Anchorhead

I recommend it if you like text based adventure games and H.P. Lovecraft for sure(not based on specific work but the theme is everywhere) BUT if you play this game on a OLED of any sort be warned that even in full screen there is a solid white bar at the top of your screen at all times and being that this is a reading based game you might play for hours there is some risk of burn in. It's crap that you can't at least invert the colors so that the bar is black and the text in the bar is white instead.... but apart from that it's awesome if you like text based stuff like Zork and cosmic horror.

If you have any love for Lovecraft's writing then this is the game for you. Not only is it based upon Lovecraft, but unlike many other games that are influenced by his work, it feels as if you are an actual protagonist in his stories. No guns, and little in the way of action, much of what you do in the game can be described as trying to look for books, parsing information, and trying to not get killed. Probably the height of the text adventure game, at least in my opinion, in terms of writing and your ability to make choices in the text.

In 2019 I finished The Lurking Horror. The experience was bumpy. But I had a great time. TLH was my first IF game that I finished. With it came a learning curve. Four years passed and I find that I’m burned out on modern games. Maybe it’s because I’m older. Maybe it’s the endless exploitation of the consumer. Either way, modern games don’t spin my disc drive like they used to. Returning to IF I knew I wanted Lovecraftian. In 2019 I did finish a handful of smaller games after TLH. But I wanted something long to sink my teeth into. The critically acclaimed Anchorhead called my name. I started with the original release. Overcome by a nagging feeling, a feeling of spoiling my first experience, I picked up the steam release. And there’s no regrets here. In the twenty hours it took to finish Anchorhead I didn’t use hints. Mind you… I was paranoid. 1. Saves I saved 111 times during my playthrough. Something that paid off several times. Without the saves I’d have found myself softlocked frequently starting with the third day. I don’t consider this a flaw. When playing a dangerous game, you stack the deck in your favor. 2. Mapping I learned from the error of my ways after The Lurking Horror. Using Tizbort I created a detailed map. Creating this map created a detail layout of the game space. Something that made solving puzzles less difficult. 3. Notes Notes. Notes. Notes. Some with notepad. Some by taking pictures of the screen. Not going into spoilers. But this came in clutch. Michael S. Gentry crafted something special that will stand the test of time. And I mean that. This is a timeless experience. The writing is strong. The puzzles well-balanced with good clues. The author respects your intelligence. But knows when to stop dangling the carrot. There isn’t in jokes. Or “clever” pun-based puzzles. Overall, this is a stronger experience than The Lurking Horror. And what we have here may be the best Lovecraftian horror game I’ve played in any genre. With Bloodborne coming in second. Gentry understands how to work in the constraints of the genre. Again, I don’t want to spoil things. But the ending put a smile on my face. For all the wrong reasons of course.

Some of the best prose you'll find in gaming. This is an underappreciated gem and I hope it can be enjoyed and remembered for many years to come.

Anchorhead is the best Lovecraftian game that was ever made. This game evokes the feeling of a tabletop Call of Cthulhu game (research, libraries, piecing things together), while being a functional adventure game. It's a must play if you can cope with interactive fiction.

this is an interesting game and I don't necessarily regret buying it, but it is too frustrating and lacks any kind of basic help, quality of life, UI or anything else. I am now stuck in a maze and it seems there is nothing to do. Maybe running around for hours would help ? But come on. Looking online, I am not the only one in this situation. I am quite salty about it, honestly. Maybe I'll reload an old save, retry and, maybe change this review but righ now, yikes

After playing for free the original 1998 version of this game (on a Frotz Z-Machine interpreter) and enjoying it immensely, I bought this Steam game to reward the creator. Then I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the game has been rewritten with new puzzles to solve. The artwork doesn't really add anything to the game as it conflicts with the Anchorhead I imagined while playing. Nonetheless, it is nice to be back to the small coastal town of Anchorhead and its horrors. In my opinion, this is one of the best Interactive Fiction pieces ever written.

If you enjoy text-based games, this is a must buy -- particularly if you like horror, sleuthing, and/or the Cthulhu mythos. For older gamers, note that this game is as good as (and in some respects even better than) many classic Infocom interactive fiction titles.

While the game is very good and very well made, I did on multiple occasions get to places you weren't supposed to be at when you aren't supposed to be there, and the game soft locks you in place. No game over, no way forward, no way backwards. It gets stuck in a loop of descriptions that you can't get out of. So I do recommend the game if you enjoy these types of things, but seriously, have multiple saves going all the time with multiple backups in case the game soft locks you.

A deeply beautiful, well written and above all disturbing piece. I played anchorhead when it was first released many, many years ago and I'm very happy to pay to own a copy via steam as the hours of enjoyment I got from it then were worth it. Any one with even the remotest passing interesting adventure games, interactive fiction or Lovecraftian fiction should play this game. One of the best pieces of IF written, but one of the genre's best authors.