Strange Antiquities Review – Sequel Vibrates With Good Vibes

Review of Strange Antiquities

Strange Antiquities knows I can't resist a spooky story.

Any dedicated fan of ghost stories and rainy London streets should check out this game from developer Bad Viking. Strange Antiquities. This adventure puzzle game is the successor to 2022's Strange Horticultural, but instead of selling plants, you share occult items with the inhabitants of not-quite-Victorian England.

After all, what's scarier than a retail outlet than a display case full of demonic antiques?

Come one, come all

The gameplay loop of Strange Antiquities is simple. You play as a sales assistant, suddenly left in charge of dangerous goods in a store. Clients ask for help finding a specific item or solving a specific problem. You must comply with these requests.

Players refer to the occult manual, using links to match the item you are looking for with objects on the shelf. As players progress, they acquire more Cross-Reference IDs and Cross-Reference Books. It will no longer be enough to pay attention to the sketch of an object or to compare the materials it highlights; Increasingly, you will need to use a gemstone guide or a book of symbols to untangle complex arrays of magical symbols.

Give a buyer the wrong relic and your fear meter will go up a few more notches. When it reaches its maximum, players must match a series of dice rolls with the corresponding symbols. If you fail… well, try again. The lack of consequences means players risk experiencing boredom rather than horror. From mysterious letters and tarot cards to catacombs and castles, there seems to be no end to the objects and places that can be unearthed.

Triple tablet

Oh, how I love displaying my shelves full of heirlooms. If I didn't like puzzles, finding new ways to organize my occult friends would be an endlessly enjoyable task.

To be clear, not all of these objects were my friends. To learn more about each object, players test them using sight, hearing, smell, and touch. We can all guess that a bloody hand isn't the best artifact to keep on hand, but you'd be surprised to see some scary items hiding in plain sight.

Strange Antiquities' core gameplay loop of satisfying customer demands is satisfying, if sometimes frustrating with so much cross-checking. The best feeling is when the books don't come out at all – you've learned what you need to know.

puzzled

Once you've really gotten into the game, it's hard to keep track of all the story elements in Strange Antiquities. Three maps, half a dozen letter fragments, and a recurring cast of characters, each with their own problems, make for a scattered experience. This isn't helped by a personal lack of interest in the Thaumic symbols that make up much of the late game. I've never liked puzzle games that rely on symbols in this way.

Well-designed logic puzzles don't need crutches like thaumic lenses and dumb symbols to help players cross the finish line. This doesn't ruin the experience – even stellar games like The Case of the Golden Idol make similar mistakes – but it does make identifying some of the relics an unsatisfying challenge.

Occult technique

My biggest hope is that this game will be a little more fun to play on the Steam Deck than Strange Horticultural. Like its predecessor, Strange Antiquities is heavily optimized for the Steam Deck. There are improvements over the previous one; For example, sliding around the screen becomes more natural. Unfortunately, the game's core mechanics are still so tied to point-and-click that even moving around the screen feels like a concession.

It's hard enough for indie developers to compete in a saturated market. I'm sure it's even harder to factor in handheld controls for a game designed for PC. But when I want to play a cozy detective game like Strange Antiquities, I always go for the portable option.

Mapping history

One of my favorite elements were the text-based secondary locations found in the city, castle, and catacombs. These scenes usually produce the best writing and the most interesting storytelling. These moments serve a more compelling plot that pulled me into the final hours of the short game. I like how the paths branch in the finale. While replaying the game doesn't hold much appeal for me, the tantalizing details given to players after the final moments hint at some more interesting endings.

I was disappointed that Strange Antiquities didn't fix some of my issues with the first game, but it's still a noticeable improvement in the difficulty and depth of the gameplay. Strange Antiquities is the perfect choice for the Halloween season. The best ones create a cozy but eerie Victorian atmosphere. If you love mystery games, the attraction will be irresistible.

***PC code provided by publisher for review***