• Strange Antiquities
  

  8.1 hours playtime

  22/22 Achievementos

I have completed this video game, it was great.

This is a puzzle game about deduction. The player controls a shop in which there are several mystic items, relics, etc, but what exactly the are is unknown. However, there is a set of books which list all items with a brief description. Sometimes it describes how it looks like, what it’s associated with (rebirth, the sun, protection), what its purpose is, and so on. There are other books which give details about symbols, gemstones, and curses. Each in-game day has an additional puzzle or two which will provide a new item when solved. They work by giving a hint, visual or text, which will point to a location on the map, inside a castle, or the catacombs.

Every day customers come in and ask for an item, usually requesting it by the specific name, but sometimes they only explain what they need help with or what this item is meant to do. Then the player must figure out which item on their shelf is the right one and give it to the customer. On wrong guesses the players’ sense of unease goes up, which can reach its maximum and the player plays a series of games of dice for their life. It’s a very forgiving system, I had to play twice, and won the dice rolls with plenty of life to spare.

I found the game rather straightforward, there were maybe 5-6 items I had to think about for more than a couple of minutes, and ran out of sanity twice for guessing wrong, but never had to resort to a guide or a wiki. That said, it wasn’t too easy - it was satisfying to figure things out, even the ones I picked up on immediately. The variety of deductions is pretty good. Sometimes it’s a bit more on the nose, like “Totem made out of wood, used for protection”, it’s trivial to check the material and look up the symbology book to find the symbol for protection. Other times it’s much more esoteric and I had to follow up references across a couple of books, other items, and use a device to check the object’s “aura”.

I didn’t find the art style very appealing, but it does the job. Every item is completely unique and has a decent amount of detail in it. There’s a couple of shelves which are locked in the beginning, presumably because they’re dangerous or whatnot, and their design is noticeable darker or more morbid than most other items. It is a very static art style though, there are no animations or cutscenes as such, most of the game is set on the same screen of the shop window, the NPCs’ mouth opens and closes when they speak.

The game has a story - something bad is happening in the city, people are becoming mad or end up dying. Later it is found the events are tied to unearthing a mysterious relic, and different NPCs have different plans for it. It wasn’t a gripping tale but good enough to keep the gameplay moving forward. There are several endings, most of which occur on the last day. On some days you have the option of which item to give to an important NPC - this will change what happens to them later, and I think in some cases open/close a possible ending. I did use a guide to figure out how to start the secret ending (Heart of the Shop achievement), it was quite obscure to begin but the rest was easy. Quite an underwhelming ending though, I finished with the hunter ending first and I liked it the most, but my item choices didn’t save everyone.

Overall I recommend it, 8/10.