BOOK OF HOURS

I really wanted to love this game, but it is inscrutable. It is clearly a very well made, and really beautiful game, but the general gameplay is impossible to wrap my head around. Progress is frequently barred by a skill system that is deliberately obtuse to help tell its story, but the charm is wasted when it is this frustrating. I'm going to try and find some online guides or YouTube tutorials because trying to work out how to play on my own has been nothing but a sad and irritating experience.

A cozy horror game. The video game that most feels like performing an eldritch ritual. The writing is vague, deeply pretentious, and serenely beautiful. Not for everyone, but I have given this game my heart, hours of my life to its wiki, and it has rewarded me with dreams of a fanciful mythology. I don't usually remember my dreams, but I do remember Book of Hours.

终于全成就了！能把这个游戏打九个周目做什么都会成功的（？ 这一作的玩法类似电子娃娃屋，流程比前作密教模拟器更明确，最基础的通关方式几乎一开头就给到了，但要搞清楚故事依旧不太容易，推荐配合wiki以及手头的笔记本，抱着吃瓜的心态体验游戏，捋清楚噤声居屋发生的事情之后就能搞清楚个七七八八了。 当然，一如 AK 之前作品的传统，本作的信息极度分散，几乎所有物品都可以进行研究互动，文本偶尔也有真假混杂互相矛盾。要搞清楚游戏到底在讲什么，需要玩家花大量时间收集、对照和梳理信息；而真正通关只要求完成一套不太需要动脑的合成。游戏本身没给推理方面任何系统支持，没有侦探游戏式的线索验证系统，也不会要求你提交推理答案，理解故事本身几乎完全是游戏之外的自选挑战。 中文本地化方面，本作本体部分整体水平不错，光之居屋dlc有品质下降。部分复杂长句和文学性较强的文本里能明显感觉到翻译腔（[strike]如果我每次看到“如此……以致于”就能拿钱的话我早就财富自由了[/strike]），风格化方面明显弱于前作又依赖前作的语言资产，但好在关键信息和大部分专有名词没有太多损失，不影响故事梳理。属于有瑕疵和提升空间，但至少不会让人打到一半接受不了切回英文重读的程度。不过作为系列受众依旧希望后续的作品在本地化方面能更用心——而且这里的“用心”并不等于再换一个传说中更厉害的翻译团队，是需要开发和翻译团队更好的协作，让翻译团队更理解世界观在讲什么。 总之，这是一款把读书、收拾屋子、招待客人，以及从互相矛盾的八卦里拼世界观做成核心体验的游戏。推荐给喜欢叙事游戏、愿意自己做笔记/多语言对照wiki理解内容、享受慢慢整理空间和世界观的人；如果期待明确任务指引、逻辑推理解谜或持续提供反馈的玩法，则可能会觉得它既拖沓又故弄玄虚。而想要全成就的话……建议先确认自己近期对人生没有其他安排。 [b]一些提升游戏体验的tips:[/b] *务必先玩前作，或者起码wiki翻一遍，这是一个世界观为核心的叙事游戏，我认为不看之前的lore玩这类游戏体验起码打五折 *本质这是个英国人写的游戏，所以提前了解康沃尔地区的传说（起码最有名的那个…？）能对一些名词更敏锐[strike] 但是先涂果酱再涂凝脂奶油的还是异端 [/strike] *不要不舍得用任何消耗品，也不要舍不得花钱，图书管理员处境比教主强多了 *存档功能是好文明！（又是一个教主没有的东西呢 [b]一些光之居屋dlc相关的说明：[/b] *游戏内在某个前期必要流程后会出现季度事件，事件解决（即接待所有访客）后【智慧之树】界面的事件图标会点亮可互动，后面的内容就是dlc的主体了，没有时间限制，可以随时继续推进事件后续。 [strike] AK：dlc写了一个小说的体量；还是AK：但不告诉任何人怎么进dlc内容[/strike] *季节事件是否帮助访客会影响某些事件的后续走向，但如果目标是一周目内覆盖全部灯塔学会结局的话，那么全部帮忙就好了 *季节事件可以通过直接邀请相关访客（通过性相或者wiki判断）快速过掉 最低邀请成本： [spoiler]技能凑性相+打字机当墨水用（可重复）+1便士，几乎无消耗[/spoiler] [spoiler]某个需要欢欣雌黄的访客就等他自己来吧，到这个时候多半也不差这几个季度了[/spoiler] [b]如果你也打算全成就……[/b] （含剧透，没通关至少一周目不要点开隐藏部分） *最低九周目，和开局选择的出身强相关 *建议先用一个周目事无巨细的了解游戏机制/最大程度收集信息，保留书写本体结局前的存档，并在这个周目完成全部灯塔学会结局。 *可以通过以下方式把一件物品继承到下一周目： [spoiler]将想要传递的物品放在【岛屿决议会第十三任图书管理员？】的壁龛处，随后达成结局，并通过【进入历史】开启新周目。该物品会出现在下一周目【第十二任图书管理员】的壁龛处。大旋梯雕像不需要全部归位，重点是第十三任壁龛里只留下你想继承的那件东西。[/spoiler] [spoiler]推荐继承下一周目结局需要的闰识书。不同出身对应的特殊结局不同，记得提前对好目标。[/spoiler] *新周目的目标： [spoiler] 1. 选好对应出身。 2. 先选定目标闰识与目标性相，再围绕它读书拿技能。技能要选择升满后能提供 10 点目标性相的，对应魂质至少拿到能提供 3 点目标性相。 3. 提前明确阅读闰识书所需语言和能教授的访客，SL刷到访客感兴趣的事件 4. 居屋只需要重点开到【大旋梯：三楼】【布莱恩伯爵甸】【对应的魂质升级工作台】以及【合成目标墨水（目标性相终刻墨、贵紫）所需的工作台】。 5. 最稳定的历史结局配置：技能 10＋闰识 5＋终刻墨 7＋魂质 3，正好凑够 25 点性相写入日记，不需要额外写决断，只消耗一次终刻墨 6. 用贵紫＋合适的技能凑够 20 点启、月或引，书写闰时请愿。注意整个配方里不能带刃、心或冬，记得提前规划好。 [/spoiler]

Much like Cultist Simulator, Book of Hours is Lovecraft done right. But if Cultist Simulator was a careful balance that felt urgent and unforgiving, Book of Hours is a nice read by the fireplace on a rainy day. This game wants you to have a notebook by your side and document all the forbidden knowledge and lore you uncover, it wants you to have an excel sheet open on a second screen documenting all the characters you hear and read about, all the books you catalog and read, all the secrets, influences and gods and how they play onto each other. It's a game for a very specific kind of person, but god I know I'm that person and as a fan of CRPGs I can't wait to check out Travelling at Night.

前作在手机上玩的，依旧无指引，依旧谜语人，ak塑造的世界观，不管是无光之海，密教模拟器，还是本作，很美丽迷人，但是想要去理解很难，玩这个系列作品，都需要花时间成本去摸索，刚玩的时候是一脸懵，一下午没有推进，不过随着阅读游戏文本，就会明白每一张卡片都有自己独特的数值，本质是凑数值去开房间，拆书皮读神秘书籍，最后转化为技能，不断促进自己变得更博学，开完房间之后，你的游戏才刚刚开始。 P.S.这并不是毫无反抗的类克苏鲁神话，人永远拥有机会，如果决心想玩这个游戏，记得一定要去看看wiki 对了，ak，新作我很喜欢，但如果新作再拖一年半载没官方简体中文，还要逼着逼着才不情愿的出，那我真心希望你的浮木会被蠕虫吃掉，你也是！

This game is definitely not for everyone, but I love it. It's more of a puzzle game than anything else: you need to figure out the right combination of moves to unlock the next book / room. In the beginning the difficulty comes from the fact that the game doesn't hold your hand; in the end, it comes from the fact that you often need long chains of moves to unlock something, and these chains have to be creatively managed around the day / night cycle. The only real complaint I have: the game would be so much better if it was fully turn-based rather than real time with pause. Or at least if it had that option. Having a pause system means that the game's difficulty isn't really tied to moving around the screen quickly enough to keep all the plates in the air, so there's no gameplay advantage to running things in real time. Instead, the way I play (and I suspect the way most people play) involves pausing at regular intervals and trying to time things *just right* so that I can fit all the things I want to do into the day. That's just a turn-based game with extra steps. Making the game turn-based would also help with replayability, because it would take less real life time to do things when I don't have to wait 30 second between each turn. You could even keep the feel of time passing by playing a short animation after each turn.

Game is strangely irregular. There is no clarity as far as regards quests and indication of progress. It is very easy to get stuck or remain idle doing menial tasks without being certain if you are progressing or not. It is also particularly complex which should include a tutorial based on the high complexity. Would not recommend unless you plan spending hours figuring out the mechanics and by that point the game starts feeling considerably underwhelming. The game has a lot of potential but presently it feels unfinished.

nice and relaxed, but still rather deep. If you don't want to use the wiki, be prepared to write a lot of stuff down.

Book of Hours is a game about librarian exploring their own library and finding very, very disturbing books, scrolls, melodies and films. It is set in the universe of Cultist Simulator, a bit later in the timeline I think? So many elements from previous game are there as well. The gameloop looks complex at first, but after trying it out for a while it is surprisingly simple: it's a deck stacking game. Collect enough cards with similar aspects and progress, repeat again until satisfactory results. I've won in 38 hours and read 181 books (had Excel sheet for that!), wiki says there is about 270 books, although a good 100 of them only comes from auction house which appears like once a season or something, very slow basically. Things I didn't like: 1. Soul card evolution - finding the right station sounds easy at first, but is actually a nightmare; since you need at least one matching aspect on both soul cards and skill you use this becomes a challenge: I understand there are special memories to help with that, but this is frustrating nonetheless 2. Color coding - aspects have colors and so do books. For example Sky aspect is blue and most Sky books are also blue, but there are, in my opinion, unnecessary examples when this logic isn't followed and that makes me a bit angry. Cultist Simulator didn't have this issue 3. Mid to lategame skill progression - Numa season erases your lessons you haven't used so you are motivated to use your lessons before; the problem is upgrading skill requires memories, from 0 to 8 pieces, getting them over and over again becomes very tiring, for example if you are a 100% gamer and want to have every skill at max level 9 prepare to sink 200 to 300 hours (rough estimate) in one run for that Players even made a guide about special Memory Rooms to help with skill leveling, it is still tiring. There is no tips on books themselves about what memory they give so you have to either write it down or consult wiki The points above made me burn out and I haven't tried House of Light content at all, a bit sad since it is said there is a novel worth of content there. If you like Cultist Simulator for its lore - consider trying to play Book of Hours as well (I will try Cultist Simulator). If you like Cultist Simulator for its reactive gameplay - you won't find it there, there are no ways to lose in Book of Hours, libraries are pretty safe places. Overall if you like slow, cozy games with a lot of reading (the writing is fantastic I think, although most of the time I didn't understand what I've read lol), simple "get enough material" puzzles - this is a good game to try.

Library