult and creative than standard point and click and/or puzzle games which was very refreshing. I liked being able to figure out a lock code by finding a vague clue and then combining about 3 different elements in another document to figure it out instead of finding a piece of paper in another room with the code written on it.

I saw someone mention there is no fast travel option, but there is - it's mentioned in the first few screens of the game and does make getting around between the locations easier as there's multiple travel points in each area. You can't fast travel with objects though, however I found that all usable objects had their uses nearby and usually fairly understandable, with some exceptions but once you realise that, there is no need to deal with the frustration of carrying objects unnecessarily far away for no reason.

The only real complaint I have is not in the difficulty of the puzzles but that 2 or 3 just seemed unfair. One which didn't seem to have any reason to it and potentially trial and error (which I hate), one which had a component which made no sense, and the one most people complain about which requires an ability to differentiate a sequence of different tones which sounded a little bit too similar. I'm not tone deaf but that was too difficult for my musical listening ability.

Got immersed in the story so quick even after quitting and picking up again a year later. Some puzzles though are wicked hard. Like how am I supposed to know the exact astrology symbol with the amount of brush strokes that total to pi that you can assign to the constellation stars