Game Review: The Nameless City

I want to do a review of the short story but since the game is fresh in my mind I figured this would be best. Of course the game takes it title from the story but how do you make exploration more than a walking simulator. In the 2010s a lot of games called walking simulators were published. Dear Esther, came out of no where and shook up the gaming world. It was a way to tell a story with little gameplay. A focus on story and narration led the player along a walking path that led to landmarks and to more narration. This design has been phased out in favor of games with more gameplay elements.

The game promises a bit more with access to ancient runes, not mentioned in the short story, as puzzle elements to unlock rooms or block hazards. The game starts strong with the game framing the opening paragraph of the short story. A quote by the mad Arab, "That is not dead, which can eternal lie. And with strange eons, even death may die." Such a powerful line has become the cornerstone on which the cthulhu myths are based on. 

Narration draws the player in but it was the graphics, not the story, that caught my eye. Set in a hazy PSX type of graphics, the game looks as if it was from twenty years ago. Yet the graphics make the obscure objects and locations feel like a dream rather than hinder the experience. The player is tasked with exploring the ruins and finding glyphs that allow passage deeper into the dead city. Taking a page from the Amnesia series, the player risks madness if they stay out of the light for too long. Along with this mechanic is several puzzles that are spread out the length of the game. Some had me scratching my head but nothing too hard to impede the story. All leading to a conclusion similar to the story where the narrator realizes the truth of the city and succumbs to the darkness after imagining  what horrifying creature must have been worshipped in this city. And worse, is it still alive? 

I hope the designers i.prove on their formula and come back with more ges. Not a bad romp but doesn't have the horrifying effect as Lovecraft's ability to imagine the unimaginable.

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