Barrow Hill: Curse of the Ancient Circle

Not great at this kind of game, but persevering I have found this quite sneaky and satisfying, and certainly atmospheric. Pernicketiness is rewarded in the control method lol

If you like old school point-and-click adventure games, then you might also enjoy this one. If you don't like them, then it's very unlikely that this game would be your exception. Personally, I love them, and this game exemplifies a lot of what I enjoy about the genre. There's a large quantity of extremely necessary reading, as numerous clues are hidden in notes, journals, scientific reports, etc. The journal entries and scientific reports are particularly well-written imo, and I really liked delving into them and teasing out the plot-relevant details. Puzzles are logical and suited to the story, and the game plays fair with providing background info and hints...sometimes even more than once. There's one puzzle that you can solve in at least three different ways! The triggers for plot progression are mostly well-judged; there's only one that really bugged me, in which a location was off-limits for no discernible reason until the game decided it was time for me to explore there. On the less positive side, the graphics are dated and the voice-acting is amateurish (though not the worst I've heard), neither of which bothers me overly much but which may turn some people off. Also, the first time I played the game I was able to complete it without any outside help, but the second time I was playing with a darker monitor, and I ended up relying on a let's play to find some objects that I [i]knew[/i] were there but couldn't locate in the shadows. This problem was exacerbated by the navigational controls, which are a bit on the clunky side. The atmosphere is more unsettling than it is scary. There are a couple of very minor jump scares (seriously, so minor they barely qualify). Some of the sound effects are wonderfully subtle and eerie, however, and provide a nice sense of dread in certain scenes. And a couple of pieces of advice if you decide to play the game: 1) Keep pen and paper handy when you play. You don't have an in-game journal, and there's a lot of info you'll need to keep track of. 2) This isn't readily obvious when you're playing, but there are two possible endings, one good and one bad. Take care to get the one you want!