Today marks the release day for a new point-and-click adventure game from Wormwood Studios, creators of Primordia (2012). The aptly named Strangeland is published by Wadjet Eye Games, whose portfolio of great adventures continues to grow. Though not without some cons, Strangeland is a treat to play through. Anyone who loves a classic adventure game should absolutely punch their ticket to enter; let’s have a closer look.
In Strangeland, you control a man who is seemingly out of his mind, beginning just outside of a super weird, spooky-looking carnival that’s floating in what seems like another dimension. To enter, you must walk through the gaping mouth of a monstrous looking structure, who speaks to you and makes attempts at humor. Once you step inside, you’re quickly introduced to the crux of the story — a woman who throws herself down a well at the center of the room that appears to have no bottom. This woman was in relationship with the man, and he’s desperate to save her and get them both out of Strangeland. Opposing him, besides the ghoulish décor, is the Dark Thing, which gets increasingly powerful as you unfold the story, but I digress (and, don’t want to risk spoilers). This room acts as the main nexus between different areas of the carnival, with each of the room’s three branches having just a couple of areas downstream from them. Overall, the size of the game-world is actually pretty small; but there’s a corresponding good amount of NPCs and objects to examine, talk to, interact with, pick up, and so on as you would expect from a classical point-and-click.
Some of the NPCs include an old man sitting under a tree who writes every word that a raven, that plucked his eyes out, speaks. You also have one of those carnival machines with a head of a wizard-looking figure inside of a glass box, and he speaks of your future, for a quarter. The dialog and voice-acting on this character were particularly great, but across the board Strangeland has very well-written dialog and excellent voice-acting. Each ‘room’ of Strangeland consists of a lot of detail. I love the lower resolution pixel art that a lot of Wadjet Eye Games use. For one, it reminds me of adventure games of the ’90s that I cut my teeth on and am still fond of, but I also believe it gives extra reason for the artists to shine. I can’t really put my finger on that notion, but suffice it to say that colors and animations in these retro-looking point-and-clicks are often some of my favorite and most memorable art, which is in contrast to high res, ultra realistic-looking graphics which just don’t carry the same artistic weight. All to say that it’s to Strangeland’s credit that the artwork is very nicely done and each scene has details that are worth looking over closely. Between the dialog, voice-acting, art including animations, Strangeland does a great job building up a nightmarish atmosphere that doesn’t rely on bad lighting and jump scares.
Great dialog and presentation are important to adventures, but puzzles make up the core of the gameplay. Strangeland features several dozen puzzles, with a little bit of opportunity for player’s choice. I’m not exactly sure how much, but I recall there being a box that was locked that I ultimately never unlocked, but, never had to due to the way I handled the puzzle. For the most part, the game will play out linearly, but there are some alternate angles of approach for players to explore on a potential extra playthrough. By the way, like most or all Wadjet Eye Games, Strangeland also features a commentary track from Wormwood that is fun and informative. Plus, an annotation mode clues in you further on the games many metaphors and so forth.
Anyway, the puzzle design in Strangeland is mostly straight-forward; in my one sitting, nearly six hour playthrough, I didn’t become stumped very often. Even if you do, rather than having to look up a walkthrough, you can actually interact with a payphone in that nexus area I mentioned earlier. From here, you can get help, though it comes with a bit of tongue-lashing as the voice on the other end of the line is yourself, only a more omnipotent and angry-at-you version. Still, the clues provided are clear enough that there’s really no mistaking what’s next, making progress in Strangeland really as steady and smooth as you’d like it to be.
I mentioned finishing Strangeland in one sitting, a rare Saturday morning/early afternoon session I had. Indeed, Strangeland is on the smaller side in terms of length, but also in scale as far as the number of areas, puzzles, and NPCs. Furthermore, it’s just a little bit on the easy side (even without using the payphone), too. I also found some of the ideas in the game just a little underdeveloped, which actually manifested as my own curiosity to know more about Strangeland — certain NPCs, or rooms, for example — but the content just wasn’t there. All that said, though — keep in mind — this is only a $15 game, and at that price, it’s an excellent value.
All that said, I really enjoyed playing through Strangeland, and having left a few puzzles unturned and wanting to hear the rest of the commentary, I might circle back one more time. And while I can’t put this game in the upper echelon of adventure games I have had the pleasure to play through over the years, it nevertheless is great, and I’m happy to recommend it.
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