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Strangeland goes out of its strategy to persuade you you’ve fallen off your chair and woken up within the 90s.
It emulates the dreamlike high quality and slightly-stilted animation that characterised Harvester, I Have No Mouth, and I Should Scream and different point-and-click adventures of the period. In contrast to the previous, it’s not drenched in gore – however it’s nonetheless endearingly unsettling.
Your anonymous, wild-eyed protagonist wakes up in a weird realm, the titular Strangeland, and after stepping by a wise-cracking clown’s big mouth leads to a twisted funfair. Granted, “twisted funfair” isn’t probably the most unique setting for an journey recreation however Strangeland’s world is, er, unusual sufficient to make it stand out, and the funfair components (for probably the most half, not less than) take a backseat.
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As a substitute, Strangeland is an off-putting gothic endeavour; the sort of recreation you’d get in case you locked Tim Burton, H.R. Giger and Monkey Island’s Ron Gilbert in a room and informed them to get to work. Entrance clown apart, you encounter a pair of ravens, a mysterious, eyeless outdated males, a sentient furnace and a number of different oddballs. Every of them has one thing to say about your predicament – although whether or not you may belief them, or in the event that they’re even actual, is fully up for grabs.
Strangeland isn’t an enormous, realm-spanning epic; it’ll take you 4 to 5 hours to finish it, with a creator commentary choice serving as an incentive to dive again in. However simply pottering round, gawping on the surroundings and characters, letting the eerie soundtrack move into your ears, is sweet for a couple of minutes leisure.
It’s additionally useful for determining the way you’re going to make headway on this odd world. Why is a scribe writing down all the pieces that raven says? And the way can use that to your benefit? Many of the puzzles (which embody each object gathering and logic puzzles) are completely pitched, and pleasingly satisfying to unravel. Despite the fact that there’s a dreamlike high quality to the world, the options to those conundrums are by no means obtuse. Odd, actually – you’ll end up gathering starfish vomit at one level – however there was just one time I felt like I’d hit a brick wall. And, because it seems, it was usually because I’d assumed objects may solely be used for one single puzzle.
Fixing puzzles is satisfying not simply due to the sense of accomplishment however as a result of, as a rule, you get a tantalising glimpse of the “fact” behind your harried character’s trials. I groaned internally once I noticed my protagonist was carrying a straitjacket; however mercifully the sport doesn’t go down the apparent “it was all in your head” route. There are a few character voices that really feel somewhat weak however a lot of the roles, the principle character included, are very good.
You continue to may discover Strangeland’s conclusion somewhat too ambiguous, although. Nonetheless your ending pans out (there are small variations) you’ll find yourself scratching your head somewhat. I don’t thoughts strolling out of a film theatre with questions, in order that didn’t actually hassle me. I did, nevertheless, wish to see extra of Strangeland‘s stand-out characters. I’d pay good cash for a standalone chapter that explores the mermaid’s backstory, for instance.
Whether or not or not you discover the vacation spot passable, Strangeland’s journey is a pleasure. It dips into the grotesque with out getting too in-your-face, and regardless of some downbeat and sometimes distressing themes, it’s uplifting in all the fitting locations.
Strangeland Assessment: GameSpew’s Rating
This assessment of Strangeland was facilitated by a assessment code offered by the writer. It’s out there on PC.
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