Self described as a "disturbing first person Lovecraftian horror adventure," after about 2 hours of play I can say that seems fairly apt.
You are a paranormal investigator, who arrives in a forest to find the other two members of his team missing and a body nearby. Shortly after, a bright light appears in the sky and the game 'rewinds' 24 hours. To an office, where a bit of exploration will set you on the path to the residence of the Thorne brothers and the game proper begins.
As noted it plays in the first person, utlising both the mouse and the keyboard. Use the mouse to interact with the world, to look around and to 'steer' your character and the keyboard for everything else. A small white dot centre of screen represents your curser and slightly larger white circles in the environment indicates something to interact with. Just click and see what happens; maybe gather the item, read a note, zoom in for a closer look or simply examine and put back down. There is a lot to do, much of it to add depth, but some of it essential.
Relevant notes you pick up will automatically go into your journal where they can be reviewed at any time. Inventory items will be used automatically if you have the right one, and to date I have only ever had a single item at any time. I quite like this approach, as it allows you to get on with things without the need to quiz the inventory.
It is a big world even in the early stages, and a fair chunk of my playtime has been scouring the locations for needed items. I am minded to go everywhere anyway when I start a game, but missing an item comes with a degree of hopeful re-exploration.
It looks and sounds excellent, the lighting being particularly impressive, although there is little movement in the game world. What there is though is more impactful as a result.
I am aware that there are things that can kill me, and whilst my only fatality to date has been the result of falling in a hole, the potential hostility of the environment has been apparent more than once. I am also aware that stealth will be a factor, but can't tell you anything more about that yet. I can tell you that you can choose to play on Easy, so hopefully that will assist, and that if you die you will start again from the most recent save point.
In that regard, the game exclusively autosaves and not on exit. How frustrating that might become when I have to avoid death remains to be seen.
More to come when I have moved on.
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Steam shows I have almost 170 hours played in this game and somehow I still have half of the coins they give you for hints and skips. I only used them one time for a skip earlier on in the game. I never paid for any but I did look at some guides/videos here and there.
Draclvr and flotsam.
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