Dracula Awakens

A delightful gem of an indie game that's a few hours well spent for just a few bucks. This game has become an easy recommendation for my friends and I had a great time playing through. The Great: 1. The Aesthetics and Atmosphere are top notch. The low-poly models give everything a wonderful retro vibe and the spritework is delightful. I loved to just walk around and soak in each room as I paced through the Intro and even took a few minutes to stop and sketch some of my favorite details. Each room of the castle, complete with their own furnishings and aesthetics, are delightful to take in and there are so many fun little sinister details as you soak in the surroundings. 2. The initial feeling of exploring the castle combined with the tension created by the game environment. There are a lot of really subtle effects that go a long way in creating a bit of tension as you first explore the castle. The floors seemingly shift beneath your feet. You hear random creaks and laughter from uncertain directions. You don't know what's behind each imposing door, opening them to an abyss and a howling crack each time. You don't have much direction---you have to find a jacket of someone who went missing and you have some initial knowhow of the castle from playing through the introduction---and this lack of direction plays into the exploration and puzzle solving so well. Piecing together each solution completely by your own wit is a delight and satisfying. That all being said, I do have a few critiques. They aren't major issues, I still enjoyed my time quite a lot, but I want to give some feedback to the developer and post a few things that might help out folks stuck on a couple of puzzles. 1. I think there needs to be a stamina bar for running or something to make Dracula and Lilith more of a threat. I really enjoyed the initial tension of running into them and trying to run away but after a few times, the surprise wore off and I realized just how easy it was to get away from them by holding the shift key down. Not only do you have infinite stamina, you can sprint in all directions, meaning you can run away and look at them to see where they're trying to go at the same time. Something to limit how often the player can run or to give Dracula and Lilith some better pathfinding or something could go a long way in keeping that initial tension going. 2. Some of the puzzles are a bit ambiguous in ways that players might struggle with. I think a certain level of ambiguity needs to be present for players to have some challenge and fun solving these puzzles, but some feel disjointed with how the clues are presented. For instance, if the player inspects the painting of Dracula near the entrance of the castle (which is somewhat easy to miss if you don't look), they note how it could probably be taken down with "something strong." I interpreted this as needing to use a crowbar or some sort of tool, but the actual solution is a flask of acid you get after feeding the courtyard plant and finding a bottle in the dorms. When I got the acid, I didn't go back to the painting of Dracula until I ran out of every other puzzle I could solve and then finally realized I needed to use it. This could just be an issue with how I thought of the clue, but I think a better one might be something about the painting looking thin or easily melted or something might clue in the player a bit better once they get the bottle of acid while still keeping things ambiguous. Another puzzle I had a bit of an odd time solving was the courtyard puzzle. The poem hinting at the paintings' order seems a bit disjointed with how you have to put them in (Valley-->Dark-->Dark-->Moon), I think there could have been something better written for it. Also, I kinda wish the clue was more about the sprite of the painting you see by looking at it in your inventory, rather than just spelling it out with the titles. (Maybe it is and I'm too obtuse to get it). I wound up just brute forcing the order once I had each frame to actually solve the puzzle, which didn't take too long thankfully. I accidentally solved the clock puzzle when I got to it. I am not sure what clue indicates it but the correct time is 4:40 (or something at 4:00, I don't remember the minutes exactly) if anyone is struggling too much. I thought the time would be 4:20pm because of the letters from the servants and the other weed jokes, but I was wrong. I'm not sure what other time-related clues there are to help people because I just kinda fluked through it my first go around, but I could see it being a stumbling block for a lot of players. That said, I think the rest of the puzzle design is great, and even these issues aren't too major. 3. I found the ghosts to be a bit frustrating at times. There aren't too many of them and you have enough meds to just kinda tank them if you need to, but they tended to kinda bump into me from out of nowhere a bit too often and their audio clues seemed a bit janky/inconsistent. 4. I wish the camera had a few more uses. I wish the photos you take could be viewed later as a means for keeping track of puzzles or just to take in-game pictures---this game's aesthetics are so good that I would love to be able to take some screen caps using the camera. Also, I wish there was some sort of puzzle that relied on you using your camera in a clever way. One I thought of could be an empty easel with a note saying "I need a figure to paint" and the player has to go into a bathroom, find a mirror, and take a photo of themselves that they leave on the easel to solve the puzzle. I know that this is a small game done by a one man team, but I think another couple of uses for the camera could really add a lot to the game. That all being said, I really enjoyed my time with this game, I think I might wind up replaying it just to walk around, take in the scenery and do some more drawings. I am really looking forward to what else this dev might create.