And, as it turns out, it was actually because I’d assumed objects could only be used for one single puzzle. Odd, certainly – you’ll find yourself collecting starfish vomit at one point – but there was only one time I felt like I’d hit a brick wall. Even though there’s a dreamlike quality to the world, the solutions to these conundrums are never obtuse. Why is a scribe writing down everything that raven says? And how can use that to your advantage? Most of the puzzles (which include both object gathering and logic puzzles) are perfectly pitched, and pleasingly satisfying to solve. It’s also handy for figuring out how you’re going to make headway in this odd world. But just pottering around, gawping at the scenery and characters, letting the eerie soundtrack flow into your ears, is good for a few minutes entertainment. Strangeland isn’t a huge, realm-spanning epic it’ll take you four to five hours to complete it, with a creator commentary option serving as an incentive to dive back in. Each of them has something to say about your predicament – though whether you can trust them, or if they’re even real, is entirely up for grabs. Entrance clown aside, you encounter a pair of ravens, a mysterious, eyeless old men, a sentient furnace and a host of other oddballs. Giger and Monkey Island’s Ron Gilbert in a room and told them to get to work. Instead, Strangeland is an off-putting gothic endeavour the kind of game you’d get if you locked Tim Burton, H.R. Granted, “twisted funfair” isn’t the most original setting for an adventure game but Strangeland’s world is, er, strange enough to make it stand out, and the funfair elements (for the most part, at least) take a backseat. Your nameless, wild-eyed protagonist wakes up in a bizarre realm, the titular Strangeland, and after stepping through a wise-cracking clown’s giant mouth ends up in a twisted funfair. Unlike the former, it’s not drenched in gore – but it’s still endearingly unsettling. It emulates the dreamlike quality and slightly-stilted animation that characterised Harvester, I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream and other point-and-click adventures of the era. Strangeland goes out of its way to convince you you’ve fallen off your chair and woken up in the 90s.
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