The Lost Crown

We should start by making one thing very clear. This game is awesome! It looks very interesting blending the 3D models with the photographic backgrounds and the soundtrack is excellent. If you like old school point and click adventure games and a good spooky narrative then this will tick all the boxes. BUT Don't get too invested in the cliffhanger ending. The sequel is never coming (it's been nearly 20 years) and every so often a glimmer of hope comes from the developers but so far nothing. The mini story set at Halloween did even more to tease the sequel and we still got nothing. If you're OK playing this as a standalone game and ignoring the Blackenrock setup then it is well worth the experience.

Such a brilliant game! The story line is great, love the characters, the ghost hunting. The town is so quaint. Super nostalgic and can't wait for the next game to come out, if it ever will!

A gripping game with constant tension, thanks to the sound design and unique visuals. How wonderful it is to play it again after 13 years 🖤 A magnificent story, leaving much to personal interpretation: mysticism, the tragedy of others’ fates and secrets guarded for centuries. A pleasant lingering impression and a gentle sadness from the story’s conclusion. I’m grateful to the creators for this brilliant idea and its beautiful execution. Absolutely recommended!

There's a Lovecraft short story entitled "He" that I read recently. As Lovecraft tends to do, he crafts the first-person protagonist after himself: disillusioned with a modern soulless city, seeking the fascination of the past, and confronted with historical horrors. If you (like me) share many of those feelings, then The Lost Crown is for you. If you don't, then you will most likely be bored out of your ever-loving mind. Much has been said about the slow animations, the amateurish voice acting, the typos in written material, the obtuse puzzles, and the generally clunky dialogue - at least I don't have to go into detail about those anymore. I followed a guide for the most part, right-clicking through 90% of the dialogue and double-clicking on everything in the hopes that (when it felt like it) the game would skip to the next screen. Despite this, I was still listening to constant repetition of the same lines and still watching Nigel meander around for his requisite three slow steps per new screen. The game could have been made in first-person POV with a slideshow design and been so, so much better to play. But I kept playing, for 15 hours total. When you ignore the opening and closing - which both came across like a bad Syfy channel movie to me - this game and its gorgeous real-world locations evoke so much fascination in me. Strange historical places haunted with dark mysteries and untouched by human hands for years if not generations are my absolute favorite video game locations, and The Lost Crown has those in spades. Honestly, many of the locations really did capture that strange, nothing-sacred aesthetic of the M.R. James stories upon which the game is based; but if you compare "A Warning To The Curious" to The Lost Crown, there's a weird sort of overcomplicated feeling to the latter that really exemplifies where it kind of went wrong in spots. (Also, the story's protagonist is absolutely racked with terror, while Nigel is...well, Nigel. You just have to pretend that you're not on the journey with him and his running commentary soundboard.) It was hard for me to decide if I wanted to recommend this game or not. I don't think I'll play it again simply because of how tedious it could be, which is why I came to the ultimate conclusion that no, I can't recommend it. It gives a lot of food for thought - at least before it does whatever that was at the end - and there really isn't anything more evocative than poking around some weird old churches and dilapidated buildings that aren't covered with a coat of graffiti like they'd be in real life. But like I said above, if you're not into that kind of atmosphere, you will most likely bounce right off. You have to be willing to dig (not just under a row of fir trees, either). Don't let my review and others like it put you off, but do your research - watch some gameplay, perhaps, and see if you can pick it up on sale as I did. Don't expect to adore it like many do just because it's scary or atmospheric.

Nostalgic and such an excellent indie game!

3/10

Reviewing games I played a long time ago: This is probably one of the best point n click games from the genre revival during the 2010's. Nice art style, good story and outstanding atmosphere. The town is based on a real location and has tons of spooky charm. Plays nicely on the Deck

A great game, lovely graphics and very creepy.