The Tartarus Key

Awesome little puzzler with a medium level of difficulty at times, though sometimes this is a result of the game and its environments masking things at times. Its at its best when journeying further into the mansion building some intrigue. The dialogue and characters mostly suck and are cheesy but not in an endearing way, fortunately you can click through some of the chit chat pretty quick to get back at it. The characters seem to mostly exist as an failure point to further incentivize you to get things right as you can fail to rescue them and beyond that they exist for mostly idle chit chat. The adventure was fun but the ending does leave a bit to be desired if you are at all interested in the overarching plot involving the secrets of the mansion. A solid 7/10 imo I mostly enjoyed roaming around and doing the puzzling bits and the game does those mostly quite well and in a variety of ways outside of the traditional put the square object in the square shaped hole. Most just require a small amount of reading/observational skills nothing ridiculous or too hard, mostly fair.

+

The Tartarus Key is a puzzle game where you wake up in a mansion and have to find a way to get out of it by solving different puzzles set for you by a mysterious person. The twist? You have to save people by solving puzzles that will kill them if you solve them incorrectly. I feel like the game has the perfect atmosphere, that combination of dim warm lights with retro PlayStation 1 graphics with low-poly models makes it already uncanny and creepy. The game barely tries to spook you, it happens maybe two or three times, but the atmosphere just keeps you on edge the whole time. I also found the puzzles pretty good, they are never nonsensical and they really make you think. Although a lot of the puzzles are on the easy side, it is always better than relying on moon logic. The weakest part of the game is probably its writing. I think the people you save should interact more and have a bigger role to play than just sitting there and wait. I guess that the game would have benefited from voice acting in this case, although I do not think it would have improved the endings that I feel were not as good as the rest of the developments in the game. I still recommend the game for the atmosphere alone, especially if you dedicate a dark evening to discover it.

Very fun escape room-style puzzle with some mind-bending stuff going on! Puzzles were very challenging to figure out and you reaally have to pay attention to get the solution right, otherwise some people might die lol. Very interesting story with charming low-poly graphics style that reminds me of early playstation era but with modern lighting.

Can I recommend it? Depends. I loved the PS1 graphics and level design. I expected it to be more gory and scary, but it wasn't in the slightest. 90% of the plot boils down to: enter the room, solve the puzzle, save the friend, repeat, which is kinda boring ("90%" when we take the good ending - yes, there's more than 1 ending - otherwise it's 100%). Also, choosing specific ending (won't tell you which one) doesn't compensate for explaining the whole plot, which doesn't make sense to me, as you're left with question marks. If you like more advanced puzzles (I finished the game using guide, 'cause I'm too tired and lazy after work to use my brain any longer), old-school graphics, go for it. Other than that - not worth your time. 5/10

Dig the visual aesthetic and the sound design on this one! Gave me some Mouthwashing vibes. The puzzling wasn't too difficult though, if puzzles games are your jam - you'll probably get through a lot of them fairly easily. However, that just allows you to progress through the story at a fair pace. There is definitely a ton of dialogue (as other reviews have mentioned) but I think the chatter serves its purpose in showcasing each character's personality. There isn't voice acting, yet you eventually start to "hear" the way they speak anyway from all of the conversations. Plus, their backstories make you wonder why everyone is in the predicament they're in. Overall, it was an entertaining short game with some nifty situations you had to get through (and get other characters through without killing them...the first go-around). The eerieness was that for the most part, this scenario could actually happen IRL :grimace: so yeah, eat the rich amirite?

Enjoyed the puzzles and the classic style. Short enough to be done in one or two sittings depending on if you get stumped by a puzzle, (which I did by not find ONE piece of paper hidden away in a corner). The possibility of getting your companions killed definitely adds some tension to your puzzle-solving and I enjoyed the little tidbits of dialogue you get with them