Developer: SUPERLUMEN
Platforms: PC (Reviewed), PS5, Switch, Xbox Series S/X
Genre: Action
Publisher: SOEDESCO
Desolatium is a first-person point-and-click game. This game was developed by SUPERLUMEN and published by SOEDESCO. There are many other games that play in a similar style to this point-and-click game, but the art style is what makes this a lot more interesting. This review was done on the PC, but the game is also available for Xbox Series, PlayStation and Switch.
Desolatium is a single-player game which is based on Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos. The game begins where you play a character named Carter Scott, who suffers from amnesia. You wake up within a facility to which you explore and interact with other characters to find out the mysteries behind the area.
The controls for Desolatium are fairly simple; after all, it is a point-and-click game. The controls work very smoothly, and the game itself runs without any lag or delay. The visuals of the game would have to be one of the most outstanding and pleasing parts, as it looks like you are placed within a graphic novel. It has elements of weird fonts, sketchy colours, pencil sketches, and torn pages to compile together the visuals. It is almost a blend of hand-drawn elements with a touch of a digital look. On top of that, the different settings in the game are all 360 photographs that have various interactable elements to make the location seem more realistic. Besides just the visuals on the locations and items, the art style for the characters, when seen in dialogue interactions, is so spot on as it gives the game a crazy, mad type of look. The art style for this game is extremely captivating and unique.
The game also features a range of decent instrumentals throughout the gameplay, which vary sequence by sequence. The music creates an unsettling, eerie vibe, which is done through ringing bells, high-pitched synths and almost immersive sound effects such as footsteps and item interactions. As the game is heavily focused on a narrative, the addition of voice acting I felt was really good; otherwise, it would have made the game much more boring.
The only issue I had with the voice acting was that there seemed to be some indifferences between the subtitles, and some voice lines seemed quite sluggish, with not much emotion or energy given to them, which would take away from the narrative tone. There seemed to be slight hiccups in the voice acting, which I feel if this could be improved, it would make the game just as more immersive.
As I said earlier, the game is heavily focused around its story, and it follows a lore myth type of vibe, which may be suitable for some and not for others. For someone who is not very into Lovecraftian horror, I found the lore to still be quite fun and enticing. It’s just that the game consists of a lot of reading, which can get quite repetitive and would just take away from the gaming experience. I liked that to shake up the story; the game was split between a few characters, but the characters did not seem to have many differences from one another or speciality.
There did not seem to be much of a point of view change amongst the characters, but rather, it just felt like you were playing the same character from the beginning. I feel like the story could have been fleshed out a bit more to make it more scary, which seems to be the aim of this game.
I think what takes away from this game is the lack of puzzles. The game mainly just consists of you interacting with photos, posters, and cards just to collect a bunch of information and not do much with them, which after a certain point got very tiring. At times, because so much information is collected, trying to progress gets difficult as there seems to be a lot of going back and forth. It’s a decently short game; it roughly took me 3 hours to complete, but I did end up wishing there was more to it than what meets the eye.
Desolatium is a first-person point-and-click game that heavily focuses on the Lovecraftian horror lore. The game features outstandingly unique visuals, with a decent set of voice acting to immerse the player. If this sounds like a game for you, then be sure to check out Desolatium.
Overall: 5/10
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