The Tartarus Key

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.

A great adventure game with minor flaws. It's a short story in game form. Worth 5-10 bucks, but not the original 20 (not for lack of quality, simply due to length) - wait for a sale and enjoy! Personally I hope they make a sequel. Pro: The puzzles and story make sense. The characters are likeable and the pacing is for the most part alright. Horror and tension are not cheaply inflated by jump scares or pursuer type enemies, giving the player time to experience the story and environments. Con: It is too short. Besides Torres there is barely any interaction with the characters. You can save them and then talk with them twice (once per area). And for how grateful the characters are portrayed they sure don't give a damn about where Alex went in the True Ending.

This genuinely might be one of my favourite puzzle games ever. It's less of a traditional horror game and more like if an elaborate Saw trap was a point n' click puzzle game. There is the potential for a lack of an in-game hint system to leave some people completely stumped without the aid of an external guide, but to me the puzzles were all very solvable and had good logic to them, which almost makes the lack of hints justified. (Better to have good puzzles and no hints than bad puzzles that necessitate them)

C'est beau et les puzzles sont cools mais un peu cher pour sa durée de vie (a prendre en promo)

Very fun, spooky puzzle game. My only negative, is I wish there was voice acting, but I understand it’s not that easy. Aside from that, the dialogue was great, I really liked the complexity of the puzzles and the environment of the mansion was really cool. Basically it felt like being in a more chill Saw movie. Figured I’d also add my YouTube playthrough link - https://youtu.be/ZSp7mQFLZCo?si=nNWKNDc0l3WXPA15 🫶🏻

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?

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

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.

Pretty good fun.

I played and completed this game in one sitting, it had me completely gripped. If you like a puzzle mystery game with a touch of haunter house/paranormal then this is the game for you. The graphics aren't great, but I loved the puzzles and the eerie vibe this game has.