The Cabinets of Doctor Arcana

Nice adventure with not soeasy puzzles,would be nice if there would be some collectibles .

This is such an amazing game that I actually bought it three separate times. Two separate digital platforms and a physical copy. Sure, the mechanics and such may seem somewhat outdated and 90s-ish, and the experience woefully short, but that feels fairly intentional and adds to the nostalgic charm permeating the game overall. Especially since it draws heavily from a style of Gothic artwork, music, aesthetic, and general atmosphere that is definitively classic and feels almost lost and truly unique in this modern day. The puzzles are also quite clever and enjoyable; not too difficult that it'd be impossible to solve them on your own (thank you, cheater's compendium), but challenging enough that solving them without help feels very satisfying. It helps that the dear mysterious Doctor himself delivers his own special brand of "motivation", in a sense. There are also no major or game-breaking bugs either, unless you're actively trying to break the game, which even then, is pretty difficult to do if my experience is anything to go by. I rarely ever write reviews if I write them at all, so I highly recommend The Cabinets of Doctor Arcana for anyone with a couple hours or so to spare getting lost in a hauntingly beautiful and arcane mansion on Halloween night (or any other night, for that matter), solving mysteries and riddles that both entertain and delight.

Fun little puzzle game. Some notes: - Creepy atmosphere - Awesome spooky soundtrack. - I love this weird graphical style where the perspective of stuff doesn't quite fit together. Gives the entire thing an otherworldy feel, as if something is wrong. - The puzzles are not overly complex - Very linear. You have to tackle every room in a specific order. Some things I didn't like: - No proper full screen or windowed full screen. - I skipped to puzzles. The "ball pushing" one because it was extremly annoying due to the slow speed, while the solution itsself was quite simple. It would probably less annoying if there was at least a "undo last move" option because one missclick is all to throw the last 10 minutes out of the window. The other one was the very last one because I was entirely sure I had the correct combination but it just wouldn't work and I couldn't figure out why that was. I had a look at the solution ingame (it has a "cheaters compendium" with all the solutions) and my solution was indeed correct, but for some reason I just couldn't press the amulet as described. - The door puzzles got repetitive extremly fast. - There are also a few puzzles that are basically used multiple times, which wasn't particularly exciting. - The puzzles weren't overly difficult, but one or two had a somewhat obscure solution. - The controls of the puzzles where you have to move around tiles made me extremly annoyed a few times. It is barely visible if you have currently selected a tile, so I accidentially moved/turned a tile all the time. It was infuriating. - The screen movement zones could probably be placed a bit better. Going back - back - back for it to suddenly change to side was a bit annoying. I also wish there was an option to only open the inventory with the press of a button as I accidentially opened it so many times. Still, if you like spooky puzzlers you can probably not go wrong with this one. Also, Nox Arcana is great.

Solid and straightforward puzzles, fun story, and relatively short game.

Cool puzzles with great atmosphere

For the type of game it is, it is actually what you would expect. For me love these type of games so do not have much to say. If you like working on your own and figuring out puzzles then you will love it, whether it is easy or hard.

In the style of 7th guest but not as difficult. It was a fun play through. It was more puzzle focused than games like The Room but those were fun also.

A very satisfying and atmospheric puzzle game, with compelling story. The graphics is spot on, reminiscent of classic 90's games of this genre. Excellent music enhances the sense of spookiness and impending doom. Very nice!