Anchorhead

<Original

It took a really long time and I spent many hours banging my head trying to figure this out. But ultimately I loved this game. The feeling I got after solving each puzzle was phenomenal. And reaching the ending was oh so satisfying. I had a lot of fun figuring everything out, using clues, reading the lore of Anchorhead, etc. If I could play another game like this I would do so in a heartbeat.

This game pulls you in to a rich story that grows increasingly dark as time goes on. The storytelling is excellent and the puzzles are challenging. Just be sure to turn over every rock and look behind every door.

Well written, excellent atmosphere, and has a pretty approachable interface for a text-based game. The puzzles are challenging at times but rarely ridiculous (with a few exceptions in the last act). About the only real gripe I have is a soft lock if you enter the pipe too early in the game. Still, it's definitely a winner overall.

I love interactive fiction and was pleasantly surprised to see this 'remaster' on Steam. Quite a bit (from what I remember, but it's been a loooong time) has been changed, pretty much all of it for the better. Usually when you play a game like this, it's hard to get all the puzzle pieces to fit and make a place seem like more than just an inventory hunt. This game definitely doesn't fall into that common trap. It's 'oldschool', harkening to ye olde Zork days, but does so with eldritchian glee. Definitely a step up from Lurking Horror-- actually, it might be the best horror IF out there?

I am VERY impressed with this game. I am always up for anything in the Interactive Fiction genre, and the really well-executed Lovecraftian-style prose made this one a clear winner. Incredibly visual and well-written to the point where I found myself being thoroughly creeped out and worried that something was going to spring out at me from the shadows even though I obviously could not actually see the shadows. It's very dark. It's a bit depressing. It's really quite beautiful. Definitely best if you've played this type of game before giving this one a go, since it pretty much assumes you know exactly how to interact with said fiction going into it. But it does come with a basic outline/tutorial on how commands work, which is nice. Mostly it's the usual verbs and cardinal directions for movement. A few helpful tips: examine everything. Pick up everything the game lets you pick up and hold onto it forever even if it seems unimportant/you've already used it once. Otherwise you will be no stranger to backtracking. I was painstakingly thorough and I still had hours of backtracking to do. Also it's a great idea to have multiple save files. I had stacks of them and again, still had to backtrack quite a bit. It's not always a guarantee that you'll be able to revisit areas at your leisure. Also helpful: draw maps, take notes, take advantage of "undo" command. Oh, and did I mention take notes? You'll thank yourself later. The only things about Anchorhead that I might consider negative are the few instances where it is reeeeally picky about word choice, as others have mentioned. If you know in your heart you have the right idea/solution, just keep saying it in every format you can think of until it clicks because you're probably correct but not giving it the exact proper nomenclature. And I noticed a couple instances where I saw no reference to important items in a scene no matter how much I searched/looked around/examined everything; the only reason I knew the item was there was because I got stuck at these parts and referred to hints. [spoiler]The mill key in the pocket of the skeleton on the buoy is one such place where I had this issue. Another was the key to the drawer in the real estate office, found in the church by the agent's corpse. I couldn't see anywhere in game where these items' existence was even mentioned, yet I picked them up no problem. Of course I may have missed something, but it really didn't seem like it.[/spoiler] Other than that, I loved this game. The puzzles were challenging and very satisfying, and the length was pretty much perfect. And of course the writing is phenomenal. Really paid homage to Lovecraft's work without drawing on it too heavily.

Great game! Although, I needed to google a few hints :)

The greatest work of interactive fiction (text adventures) ever made. (...With the exception of the work of Emily Short, of course).

This is one of the better text adventures I've played, going back to the '80s. That it's a Lovecraftian horror makes it even better. I encountered very few text errors and only one bug with a key word that forced dropping, well, a key to be able to use what it opened. After completing it once, I played through several more times to get different outcomes and to see all the varied death states, which were fun. The story takes elements from the Chaosium RPG Cthulhu Now, The Dunwich Horror, Shadows Over Innsmouth and The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, so if you've read or are even familiar with those, you'll have a better chance of following what is happening and have much less need of a guide to get you through to the end. I also found it very helpful to draw my own series of maps with notable objects/sites/characters and suspected plot-related information as I played along, especially key info from books/notes/letters, so I always knew where I was in relation to everything else and didn't have to back track as much to double check info. If you rely solely on an online guide, it's most likely just going to spoil the story before you can experience it, and you might as well be reading a book at that point. I definitely recommend this game for anyone at all interested in text adventures, but especially for Lovecraft fans. The list of commands is available from the drop down as a separate window, FYI. It also features a female protagonist, which is rare in a Mythos story. Lends it a survival horror feel. Save often and try not to go insane. The world is counting on you!

One of the most evocative and disturbing games I have ever played. The original release was the first major Interactive Fiction game I had ever played and so returning to this remaster was wonderful. An ageless classic.