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Do you know any adventures with an authentic gothic feel?
I’m interested in games with characteristic gothic theme. It’s cool, deep, gloomy, darkly romantic, or following some tropes that are known to us from such movies as Sleepy Hollow. I’ll quickly leave some of my recommendations. If you have something nice to add, a mention would surely be appreciated.
A Vampyre Story
The Void
The Council
Goetia
The Path
Shadows Of New York
Pathologic 2
Theatre Of The Absurd
Tormentum: Dark Sorrow
Beckett
The Cat Lady
Gray Matter
Sanitarium
Shadowgate
Layers Of Fear
Belladonna
Song Of Horor
Lorelai
Fran Bow
The Last Door
Call Of Cthulhu
Still Life
Kentucky Route Zero
Bonus:
Not liked: Downfall, Amnesia
Not adventure: Blasphemous, Bloodborne, Planescape Torment, Blood, Maskim Xul, Resident Evil Village
Thanks, this is an interesting list. I am a fan of gothic ‘feel’, and there are some cool-looking games here that I haven’t played.
As for other recommendations, What Makes You Tick is an excellent choice in my opinion, when it comes to adventure games.
As for other genres, Legacy of Kain series is a must-play (5 games in total). Good games, great worlds and stories.
The Black Mirror series should be included also.
I enjoy playing adventure games on my Alienware M17 r4 and my Nintendo Switch OLED.
I think Scratches fits the category.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
I’m not completely sure about what is Gothic and what not, but I’m thinking of
Quest for Glory: Shadows of Darkness
Veil of Darkness
Also there’s certainly something very Gothic about the Gabriel Knight trilogy
PC means personal computer
Society of the Serpent Moon
I like the shout-out to “What Makes You Tick”, I’m surprised it’s not more popular on these boards.
Oh yeah, “Society of the Serpent Moon”! I played the game at some point in time.. it was kind of odd, like a b-movie that seems too self-serious to work, but I couldn’t stop playing. I ended up liking it quite a lot, even though the protagonist is like the most gristle-voiced grufflord I’ve ever come across.
I’d like to add “Shardlight” to the list. It’s basically sci-fi goth: decay, neo-Victorianism, mixed with green glowsticks and a lot of gloom.
Absolutely QFG IV—quintessential!
Also, there is an adventure game from the early 90’s where you play as a witch during the era or the Salem with trials. It was very dark for its time. I had the demo from one of those THREE HUNDRED MILLION GAMES ON THIS CD! shareware compilations. It was made by one guy, independently, and he never released it officially as freeware or abandonware. You start the game in the witch’s house, and in one of the early scenes you come across a gallows with hung and burned witches.
After much searching based on these childhood memories, I was recently able to track the game down online…and then forgot the name again. Anyway, it’s about as gothic as early point and clickers get.
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Absolutely QFG IV—quintessential!
Also, there is an adventure game from the early 90’s where you play as a witch during the era or the Salem with trials. It was very dark for its time. I had the demo from one of those THREE HUNDRED MILLION GAMES ON THIS CD! shareware compilations. It was made by one guy, independently, and he never released it officially as freeware or abandonware. You start the game in the witch’s house, and in one of the early scenes you come across a gallows with hung and burned witches.After much searching based on these childhood memories, I was recently able to track the game down online…and then forgot the name again. Anyway, it’s about as gothic as early point and clickers get.
Found the game! Plague of the Moon! There’s a video on youtube. Check it out, such a cool aesthetic that seemed genuinely sinister to young me.
Player, purveyor, and propagator of smart toys and games for all ages.
Facebook.com/weplayfaves
IG @weplayfaves
I like the shout-out to “What Makes You Tick”, I’m surprised it’s not more popular on these boards.
I don’t know why that is. It’s a great game. But gothic? In what way do you get a gothic feel from it? From what I recall it has a very bright and sunny look, and don’t think it had an overly dark or gloomy story.
I’d like to add “Shardlight” to the list. It’s basically sci-fi goth: decay, neo-Victorianism, mixed with green glowsticks and a lot of gloom.
Good call, love this game, and yes, very gothic.
I enjoy playing adventure games on my Alienware M17 r4 and my Nintendo Switch OLED.
I don’t know why that is. It’s a great game. But gothic? In what way do you get a gothic feel from it? From what I recall it has a very bright and sunny look, and don’t think it had an overly dark or gloomy story.
I just completed it a few weeks ago, and while it does have a bright look during the day (but I wouldn’t say that it’s very sunny), at night it looks different. There are some very gothic elements to it: an oppressive castle overlooking the village, a lonely windmill sitting on the edge of the cliff, overgrown stone ruins, heavy lightning during the final scenes. Also, remember the creepy baron Northwest. Not to mention that the villain is named Vincent, and he intentionally looks exactly like Vincent Price. The story is dark and somewhat sombre, too, although there’s a lot of humor to balance that.
As for why the game is not as popular as it should be, I think at least one of the reasons is because when it was first released, there was no voice acting included. There are lots of dialogues in this game, and while there are no traditional cut-scenes, there are prolonged scenes of characters talking while moving from location to location, lasting for 5 or more minutes (or so it appeared to me, I haven’t measured it ). It feels almost like watching actors in a play during these scenes. In 2015, the game was made free to download, and voice acting of a fine quality was added. This is the version I played, and I feel the game would have been substantially less immersive without the voices. It would still be a very good adventure, but I’m very glad I got to play this version.
At least now that we are hyping it, someone else might give it a chance. It’s a great game, indeed.
Hey Rewind, first games I thought of were The Void, Goetia, and The Last Door, but I guess you already know those. Not sure how Kentucky Route Zero is gothic horror, but it has pretty interesting narrative/gameplay.
Anyway, I played Goetia and Dark Train right after each other and they feel pretty similar, I think you’d enjoy Dark Train, tonally at least.
EDIT: Oh yeah, The Room series have a pretty strong gothic horror vibe! They were originally smartphone games but they got ported to Steam. They’re fun on smartphone too, though, they’re like room escape games, and there’s lots of stuff you have to fiddle around with, so using the touchscreen has a fun textile feel.
As for why the game is not as popular as it should be, I think at least one of the reasons is because when it was first released, there was no voice acting included. There are lots of dialogues in this game, and while there are no traditional cut-scenes, there are prolonged scenes of characters talking while moving from location to location, lasting for 5 or more minutes (or so it appeared to me, I haven’t measured it ).
I think I’ve read a couple of comments about disliking the protagonist. I don’t know why, I can’t remember anything bad in particular. The dude does say something to a guard about not being able to read and then correcs himself, because he suddenly seemed to realize that was an actual possibility (and he was being inconsiderate).. I thought that was actually pretty cool, both being fallible and acknowledging it.
At least now that we are hyping it, someone else might give it a chance. It’s a great game, indeed.
Yes! The original site is down, but there’s still a download link (for those of you brave enough to pass through the ol’ mediafire) :
What Makes You Tick (series, full download, DRM free)
The developers (used to) ask for a promotion of the official site, but since that’s down, a personal thanks to Matthias and Sebastian Kempe, Greg MacWilliam and all of the composers, sound designers and voice actors that contributed to the game.
edit: Another game that might fit the bill: “46 Memory Lane”. It’s rather modern, but some of its influences and themes can be considered gothic. It’s rather macabre, there’s decay, isolation, struggles with power (also applied to an emotional and physical relationship), an atmosphere of mystery, supernatural elements, distress and losing one’s mind. When I say macabre, I mean legit creepy and disturbing. I wouldn’t suggest it to everyone, but if you can read this description without being put off, there are some interesting elements to its story and design.
Faust - Seven Games of the Soul has a dark and surrealistic quality to it that you could say is gothic.
Sally Face is another one with a Tim Burton-ish cartoon goth aesthetic, similar to Fran Bow.
Maybe the Charnel House Trilogy as well?
I think I’ve read a couple of comments about disliking the protagonist. I don’t know why, I can’t remember anything bad in particular. The dude does say something to a guard about not being able to read and then correcs himself, because he suddenly seemed to realize that was an actual possibility (and he was being inconsiderate).. I thought that was actually pretty cool, both being fallible and acknowledging it.
Yes, that was pretty cool.
I don’t know, I thought the protagonist was a pretty nice guy throughout the game. He is a kind and courageous person, who is selflessly helping the villagers fight the evil that has befallen them. Yes, he also has a personal motive (legally acquiring his father’s estate), but judging by his comments and the level of disgust he feels towards the villains because they are being villainous towards other people, I think he would’ve helped the villagers anyway.
Although, I do remember a few occasions when what Nigel (the protagonist) did wasn’t an entirely morally correct thing to do, but he was always aware of it, and promised to make things right afterwards (I can’t remember the details, but it was something along the lines of picking up an object belonging to a good NPC, and then promising that he would return it later - once the world was saved ).
Anyway, I’d also like to thank the developers of this splendid (and completely free) adventure game, and to give another shout-out while I’m here, to a game called The Night of the Rabbit. Although it doesn’t have a gothic feel to it, this was the next game made by Matthias Kempke, the writer of What Makes You Tick. Since I enjoyed WMYT so much, I started playing ‘The Rabbit’ after completing it; it is also very good, and you can definitely tell that it was written by the same person (although the puzzle design is definitely inferior, in my experience). I’ll write more about it on the appropriate topic once I complete it, but for now, I just wanted to suggest to fans of WMYT’s ‘world’ to check out the The Rabbit as well, if they haven’t done so already.
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