Conarium Reviews

crashes before it even starts

Worst game ever. Crashes immediately. Reinstalling didn´t help. Maybe my puny 4090 isn´t good enough.

It's a cool, spooky, atmospheric Lovecraftian adventure-horror game. The plot is intriguing at first but at some point it loses focus. The same can be said about the gameplay, too. Puzzle solving is a bit inconsistent. However, as a whole, it's a good experience. My favorite part was the atmosphere. Not a perfect game but if you love mystery, horror and Lovecraft, then it's worth at least a playthrough. (Getting all achievements is a bit boring.)

This game oozes dread effortlessly. The frozen North is already a terrifying place and then everything else happens.

A solid first-person adventure with moderate horror and puzzle elements, that does a pretty good job of maintaining the Lovecraftian theme that we got used to through the Darkness Within games from the same developer, but with a more straightforward story and the technical benefits of being made almost a decade later. [h3]PROS[/h3] +++ Maintains the mysterious and eerie atmosphere that the DW games introduced and relied so much on +++ Hints of HP Lovecraft all over the place - Straightforward story that keeps your interest throughout, although a bit on the predictable side +++ Smooth movement, easy controls and mechanics – Even a brief, unique sequence that exists, uses a mechanic that’s pretty easy to master [spoiler]the submarine ride[/spoiler] +++ You can save manually at (almost) any time and there are (literally) 100 different available slots - The game also autosaves your progress often +++ Lots of areas to explore at your own pace and many secrets to discover, along with a wide array of nice achievements to go with it ++ Nice graphics and audio ++ Good replay value, especially if you’re going for all the achievements, plus there are two different endings + Professional voice-acting + Lots of video, audio and gameplay options to tweak to your liking [h3]MEH[/h3] ? There are two instances in the game where you have to elude enemies. Some players have complained that introducing enemies in this kind of adventure/puzzler/WS type of game doesn’t fit, but personally I liked a bit of tension in few and far between, short spots ? You can die in various ways during the game, but that doesn’t affect your progress in any way, since there’s either an option to simply continue your run and try again from the same spot, or the game simply reloads to just before the dangerous encounter. It’s there simply for variety and building tension, without overdoing it [h3]CONS[/h3] --- In certain areas (usually big and wide open ones) and when facing a certain direction, I experienced severe lagging. That happened in all my three runs, and always in the same areas. It could probably be my pc (and there are some main menu options to minimize the problem somewhat), but it was the biggest con for me regarding this game - Some puzzles can be a bit confusing, especially those that require backtracking. But overall you shouldn’t have too many problems as long as you take your time and explore thoroughly - The spoken and written language used by some characters feels forcibly pompous at times - It does kinda fit considering the game’s theme, but still feels a bit much - Even if you explore every nook and cranny and go for 100% of the achievements, the game is still a tad on the short side, considering its asking price. But it’s from an indie developer that consistently makes good games, so it’s understandable - This happened to me just once, but while choosing ‘continue’ almost halfway through the game (after a death), I ended up in the very first room of the game [h3]CONCLUSION[/h3] As you can tell, most of the cons section is basically nitpicking. If you’re a fan of Lovecraftian-themed games with lots of areas to explore and secrets to uncover, this game will be right down your alley. I would recommend waiting for a sale, since the asking price feels a bit high, but do get this game especially if you liked the atmosphere and overall theme of the Darkness Withing games of the same developer.

boring lame narration voice didnt even come close to completing since i completely lost interest