The Stamp

The Stamp is an intriguing, text-based Lovecraftian title that avoids the pitfalls of just throwing some tentacle monsters and fish people into the game and calling it a day. It reads like a traditional Lovecraft work, setting you up with a mundane starting point and taking you off on to a bizarre and, ultimately, disturbing journey. Piece by piece, step by step, things become steadily more unhinged. The major underpinning of the game is the story, so I won't give too much away, but, in short, you are asked to return to the home of a childhood friend after years of no communication to help him with a terrible task. What happened is never explicitly spelled out, but if you know your Lovecraft lore and check every nook and cranny, you can figure out roughly what went down. The gameplay is focused on matching a series of symbols up to the text. These start off fairly simple at first, but gradually become a bit more peculiar and creative. The whole game can be played in about a half an hour or so, making for an enjoyable, quiet change of pace from the vast majority of games out there. The sound design isn't anything extravagant, but lovely, perfectly setting the mood for the uneasiness you feel as you uncover more and more of the mystery. The horror elements aren't thrown right in your face. There are no cheap jump-scares here, but the slow burn of realizing what happened to this family that you used to be so close with. The writing is quite good, especially in the notes, letters, and diary pages you find to help you in your investigation. It's definitely a different kind of game - I can't say I've ever played anything quite like it before - but I enjoyed it!

This is a short cosmic horror / Lovecraftian investigation game, it can be played in one sitting - it took me 35 minutes to 100% (30 minutes for the first playthrough, then a few more minutes to pick up the one missing achievement). You explore a derelict house and find out what happened there. I wish I could put a neutral rating. I really liked the concept of putting different stamps in a row to act upon the world; the puzzles weren't particularly difficult, but they were intriguing and refreshing. I can't really think of anything quite like it and I would have been happy to have even more. This idea also meshed surprisingly well with the cosmic horror theme, I didn't expect that. (Thinking more about it, there is something inhuman in abstraction, after all!) But the story did not particularly grab me, and the reveals left me cold. I felt like playing a short horror game and The Stamp more than delivered with these unique mechanics, so I don't regret buying and playing it at all, I just wished the story was a bit stronger. I followed the dev and might buy other games from them in the future - Greymarsh looks especially intriguing (I like vintage gamebooks). __ Source of the game: Bought with my own money

Good unusual but very short subtle horror experience.

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To someone who from time to time will go back to bits and bobs of Lovecraft's work just to immerse myself in the atmosphere, The Stamp is really perfect. It's got the same allure as reading The Terrible Old Man, He, The Colour Out of Space, and so on; they're just as much mysteries as they are horror. For starters, I thoroughly enjoyed the mechanics and layout. There's something very satisfying about determining where to place each symbol - although, whether in this game or a future one, I'd love to see more options on how to combine them when outside, perhaps leading to some optional exploration with hints of what's to come - and the visual hinting in certain puzzles was just great. They're never complex to the point of irritation, and the length of the game is a boon in allowing the simplest ones to never wear out their welcome. So too does the story end at just the right point and hint just enough at what's beneath. I've always been a firm proponent of never truly knowing the background in tales such as these, which is part of what brought me to Lovecraft in the first place. I'm happy with seeing aftereffects of what's occurred, and finding remnants of whatever forbidden knowledge was unearthed. In general, subtlety is a large aspect of The Stamp. There's a subtly disturbing quality to the occasional background visuals; to the splashes of red on the map; to the occasional sound effect that breaks across your concentration; to the information you're fed, and the reminiscing you do. It's a really imagination-churning experience. I really admire the creativity that went into this creation and I was happy to play it. I'll most likely come back occasionally to experience it again. While I bought it on sale, I also encourage you to pay full price if you have the spare funds and want to support someone developing unique little experiences such as these. I look forward to the next release, whenever that may be.

我自己很喜歡這遊戲，雖然遊戲時間不短，但是很符合我的口味。 操作簡單，就只需要專注解決每一開關的謎題就便可。透過故事旁白去解開抽象的拼圖向下一關進發，繼續揭開故事的真相。不過，我覺得最後兩個拼圖真的太難解了，很抽象耶。

Short text-based narrative puzzle game wrapped around a Lovecraftian story. The puzzles all neatly follow the format of selecting a sequence of icons (“stamps”), typically trying to represent something in the text. They make a lot of sense except for the dot puzzle, which had an unclear goal and tough execution, and stalled momentum unnecessarily.

A short, minimalistic, but recommended horror adventure.

A quick atmospheric puzzle with some interesting twists and unique mechanic. The last puzzle got me looking up solutions, but overall enjoyed it quite a lot!