Quarantine Diary

 

Hooray! This year's new Carol Reed mystery has dropped, and I have acquired it! 

It always takes me two days to play these games. This time I wasn't shy about checking the extremely handy in-game hint system, which frankly, I think is extremely necessary at various points in the game. The game is for fun. Don't let it frustrate you to the point where it isn't fun. Use the hint system, which is quite well done.

Quarantine Diary takes place during the Corona Virus pandemic, and Carol complains that her bank account is suffering. (Has she gone through all the money she inherited at the end of Remedy, the first game in the series?) No matter. We have a new mystery that has Carol, early on, investigating the lady who hired her as much as investigating the case she's hired Carol to solve.

As always, gameplay consists of visiting locations found on the map. In those locations we usually find either a clue, or an item. Items are nearly always just lying around somewhere. We'll wind up using them in yet another location. Every time.

Occasionally uses real Swedish signs

Normally inserts English signs

I like these sepia shots of buildings we are entering

A real house in Swedish red

This is just inserted for local color. No entry for us.

The locations often are very pretty, or houses that appear to be real houses and apartments. We meet people who are depicted in still photographs with voiceovers. The actors are firmly amateur and that, I've always thought, fits perfectly with these games. 

We meet several people in every game--Jonas, Carol's boyfriend, Stina, her friend, who is always a fount of local knowledge (and played by the lady who voices Carol), and, for comic relief, Bigge, who always sends Carol off on an errand before he'll help.

Jonas is an always welcome character.

Stina find information (and voices Carol in the game)

Bigge supplies comic relief

This is our client in this game

As simple as these games seem on the surface, actually their puzzles can be quite complex. They always feature numerous puzzle boxes and items needing passwords. Once we find the clues to these they become simple to solve. Or, we have to find an item that will interact with something that will reveal another clue or an important item.

The difficulty (and length) of the game increases because in almost every case, an item needed in one spot will be found in another location, with absolutely no rhyme or reason for it. For example, you need a tool to get into a new area. You'll find it just lying on the ground somewhere across town. If you happen to find it when you're there and pick it up (always, always pick up anything the game identifies), you'll have it in your inventory and will probably recognize it when you need it. If you haven't found the item you will have to use that hint system, or else traverse the entire game looking at every possible node. Use the hint system.

But it's all good fun. I've played every game of this series and look forward to a new one each year. I don't expect anything different from what I've played before, and that's what I want. 

When the year's game comes out, I buy it and settle down for a couple of days of very familiar fun, along with lovely pictures of Sweden.

Always enjoyable!

Dear Esther

I played this walking simulator several years ago using WASD, but now I'm trying to learn how to use my controller. So I thought I'd play it again just for the practice. And yes, I do need practice in navigating. Playing this has helped enormously!

(Sorry about the odd spacing in this post. Somehow the blog just isn't formatting properly.)

This is an impressive game—or was when it came out. I remember being astonished at the (now standard) graphics. The weeks swayed in the breeze and the ocean waves looked wonderful!

        

                                                           The Beach

We start out walking along the beach. All the way through the game we get texts displayed on the screen along with an excellent voiceover of the man who is us, apparently, doing the walking. It's all quite enigmatic, and the man is apparently depressed.

The difficulty in this game isn't moving and there are no puzzles; it's just trying to spot a path to use that will continue the journey. Three times out of four these are staircases and they're all fairly well concealed unless you turn around a lot! The only one that isn't somewhere behind us requires a leap of faith to continue walking along a ledge that looks as though you're going to fall off any second.

The "Bothy"

Getting off the beach we make it to a dilapidated cabin, but find nothing there. In fact, the whole game really is just navigation as the narrator tells us his thoughts.

Out of four chapters, I like the third best. It takes us underground into glowing tunnels. We splash around in standing water and finally figure out how to go forward. Eventually we're left with only one choice, even though it seems most strange.

                 

Candlelit underground area. Quite lovely really.

When we emerge from the caves it's nighttime, making navigation even more challenging. However, the story continues, such as it is.

It's finding the narration that tells us we're on the correct path and moving forward in the game. The scenery continues to be really nice, so it's a pleasant experience overall.

                 

The paper boats are in the story

                 

Dark but still pretty

The game takes over for the very end, and finally ends not in credits, but in a black screen with the sound of waves continuing. So if you get to that screen your game hasn't crashed; that's really the ending. 

I suppose if you tie it in with whatever we can glean from the story it makes some sense. 

This game really takes only about one to two hours to complete, but it's a landmark game of it's time and it certainly did help me to learn how to navigate with the controller! You cannot save games. Finish a chapter and then move on to the next. You can choose from the four chapters on the title page.

So that certainly was worth the time! I enjoyed it!

Sanitarium 4: Over and Out

 

Sadness. I am not going to be able to complete Sanitarium.

I've been gone for several months due to very serious computer problems--now solved with a new hard disk and battery--and very serious medical problems.

But here I am, back again. I fired up Sanitarium and used a walkthrough to try to find where I was. I actually found what appears to be where I left off and made a bit of progress, but then the game froze.

It froze completely. I had to log out of the whole computer and fire it up again. Again I did a bit and decided I'd better save what little progress I'd made.

But the game froze again on the menu screen.

So for now I'm giving up. I have more games to play. Perhaps someday I'll be able to get the game to work again. I'll try periodically. 

But alas, it's over for now. Shame, because the out-of-the-box weird imagination in this thing is astonishing. I'd like to see where it goes.

Maybe someday. But for now, it's over. 

Sanitarium 3: Curiouser and Curiouser

Finally got back to the game. I've actually played for short bursts for several days, but only now am getting to my write-up here.

The circus was really nice, although as always with this game, you have to keep a sharp eye out for teensy items that you need. At least there are some decent clues here.

In the big top

We have to play some games and visit some freaks. The games are pretty straightforward.

Got enough tickets?

Actually if you pay attention, you will find more than the number of tickets you need to get through the area.

Can you get into the roped-off section?

So I made it through the circus! I confess that I did get a couple of hints. It's a fairly extensive area, but it's quite entertaining. Upon exiting the area we get dumped into a cave.

Pixel hunting required here

The cave turns out to be an action area. Tried absolutely everything before I went to the WT and found out that I had to use an item on a very obscure spot. The main trouble with this game is that the hot spots and items are difficult to see. It really can turn into a pixel hunt. 

But, with the information I got from the WT I was able to get through the area.

That takes us into what clearly is another major piece of the character's backstory. Now it's fairly obvious that the goal of the game is to find out just who the main character is, what he did and how he got into the sanitarium.  

Is this backstory?

In the mansion, we meet ghosts of what will of course turn out to be our family. In fact, it seems that the little girl that took over in the last two areas is Max's sister, who died.

Now we're back to playing Max. 

Max is himself again

In the laboratory

The laboratory has a seriously bad puzzle. I suppose you could spend a week just trying things, but save yourself. Even with instructions this is hard to do:

Bad, bad puzzle

It's puzzles like that which caused adventure games to get a bad name—and this is a good game!

Once solved we get into an area where we have to solve anagram puzzles on blackboards. Again, just figuring out what to do is the real challenge. Once you have that the puzzle is fairly easy, and gets us into the next area.

I keep getting interrupted from this game and no doubt will be interrupted again, but according to the chapters I'm about halfway through, and I eventually will finish it! 

It is a good game!

Next Entry.

Blackenrock Preview Beta

A brief interlude. Jonathan Boakes and Matt Clark are really truly working on finishing Blackenrock, the long-awaited sequel to The Lost Crown, my favorite game. They decided to release the first couple of hours of the game in beta form for free! 

So I went back to Saxton today! This is the first time I've played a game in beta and there were glitches, but I have made it to what appears to be the end of the "demo," because I cannot go anywhere in Saxton except Harbour Cottage (on which Nigel owes rent he certainly can't pay). I can go to Saxton Shore and into the Fenland Eye, but not beyond that. However, there is a massive surprise inside the Fenland Eye! Whoa!

But I did two fun quests, which clearly were intended to get the new player used to the controls and gadgets. Got stuck at one point but managed to get myself out of it. The controls are the same as in Midnight Horror, and that's actually good. You really had to watch the cursor in TLC1 to see when it changed. This time it's larger, brighter, and much more clear. My only criticism is that when we pick a correct item from the inventory the item turns light blue instead of green, and the blue is far more difficult to see.

I do think that this sequel really doesn't stand alone. It assumes that you know the previous games. Perhaps I'm seeing that due to my experience with these games, but it really starts the day after Midnight Horror. It even references a several-minute long "game," called Halloween Haunting from 2013, now available as a YouTube video, in which Nigel and Lucy discover the word "Blackenrock" while using a Ouija board. The Darkfall games are standalone; The Lost Crown is a saga.

At the end of this demo we talk to Hadden, and he tells us something really super intriguing. Super intriguing.

The gameplay is a bit different. Nigel finally can run! If you double click you can advance to the next screen. There are a lot more cutscenes. We have conversations with people without interacting with the game at all, although we still have dialogue trees to click on when the game wants to give you choices. Fortunately, because this uses the old Wintermute engine, the mouse works correctly. No sensitivity issues of the type that plagued me in Ghost Vigil (which I mostly solved by turning down the video quality to medium) and Silent Night. EDIT: I completely solved my mouse issues by replacing my computer hard drive, which was failing. That's why I had mouse sensitivity--and controller--issues.

The game tells us where to use the audio recording and the camera, so we won't be missing any evidence. Plus, we carry our "case file" with us always, so all of our "evidence" is constantly available.

There is a brief action sequence! (Well, there is a brief action sequence in TLC1 too, of course.) This one is more exciting than the "fight" on the train tracks.

The "demo" is available for free form Shadow Tor Studios. I had to break down and finally configure my email on my PC laptop in order to get it. (I use the laptop just for games; my main computer is a Mac which cannot play this, but also could not download the link, which is transferrable via FB Messinger! Instead of a link you just get the download.) I think I'll just delete the account now that I've finished. (Which I did. That was easy!)

I was unable to take screenshots at all. I will have to wait till the game comes out on Steam for that. However, fun fact: there is a QR code on the Saxton Times in the case file. Scan it into your phone and you will get a marvelous result!

But it was so so so lovely to be back in Saxton! How wonderful! The game has exactly the same immersive feeling as the original. I am really looking forward to the full game! I suspect it will still take several months, but I believe it is moving forward!

Cannot wait!

Sanitarium 2: Freaky Fun!

Hooray! I have made it to Chapter 4 and now the game is really taking off into highly inventive weirdness!

But first I had to get through Chapter 3, which mainly involves turning on the water to fill the courtyard fountain. I'm proud to say that I only needed two hints, and one of them pointed out something (very small) that I had simply missed. I figured out how to get the thing, just didn't spot it when it turned up. That is a problem with this game: it's all in a top-down isometric view so items can be quite small.

Landing in Chapter 3

First, of course, we have to go around talking to everybody. Then I realized that I could only manipulate one thing, which turned out to be the right thing to do. If you spot the necessary item it's pretty easy to figure out what to do with it, which gives you another item, which is also easy to use.

The crazy preacher and his very stiff congregation does fit into the puzzle, but only marginally.

Interiors simply reveal themselves when you enter.

That brings us to a real puzzle: turning levers to get the water flowing. This is where I needed help. No, not to do the actual puzzle, but what constituted winning it.

The clue is pretty obscure.

The trick is to know which of the four water levels you have to fill. Once you get it the puzzle really does tell you that you've won. And, again, much appreciated, if you quit in the middle the game saves your progress. You do not have to restart the puzzle every time, as far too many games would have you do.

Once the fountain is filled we get another cutscene, again in very grainy video, which I was unable to get a screenshot of. But it certainly does give some backstory to our character.

In fact, our character has changed radically once we get to Chapter 4. And that's when I got excited about the game! 

Well this is unexpected!

We land in a very freaky circus, somewhere outside of the asylum (I guess?)

It has a big top and one ring.

Let's go in!

A one-ring circus

I did just the first bit of dialogue and stopped for the day, but I am vastly intrigued! This is the kind of imagination I appreciate in a game--something totally unexpected.

Loving it!

Next Entry

Sanitarium 1: A Really Old Horror Adventure

So I decided to try a really old horror adventure game that I'd been unsuccessful with in the past, but always wanted to play. Sanitarium came out in 1998 on CDs. First I had terrible trouble getting the discs to load, and once I did I couldn't figure out how the mechanics of the game worked. How are you supposed to walk around and talk and pick up and use items? 

Actually it's fairly straightforward. Once you learn the antiquated system it isn't difficult. The game is only partially point & click, with walking done manually. The got away from the WASD movement system by using the mouse exclusively. Walking can be a tad tricky because you have to hold the right button down as you try to navigate your way around the screen.

Welome to the game!

Well finally I found a copy of the game on GOG, so I don't have to deal with physical CDs anymore. The game runs pretty well except for one time when the screen went black and I had to reload and replay for a bit.

We start out after the very grainy opening video, in an unusual asylum. We're covered in bandages and appear to have amnesia. Somehow we make it out to a courtyard filled with children, all of whom are injured or deformed in some way. There are no adults in the area. 

The Courtyard of the Children

We have several tasks here: talk to all of the children thoroughly to get the beginning of a storyline. Then find out who the mysterious "Mother" might be. She's controlling the children and won't let them explain anything. 

Also, this is an inventory game. Picking up stuff is easy. It turns out that accessing the inventory is easy too: click on your character and you will see the inventory items that you have. Once you've used an item it disappears, which is good.

The dialogue system

Eventually we will make our way across a stream and meet a girl named "Maria," who tells us more than anyone else, but stops when she senses that "Mother" has awakened. OK. That takes us into the pumpkin patch that Maria has warned us about.

Maria. Nice kid.

The dangerous pumpkin patch

It turns out that there is combat in this game! In this first area it's pretty easy. When you get killed the game puts you back at the beginning of the fight, but any enemies you've killed remain dead. That is appreciated, thanks!

Once we make our way through the pumpkin patch we will meet Mother, and have to figure out what to do. I actually got a bit of it by myself, but I relied on a walkthrough for this chapter. Now that I know what I'd doing, sort of, I might be able to wean myself from it. After all, inventory games are all quite solvable, even though a few of these puzzles are a bit obscure.

So I will continue! I have made it to Chapter Three out of eleven. Most folks say this game takea 10-12 hours to complete. Let's see how I do!

Next Entry