Hey everyone, PushingUpRoses here - today we’re going to be taking a look at a new
adventure game developed by Wormwood Studios and published by Wadjet Eye games.
I had been following the progress on this title for a while with great anticipation.
When it was released, one of the developers sent me a key and I was very excited - I was
going to buy it anyway but they were kind enough to notice the game was in my wheelhouse
in terms of mechanics and visual style and offered it to me.
I played it and now I have some things to say.
If you aren’t familiar with Wormwood, which is among the best company names I’ve ever
heard, they are known for their artsy, dark looking adventure games - the title I was
the most familiar with was Primordia, which is very indicative of their style.
Wadjet Eye Games, founded by Dave Gilbert, published it,and if you aren’t familiar
with them, not only do they publish other indie titles, they are also a fantastic developer
- I covered one of my favorite games by them on this channel, called Unavowed.
I know you’re watching this Dave, so hello!
Hope you’re enjoying the video.
Strangeland is a very surreal, philosophical, mind bending experience in the form of an
adventure game.
If you want to know right off the bat if I recommend this game, the answer is yes, however
I do have pros and cons to discuss here.
This title was so interesting to me because it encompassed everything I love about this
genre of video game - it took me back to games of my past, like Sanitarium, Gabriel Knight:
Sins of the Fathers… even King’s Quest.
But it also lost me a few times by being, dare I say it... *too* artsy.
Yeah, I know.
It sounds weird coming from an experimental artist, but even I have my limits.
Without much introduction, you are thrown into the strange land of Strangeland - a messed
up carnival with weird inhabitants, nightmare inducing settings, and a clown who just won’t
cool it with the Dad jokes.
Clown: “Man drags himself into his shrink’s office.
Says, “Doc, I’ve got this bad feeling my wife thinks all I do is dwell on the bad
stuff and complain.
Shrink says to herself, “Why’d I go and marry my patient?”
Hehehehehehe!”
You do not have a name.
At least, if you do, you don’t remember it.
The goal is to find a beautiful woman you keep seeing visions of, while kind of untangling
a vague but powerful narrative so you can escape Strangeland, thus escaping your own
personal demons.
Now, when I say this game is very reminiscent of Sanitarium, I mean it is VERY reminiscent
of Sanitarium.
Maskette: “You don’t *really* think you’ve escaped from some sanitarium?”
If you haven’t played this older adventure game developed by Dreamforge, I highly recommend
it, it’s one of my favorites.
The inspiration Strangeland took from it is VERY clear - it’s not copying it, I can
just see all of the connections, even the protagonist's voice.
For a moment I thought they were the same voice actor.
Max: “That angel statue over there, does it, I mean, have you ever seen it move?”
Guy in Strangeland: “There’s something moving down there, and a hint of golden light.”
They sound a lot alike, both in cadence and in inflection, they are both stuck in some
dream-like world without explanation, and they are both trying to find the truth.
There is also a carnival setting in Sanitarium that reminded me of this entire world - which
is a good thing.
I love creepy carnivals, it’s one of my favorite settings for… anything, really.
Movies, TVs, games.
I love scary-ass carnivals, they never get old to me.
The artwork is beautiful - my gothy self fell in love with creepy designs, the bizarre looking
characters, and the implication of fighting off your past in the carnival of your mind.
It’s not a very large map, which is a pro in my book, and you cannot get yourself in
an unwinnable situation.
In fact, the game encourages “dying”, because it can change the setting.
So I did.
I died a lot.
A *lot.* Protag: “Talk about the dog that bit you.”
The mechanics work perfectly, it’s a very solid point and click with one action for
use, and one action to examine.
We’ve certainly come a long way from being bombarded with commands.
The voice acting is fantastic, everyone played their roles very well, and I Iiked the tone.
The puzzles ranged from easy to “oops I accidentally solved a puzzle because I had
no idea what I was doing.”
There’s a good balance of inventory object puzzles, where you collect items you find
throughout the game and use them to progress, and logic puzzles, which are more akin to
deductive reasoning.
I am usually not the biggest fan of logic puzzles, but this game certainly uses them
creatively - they have more purpose and meaning in this game, unlike the millions of slider
puzzles shoehorned into adventure games past.
It even got me to like this simon like game because it was so damn weird.
I’ve never played a game of Simon with mouths before, I like it.
I also want to mention that it has save slots.
If you’ve been following me for awhile, you know I die for save slots, I love them,
and I love having a lot of them.
Story wise is where I waffle a lot - I am very big on artistic, meaningful stories that
have to do with shadows, inner demons, your past, decapitated heads, death, freeing yourself
of the chains you forge in life - a lot of emotion and symbolism went into this game.
Protag: “Dark thing, you are going to die, and she is going to live.
Do you hear me?”
The dialogue speaks in poetic metaphors, and there’s blatant references to things like
overcoming grief, owning up to your past mistakes, and untethering yourself from your dark shadows.
Fernance: “Before man had words for their grief, they learned how to bear fire.
Has the light of reason grown so dark?”
And even with all of these serious themes present, it still has a sense of humor.
I felt extremely compelled to finish this game as soon as I started it because it was
fun and beautiful.
It seemed to remind me of all of these things I like, including The Dark Half by Stephen
King, Dark Seed, another horror adventure game from 1992, and basically anything written
by Harlan Ellison.
Protag: “I have no mouth and I must talk.”
That being said, I did have a few issues with the story.
Unlike Sanitarium, where the protagonist is stuck in a hallucinated world that he eventually
wakes up from, Strangeland stays in surreal mode.
There isn’t a practical conclusion, or anying grounded in reality, which some people will
like as a more imaginative experience, and some, myself included, won’t find it satisfying.
Personally, I was craving some kind of connection to reality - an answer to who I was, who I
was saving, and what world I was so desperately trying to run away from.
I found myself not caring as much for this protagonist as I did for Sanitarium’s Max,
because that game was sprinkled with bits of his story.
I think it’s interesting that usually, people do not like having symbolism spelled out for
them, but in THIS case, it wasn’t spelled out enough.
It’s a very earnest game with a lot to unpack - but I admit that I got tired of being constantly
spoken to in riddles and metaphor.
And I mean it, it’s constant.
Protag: “What are those quotes you keep spouting?”
Scribe: “The assembled wisdom of worthless toil.”
Phone: “Here’s a metaphor for you.
You’re mind is a matryoshka.
It’s just you… and you.
And you.”
I get the impression that this character is meant to reflect you, the player - you are
not necessarily being told this man’s story, you are given vague exposition and topics,
and in one way that can be a very good thing - it means you can have this cathartic experience
and relate to him, perhaps reflecting on your own past.
The topics are heavy but again, cover a wide amount of issues people suffer with.
Because of its ambiguity, you do not get the most solid of conclusions.
Personally, I found parts of this game a bit much, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying
the hell out of it.
It certainly tapped into everything I love about horror, art, adventure games, gothic
styles, and serious subject matter, I just thought it could be a tad bit more literal,
and cut down on pseudo-intellectual dialogue.
Regardless, I think this title is great.
I would play it again and I would share it with other people, especially those who like
these more unusual, unconventional adventure games.
The thing is, even though all games can be considered art, some are more artful than
others.
Sonic the Hedgehog is technically art, but it’s not what I would call artful.
Strangeland is artful - it is a piece worth looking at, absorbing, and talking about.
It took me about four hours to complete, and I am probably going to go back to see if I
can get all of the game achievements.
And so I can see the ravens again.
I love the ravens.
Protag: “Uh, hello?”
Raven: “Sticks and stones will make me groan, but words will never move me.”
Let me know what you think, and if you have a weird adventure game you would like to see
analyzed, let me know in the comments.
Happy gaming.
Hey everyone, thank you for watching my review of Strangeland, I hope you found it insightful.
If you want more content by me, I have plenty on this channel, but first!
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If you want to see more adventure game reviews, I have a recommendation on the left where
I discuss a modern murder mystery game.
Otherwise, I have covered many other topics.
On the right I have the very last video I did, which is a hilarious commentary on a
popular episode of Murder, She Wrote.
Thanks again and as always, I’ll see you in the next one.