The town of Innsmouth and its inhabitants feel realized and fleshed out enough. Where The Innsmouth Case really shines is it’s library of locations, responses, and actions in this relatively short story. Shall you check in to your hotel and get that over with? Or maybe head straight to the police station and get to work? Or even meander around town and see what you’ll get yourself into? The choice is yours and one thing will lead to another. There are many places and people to interact with. Things feel off right from the get go, which makes you feel unwelcomed, yet motivated. Once you arrive, you’ll familiarize yourself with a rather typical “strange people in a small town” atmosphere. Though you planned to drink and wallow in squalor all weekend, money talks, so off you go. You grudgingly accept and leave your home of Boston to investigate the disappearance of a rather strange looking child in the fictional town of Innsmouth. You play as a rather unkempt, self-employed detective whom gets a last minute case before the weekend comes. The text isn’t too dragged out and there are a plethora of endings which yield replay value. If you’re new to the genre, The Innsmouth Case welcomes you with open arms. An eerily suspicious small town vibe plagues the atmosphere and it’s only a matter of time before things get real, for lack of a better phrase. Visit Innsmouth in attempt to investigate a missing child and return unscathed. Lovecraft and brings a visual novel experience where your choices matter. Robot Pumpkin Games channels their inner H.P. Various checkpoints provide additional aid by organizing your search by area.It’s time to pack your notepad and detective shades. Vivid descriptions and cheeky jokes take a backseat to the ending collect-a-thon. The game quickly devolves into a string of key spam and mouse clicks. Hitting ESC lets you skip to the next choice, and you’ll find yourself doing so a lot. The endless deluge of text becomes a barrier between you and that one choice you didn’t make. Decisions come at you fast, but only because you’re meant to keep trialing options in hopes of accessing a new branch in the story. Dozens upon dozens of playthroughs, learning something new each time, is the only way to play. It features a branching narrative that encourages trial and error. Rational problem solving is not the name of the game The Innsmouth Case prefers a more chaotic approach. The most trivial options could lead to the most absurd outcomes, and the most daunting forks in the road may be nothing more than illusions. It’s difficult to gauge the significance of choices as they become available. The Cthulhu mythos inspires the setting, environments, and conflict, yet no short stories could predict this intrepid detective’s moves. The many decisions you’re tasked with making reflect the flippant nature of the protagonist. The humor dilutes the horror sections free from comedy fail to make a case for themselves. No matter how dire the situation, a random quip will always weasel its way in. The game effortlessly switches between elegant, foreboding descriptions and humorous naiveté, though the latter dominates the story. The protagonist, with their peculiar lens on life, never fails to find the right words for their surroundings. Although the game isn’t without stylish art and animations, its evocative, colorful writing is what brings Innsmouth to life. Armed with existential dread and a silver tongue, the brave/cowardly hero must battle the town’s hostile denizens. She promises a pretty penny for the safe return of her daughter, and our struggling detective is in no position to refuse. The pen is mightier than the swordĪ down-on-their-luck detective finds themselves on a trip to the titular town at the behest of a mysterious woman. Its value is in its quirky writing, not in its ability to leverage cosmic horror. That Lovecraftian DNA is compromised by an overabundance of internet humor. The Innsmouth Case is a charming text adventure that brings the seaside town of Innsmouth into the twenty-first century, but leaves the horror behind. Though, “comedic relief” may not be wholly accurate - the constant barrage of quips and references ensures that there’s no “seriousness” to be relieved from. The developer-dubbed horror-comedy is just what the doctor ordered. Sometimes, you just need some comedic relief. Sometimes, you need a break from the bleakness. What does, however, is the self-serious tone that The Innsmouth Case’s contemporaries adopt. Lovecraftian horror will have a prominent place in the industry for years to come fear of the unknown can’t ever grow old. The many nightmares that host his eldritch creations are fertile ground for interactive horror. The last decade in horror gaming owes a great deal to H.P.
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