In 2022’s Unusual Horticulture, you ran a little bit store of horrors, dealing vegetation with an occult edge to the inhabitants of a mysterious darkish city. Now, Dangerous Viking and Iceberg Interactive’s follow-up, Unusual Antiquities, takes us again to Undermere. Once more, one thing unusual is afoot. Once more, you hear residents’ issues and provide up options out of your vary. Once more, there’s a cat you may pat (!) who will get startled by the store bell.
However this time, as an alternative of being plant-based, the options are antique-based. Should you loved the primary instalment for its puzzles and sinister aura, be sure you attain for this treasure, as a result of it’s simply as enjoyable. (Both manner, the primary recreation is price taking part in.)
In Unusual Antiquities, you’re the apprentice of a thaumaturge (a form of magic miracle-worker) who has left you to run his store whereas he investigates peculiar goings-on. He offers you a map of Undermere and a guide known as ‘Unusual Artefacts: A information to occult objects’, the latter your bible for understanding which among the many oddities at your disposal will assist numerous prospects’ misfortunes. And there are cabinets on cabinets of those otherworldly objects: a stag carved of wooden, a pendant with a transferring eye, a disfigured hand. You already know, your regular macabre bric-a-brac.
A lot of the play is listening to prospects’ requests for mystical antiques. They could be caring for an ailing cherished one, or setting out on a journey, or looking for a present. They may have a selected object in thoughts, or they’ll simply describe the scenario and you might want to counsel one thing. You deduce the required trinket by matching the outline in your guide with the store’s wares. Clues is usually a bit obscure however there are intelligent hints to assist. And once you match every vintage efficiently, you get extra clues, extra puzzles. I used to be so consumed with this gameplay loop that I missed my (IRL) bedtime in my first play session.
Current the incorrect vintage, nonetheless, and also you’ll enhance a kind of anti-health bar. When the meter fills up, you’ll really feel ‘a deep concern has taken root’. This takes you to a cube roll minigame the place you might want to match symbols on cube to these on a board to decrease the concern. It’s fairly enjoyable in itself and its religious symbols of cats, snakes, suns, moons, and so forth., really feel proper at residence with the unearthly undercurrent.
However the plot thickens: a buyer is available in with an issue and your resolution might be one in every of two objects – right here the sport warns you that your alternative will decide the destiny of the story. These moral quandaries come up a couple of instances all through, and whereas I received’t spoil something, I’ll say I delighted in seeing the implications of my chosen antiquity.
Round this time the sport additionally opens up new areas and new methods of pondering: you might want to procure new objects for the shop. Dialogue, letters, playing cards, and different paraphernalia pile in your desk, every hinting at a locale in your map the place you may unearth these antiques. This ‘exploration’ doesn’t contain a lot visible change of scene (the shop stays static), however the story unfolds by thrilling Arthur Conan Doyle-style prose.
In that manner, the worldbuilding typically capabilities like a visible novel: your creativeness is left to fill within the blanks. These moments have been once I observed how masterful the storytelling is, all the time constructing intrigue and pulling you thru, even when not a lot is occurring on display screen. It is spectacular that such a wealthy world matches into such a tiny area.
As you progress, the puzzle ‘items’ turn into extra scattered. I discovered myself cross-referencing numerous books and instruments, and leaping out and in of merchandise inspection. I used my very own notes and screenshots to doc clues, however it will’ve been good if findings have been logged someplace in-game.
Having stated that, I used to be by no means caught. Each time I’d really feel misplaced on one puzzle, I’d put it apart and work on one other. Lo and behold, the puzzles interlinked and I used to be in a position to resolve each. This implies issues movement fairly easily – making the sport all of the extra addictive.
Like its predecessor, Unusual Antiquities is PC-first. Its point-and-click operate longs for a mouse like Tess Sherwood longs for a Horned Shackle, as a result of transferring the cursor with the joystick is a little bit of a drag. Dangerous Viking has added choices for cursor velocity to deal with this, although I nonetheless discovered the joystick a little bit laggy. You’d assume, then, the sport could be a super candidate for Swap 2’s mouse characteristic, however at this stage it’s not supported. So: good ol’ handheld is your good friend right here – an appropriately cosy method to play.
Together with cursor velocity, there’s vary of settings, resembling arachnophobia mode and easy-to-read fonts (sadly font dimension is static, however your magnifying glass can embiggen it). Early Unusual Horticulture followers might be excited to allow autolabelling – a blessing for individuals who discover typing on the Swap cursed.
Each artefact, map, and character has been designed with intricate consideration to element – no straightforward feat when there are such a lot of. The fashion is darkish sufficient to take care of its arcane leanings, but cartoonish sufficient that you already know it will not hang-out you at night time. It strikes the stability of cosy-spooky (or, as my associate says, ‘kooky’). Likewise, the sluggish tempo and minor-key piano music is a little bit eerie with out being disturbing in a real horror sense; no jumpscares right here.
Conclusion
In Unusual Antiquities, Dangerous Viking expands the wealthy world of Unusual Horticulture – this time in an vintage store specialising within the occult. The puzzles are cryptic however not often skull-cracking, forming an addictive gameplay loop: who knew searching down magic antiques to resolve prospects’ conundrums might be so satisfying?
The entire thing is cloaked in a gripping thriller narrative, which you’ll affect with the precise (or incorrect) occult oddity. And with the potential of a number of endings, replay worth is excessive – at the least for these of you who need to see simply how a lot strangeness is in retailer.
