Drowned God
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''Drowned God: Conspiracy of the Ages'' is a 1996
science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story, driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based m ...
developed by Epic Multimedia Group and published by
Inscape Inscape and instress are complementary and enigmatic concepts about individuality and uniqueness derived by the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins from the ideas of the medieval philosopher Duns Scotus.Chevigny, Bell Gale. Instress and Devotion in the P ...
. The game propounds the
conspiracy theory A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy (generally by powerful sinister groups, often political in motivation), when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * ...
that all of
human history Human history or world history is the record of humankind from prehistory to the present. Early modern human, Modern humans evolved in Africa around 300,000 years ago and initially lived as hunter-gatherers. They Early expansions of hominin ...
is a lie and that the human race's development and evolution were
aided In international relations, aid (also known as international aid, overseas aid, foreign aid, economic aid or foreign assistance) is – from the perspective of governments – a voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another. The ...
by
extraterrestrials Extraterrestrial life, or alien life (colloquially, aliens), is life that originates from another world rather than on Earth. No extraterrestrial life has yet been scientifically conclusively detected. Such life might range from simple forms ...
. The player attempts to uncover the truth through the course of the game by traveling to a variety of different worlds, interacting with historical and fictional characters, and solving puzzles. ''Drowned God'' is based on a forged manuscript written by
Harry Horse Richard Horne (9 May 1960, Coventry – 10 January 2007, Papil, West Burra), better known by the pen name Harry Horse, was an English author, illustrator and political cartoonist. He was also known as lead singer of the band Swamptrash. Born a ...
in 1983, purported to have been written by 19th-century poet
Richard Henry Horne Richard Hengist Horne (born Richard Henry Horne) (31 December 1802 – 13 March 1884) was an English poet and critic most famous for his poem ''Orion''. Early life On New Year's Eve of 1802, Horne was born at Edmonton, London, son of James Ho ...
, who shares Horse's birth name. After facing legal trouble and fines when he attempted to sell the text, Horse shelved it until playing ''
Myst ''Myst'' is a 1993 adventure video game developed by Cyan and published by Broderbund for Mac OS. In the game, the player travels via a special book to a mysterious island called Myst. The player interacts with objects and traverses the ...
'' and ''
The 7th Guest ''The 7th Guest'' is an interactive movie puzzle adventure game, produced by Trilobyte and originally released by Virgin Interactive Entertainment in April 1993. It is one of the first computer video games to initially be released only on CD-R ...
'' in the mid-1990s, whereupon he decided a first-person adventure game would be the best way to tell the manuscript's story. Producer Algy Williams hired a team of multimedia artists and programmers to help Horse develop ''Drowned God''. Upon its release, the game sold well, but it quickly faded in popularity due to bugs and a lack of patches. ''Drowned God''s concept and visuals were widely praised, while its gameplay, audio, and puzzles received more varied responses. A planned sequel never came to fruition. The game was re-released on the
Epic Games Store The Epic Games Store is a video game digital distribution service and storefront operated by Epic Games. It launched in December 2018 as a software client, for Microsoft Windows and macOS, and online storefront. Android and iOS versions of t ...
in 2024 by the original team along with Next Path Media.


Plot


Background

''Drowned Gods concept centers around the idea that human history has been manipulated to cover up certain facts. The true history, according to the game, is that aliens from the
Orion Orion may refer to: Common meanings * Orion (constellation), named after the mythical hunter * Orion (mythology), a hunter in Greek mythology Arts and media Fictional entities Characters and species * Orion (character), a DC Comics c ...
area of space seeded humanity on Earth thousands of years ago and have since guided its development. An ancient, highly developed civilization was lost millennia ago in the
Great Flood A flood myth or a deluge myth is a myth in which a great flood, usually sent by a deity or deities, destroys civilization, often in an act of divine retribution. Parallels are often drawn between the flood waters of these myths and the primeva ...
. The library of Alexandria housed much of what game writer
Harry Horse Richard Horne (9 May 1960, Coventry – 10 January 2007, Papil, West Burra), better known by the pen name Harry Horse, was an English author, illustrator and political cartoonist. He was also known as lead singer of the band Swamptrash. Born a ...
called "forbidden knowledge" before it was destroyed; the
Knights Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a Military order (religious society), military order of the Catholic Church, Catholic faith, and one of the most important military ord ...
, whose membership included luminaries such as
Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...
and
Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton () was an English polymath active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author. Newton was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment that followed ...
, preserved the information for centuries. In the 20th century, the
Philadelphia Experiment The Philadelphia Experiment was an alleged event claimed to have been witnessed by an ex- merchant mariner named Carl M. Allen at the United States Navy's Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, some time aroun ...
opened a gateway into another dimension, first freeing the aliens Horse refers to as "the Legion", and an independent government group spent the subsequent decades in contact with the aliens following the
Roswell incident The Roswell Incident started in 1947 with the recovery of debris near Roswell, New Mexico. It later became the basis for conspiracy theories alleging that the United States military recovered a crashed extraterrestrial spacecraft. The debri ...
.


Story

The game's plot begins in a chamber containing the Bequest Globe, a device which the player has recently inherited. The Globe is a giant brass cylinder full of gears, fronted by a clock face made of sliding and rotating plates comprising twenty-two Roman numerals, which represent the
Major Arcana The Major Arcana are the named cards in a cartomantic tarot pack. There are usually 22 such cards in a standard 78-card pack, typically numbered from 0 to 21 (or 1 to 21, with the Fool being left unnumbered). Although the cards correspond to the ...
, with the
Kabbalistic Kabbalah or Qabalah ( ; , ; ) is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal (). Jewi ...
tree of life The tree of life is a fundamental archetype in many of the world's mythology, mythological, religion, religious, and philosophy, philosophical traditions. It is closely related to the concept of the sacred tree.Giovino, Mariana (2007). ''The ...
in its center. A voice welcomes the player and tells them the Globe is a gift, then explains that the player must unlock the secret of the drowned god. The player initially must enter their name into the device, which then displays a series of past lives the player has lived. The name is converted into its
numerological Numerology (known before the 20th century as arithmancy) is the belief in an occult, divine or mystical relationship between a number and one or more coinciding events. It is also the study of the numerical value, via an alphanumeric system, ...
equivalent. Above and below the central chamber are two other areas, called
Kether Keter or Kether (; ) is the first of the ten sefirot in the Tree of life (Kabbalah), Kabbalistic Tree of Life, symbolizing the divine will and the initial impulse towards creation from the ''Ein Sof'', or infinite source. It represents pure co ...
and
Malchut Malkuth (; "kingdom"; Ashkenazi: ''Malkhus'' ), Malkhut, Malkhuth, or Malchus, is the tenth of the sefirot in the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. Description In the ''Zohar'', an important Kabbalistic text from late al-Andalus, Malkuth sits at th ...
respectively, each of which houses a display screen with a mask-like face that provides the player with information about the next task. The motivations of the two organizations represented by the faces are murky, although it becomes clear they are acting in opposition to each other. Both masks refer to the player by their assigned number. The player must enter four different worlds through the Bequest Globe, each of which is an amalgamation of historical and fantastical elements and is named after one of the
sefirot Sefirot (; , plural of ), meaning '' emanations'', are the 10 attributes/emanations in Kabbalah, through which Ein Sof ("infinite space") reveals itself and continuously creates both the physical realm and the seder hishtalshelut (the chained ...
on the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. The player seeks to recover four lost artifacts: the Rod of
Osiris Osiris (, from Egyptian ''wikt:wsjr, wsjr'') was the ancient Egyptian deities, god of fertility, agriculture, the Ancient Egyptian religion#Afterlife, afterlife, the dead, resurrection, life, and vegetation in ancient Egyptian religion. He was ...
, the
Holy Grail The Holy Grail (, , , ) is a treasure that serves as an important motif in Arthurian literature. Various traditions describe the Holy Grail as a cup, dish, or stone with miraculous healing powers, sometimes providing eternal youth or sustenanc ...
, the
Philosopher's stone The philosopher's stone is a mythic alchemical substance capable of turning base metals such as mercury into gold or silver; it was also known as "the tincture" and "the powder". Alchemists additionally believed that it could be used to mak ...
, and the
Ark of the Covenant The Ark of the Covenant, also known as the Ark of the Testimony or the Ark of God, was a religious storage chest and relic held to be the most sacred object by the Israelites. Religious tradition describes it as a wooden storage chest decorat ...
. According to Horse, "The relics you're searching for are not what you think they are". The first world, Binah, includes aspects of
Arthurian legend The Matter of Britain (; ; ; ) is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. The 12th-century writer Geoffr ...
, including
Morgan le Fay Morgan le Fay (; Welsh language, Welsh and Cornish language, Cornish: Morgen; with ''le Fay'' being garbled French language, French ''la Fée'', thus meaning 'Morgan the Fairy'), alternatively known as Morgan , Morgain /e Morgant Mor ...
and the
Knights Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a Military order (religious society), military order of the Catholic Church, Catholic faith, and one of the most important military ord ...
, as well as
Stonehenge Stonehenge is a prehistoric Megalith, megalithic structure on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, to ...
. The second,
Chesed (, also Romanization of Hebrew, Romanized: ) is a Hebrew language, Hebrew word that means 'kindness or love between people', specifically of the devotional piety of people towards God as well as of love or mercy of God towards humanity. It is fr ...
, features
Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area that begins in the southern part of North America and extends to the Pacific coast of Central America, thus comprising the lands of central and southern Mexico, all of Belize, Guatemala, El S ...
n ruins and a
submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...
interior. The third,
Din DIN or Din or din may refer to: People and language * Din (name), people with the name * Dīn, an Arabic word with three general senses: judgment, custom, and religion from which the name originates * Dinka language (ISO 639 code: din), spoken ...
, centers around an underground
transit system Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whic ...
, a
steampunk Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that incorporates retrofuturistic technology and Applied arts, aesthetics inspired by, but not limited to, 19th-century Industrial Revolution, industrial steam engine, steam-powered machinery. Steampun ...
carnival Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that occurs at the close of the Christian pre-Lenten period, consisting of Quinquagesima or Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, and Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Carnival typi ...
, and a mechanical
maze A maze is a path or collection of paths, typically from an entrance to a goal. The word is used to refer both to branching tour puzzles through which the solver must find a route, and to simpler non-branching ("unicursal") patterns that lead ...
. The final world,
Chokhmah ''Chokmah'' (, also transliterated as ''chokma'', ''chokhmah'' or ''hokhma'') is the Biblical Hebrew word rendered as "wisdom" in English Bible versions ( LXX '' sophia'', Vulgate ').''Strong's Concordance'H2451 "from H2449 ''chakam'' "wise" wi ...
, takes place outside
Area 51 Area 51 is the common name of a highly classified United States Air Force (USAF) facility within the Nevada Test and Training Range in southern Nevada, north-northwest of Las Vegas. A remote detachment administered by Edwards Air Force B ...
. Throughout the game, the player finds and uses
Tarot Tarot (, first known as ''trionfi (cards), trionfi'' and later as ''tarocchi'' or ''tarocks'') is a set of playing cards used in tarot games and in fortune-telling or divination. From at least the mid-15th century, the tarot was used to play t ...
cards to unlock new areas and gain more information about the true history of the world. Upon returning to the Bequest Globe between worlds, the player sees the Roman numerals in its display light up in relation to the cards that have been recovered. After recovering three of the lost artifacts, the player fails to recover the last one, the Ark of the Covenant, which takes the form of a
nuclear warhead A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear expl ...
. The player is able to choose one of three endings, depending on whether they decide to enter a final doorway in the chambers of one of the two opposing factions represented by Kether and Malchut, or enter a new central chamber via the Bequest Globe. Choosing either of the two doors results in an ending in which the player is trapped in a
dystopia A dystopia (lit. "bad place") is an imagined world or society in which people lead wretched, dehumanized, fearful lives. It is an imagined place (possibly state) in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmen ...
n world: either Kether's, a technological police state, or Malchut's, a society of forced genetic manipulation. Both have ominous
men in black In popular culture and UFO conspiracy theories, men in black (MIB) are government agents dressed in dark suits, who question, interrogate, harass, and threaten unidentified flying object (UFO) witnesses to keep them silent about what they have ...
overseeing the proceedings. If the player instead chooses to open the central chamber, a scene with a group of
grey alien Grey aliens, also referred to as Zeta Reticulans, Roswell Greys, or simply, Greys, are purported extraterrestrial beings. They are frequently featured in claims of close encounter and alien abduction. Greys are typically described as having ...
s approaching is briefly shown, wherein they say, "We are coming, for we are Legion." All three options lead to the same ending credits, which feature a voice-over describing the murder of Osiris.


Gameplay

''Drowned God'' uses a
point and click Point and click are one of the actions of a computer user moving a pointer to a certain location on a screen (''pointing'') and then pressing a button on a mouse or other pointing device (''click''). An example of point and click is in hypermed ...
interface and a
first-person perspective A first-person narrative (also known as a first-person perspective, voice, point of view, etc.) is a mode of storytelling in which a storyteller recounts events from that storyteller's own personal point of view, using first-person grammar suc ...
typical of games similar to ''
Myst ''Myst'' is a 1993 adventure video game developed by Cyan and published by Broderbund for Mac OS. In the game, the player travels via a special book to a mysterious island called Myst. The player interacts with objects and traverses the ...
'' of the mid- to late-1990s. The player navigates and interacts with the game world by clicking the mouse on different parts of the screen. The mouse cursor changes shape depending on the action clicking will perform: an arrow for moving to another location, a face with an arrow to pick up or place Tarot cards, and an
Eye of Providence The Eye of Providence or All-Seeing Eye is a symbol depicting an eye, often enclosed in a triangle and surrounded by rays of light or a halo, intended to represent Providence, as the eye watches over the workers of mankind. A well-known exampl ...
for activating or interacting with objects in the environment. Frequent
cutscene A cutscene or event scene (sometimes in-game cinematic or in-game movie) is a sequence in a video game that is not interactive, interrupting the gameplay. Such scenes are used to show conversations between characters, set the mood, reward the ...
s provide background information and advance the storyline. The game is filled with a variety of puzzles that must be solved to advance the story. These include memory games and mazes. Others involve competing against a computer-controlled opponent, completing a sequence in a limited number of moves, operating mechanisms, or using an inventory item. Puzzles do not all have to be completed in a precise order; there is some flexibility in terms of being able to move through game areas and work on different challenges. One of the best-received puzzles in the game involves arranging the pieces of a dialogue between the sculpted heads of Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein. The player listens to the randomly ordered statements made by each head, then decides how to chronologically arrange the statements to form a coherent conversation based on context.


Development

Harry Horse Richard Horne (9 May 1960, Coventry – 10 January 2007, Papil, West Burra), better known by the pen name Harry Horse, was an English author, illustrator and political cartoonist. He was also known as lead singer of the band Swamptrash. Born a ...
conceived the game's ancient planet-wide conspiracy. Horse had previously written several children's books and received the
Scottish Arts Council The Scottish Arts Council (), was a Scottish public body responsible for the funding, development and promotion of the arts in Scotland. The Council primarily distributed funding from the Scottish Government as well as National Lottery funds ...
Writer of the Year award for his 1983 book '' The Ogopogo: My Journey with the Loch Ness Monster''. He began forging documents that same year as a way to earn money. The story which became the basis for ''Drowned God'' was originally a phony manuscript Horse wrote in 1983, ostensibly describing events after the destruction of the lost city of
Atlantis Atlantis () is a fictional island mentioned in Plato's works '' Timaeus'' and ''Critias'' as part of an allegory on the hubris of nations. In the story, Atlantis is described as a naval empire that ruled all Western parts of the known world ...
. The manuscript, dated 1846, was said to have been written by the English poet
Richard Horne Richard Horne (born 16 July 1982) is the head coach at Doncaster in League 1, and a former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. He played at representative level for Great Britain, Scotland and Yorksh ...
, who shares Horse's birth name. Horse's initiation into the concept of an alternate history came in the early 1980s, when he first encountered professor Ian Halpke, who explained to him that information from the Kabbalah and ancient Jewish texts "hide and encipher the secret", namely, human evolution was aided by extraterrestrial intelligence. According to Horse, Halpke believed the
Ark of the Covenant The Ark of the Covenant, also known as the Ark of the Testimony or the Ark of God, was a religious storage chest and relic held to be the most sacred object by the Israelites. Religious tradition describes it as a wooden storage chest decorat ...
was a nuclear device, and that humans and pigs share compatible
genes In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...
. Initially, experts determined the manuscript was genuine, as the date Horse picked matched the time period Horne had been alive and active, and the manuscript's topics matched the poet's interests. Horse had written the manuscript without knowing any of these details. After his hoax was discovered, Horse held on to the text for the next decade, until he played ''
Myst ''Myst'' is a 1993 adventure video game developed by Cyan and published by Broderbund for Mac OS. In the game, the player travels via a special book to a mysterious island called Myst. The player interacts with objects and traverses the ...
'' and ''
The 7th Guest ''The 7th Guest'' is an interactive movie puzzle adventure game, produced by Trilobyte and originally released by Virgin Interactive Entertainment in April 1993. It is one of the first computer video games to initially be released only on CD-R ...
'' and decided the point-and-click adventure genre was a good match for his
conspiracy theory A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy (generally by powerful sinister groups, often political in motivation), when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * ...
-inspired ideas. He later said that while the story of ''Myst'' did not interest him, the game's artwork and the sense of immersion inspired him to immediately begin working on ''Drowned God'' in 1994. The game was originally commissioned by a division of
Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( doing business as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned by AT&T. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City. It was established as Time Warne ...
and was later taken over by Inscape when that division closed. Horse worked with Inigo Orduna and Anthony McGaw for six months designing the game, then cooperated with the game's artists and modelers until the project's completion. The game's producer, Algy Williams, hired puzzle expert Chris Maslanka, whose output he called "fiendishly difficult", to design the game's puzzles together with John Morris. Williams also employed sculptor Greg Boulton, who had previously worked on the
Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and human rights activist. He came to prominence as the original frontman of the rock band Genesis. He left the band in 1975 and launched a solo career wit ...
video "
Sledgehammer A sledgehammer is a tool with a large, flat, massive, often metal head, attached to a long wooden or solid handle. The long handle is combined with a heavy head which allows the sledgehammer to pick up momentum during a swing and applying a large ...
". ''Drowned God'' music was written and performed by an
ambient music Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes Musical tone, tone and atmosphere over traditional Musical form, musical structure or rhythm. Often "peaceful" sounding and lacking Musical composition, composition, beat, and/or structured melod ...
duo operating under the name Miasma.
William S. Burroughs William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist. He is widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major Postmodern literature, postmodern author who influen ...
was originally scheduled to narrate the game, but died just before he could begin recording. McGaw and Williams later founded the company Babel Media, which specializes in
video game localization Video game localization (or computer game localisation), is the process of preparing a video game for a market outside of where it was originally published. The game's name, art assets, packaging, manuals, and cultural and legal differences are ty ...
.


Release

''Drowned God'' was released on October 31, 1996 for the
Windows 95 Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft and the first of its Windows 9x family of operating systems, released to manufacturing on July 14, 1995, and generally to retail on August 24, 1995. Windows 95 merged ...
operating system. Around the same time, there was going to be a release for
Windows 3.1x Windows 3.1 is a major release of Microsoft Windows. It was released to manufacturing on April 6, 1992, as a successor to Windows 3.0. Like its predecessors, the Windows 3.1 series run as a shell on top of MS-DOS; it was the last Windows 16 ...
; however, those plans were cancelled. In its first two weeks, it sold 34,000 copies in the United States. It was one of the top ten best-selling video games in United States during the first month after its release, but bugs and poor support from the developers caused it to fall out of favor with gamers by December. By February 1998, the game had sold over 60,000 copies. Around the time of the game's release, Horse stated that its story was incomplete, and that the rest of the story would be revealed in a sequel called ''CULT'', planned to center around Area 51. However, he died a decade after the game's release, and no sequel was ever completed. The game was re-released for modern Windows PCs on the
Epic Games Store The Epic Games Store is a video game digital distribution service and storefront operated by Epic Games. It launched in December 2018 as a software client, for Microsoft Windows and macOS, and online storefront. Android and iOS versions of t ...
on June 17, 2024 by Next Path Media. The new version of the game was assembled via a collaboration between Horse's two sisters, Emma Blackler and Kay O’ Hanlon, and some former members of the original ''Drowned God'' creative team, including producer and co-creator Algy Williams, art director Alastair Graham, and one of the developers, Mike Gamble, who also co-founded Next Path Media. It fixes bugs and includes additional extra-game content, such as artwork and pitch documents.


Reception

''Drowned God'' received mixed reviews, with many critics complimenting the game's ideas and imagery while giving a less favorable response to its audio, puzzles, and execution. ''
GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
'' reviewer Vince Broady wrote that the game sounded very promising, and might "also raise awareness of the thread of deception that runs throughout recorded history." Steve Ramsey of ''Quandary'' said ''Drowned God'' presented its massive assortment of conspiracy theories entertainingly. Ray Ivey of
Just Adventure ''Just Adventure'' is a computer game website dedicated to the genre of adventure games. Founded in 1997, it publishes reviews and previews of adventure games, as well as opinion articles and interviews with game designers. The site was founded ...
called ''Drowned God'' "the strangest, creepiest, most psychedelic adventure game I've yet to come across." Although Ivey did not understand much of the game, he found it enjoyable, because "it made sense to the game's characters and creators." T. Liam McDonald of ''
PC Gamer ''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games m ...
'' wrote that he was "fascinated by the strong sense of style and the intellectual approach to terrific subject matter". Steven Levy and Patricia King of ''
Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...
'' found the game to be "richly detailed and original".
article details
)
In 2012, Andy Hughes of
Topless Robot Village Voice Media or VVM is a newspaper company. It began in 1970 as a weekly alternative newspaper in Phoenix, Arizona. The company, founded by Michael Lacey (editor) and Jim Larkin (publisher), was then known as New Times Inc. (NTI) and the ...
put the game at the top of his list of "9 Surprising Literary References In Videogames". Hughes wrote that the game was one that could be played from start to finish "without having any idea what the hell's going on", noting its references to a wide variety of subjects, including
Egyptian mythology Egyptian mythology is the collection of myths from ancient Egypt, which describe the actions of the Egyptian pantheon, Egyptian gods as a means of understanding the world around them. The beliefs that these myths express are an important part ...
, '' The Man in the Iron Mask'', and the
Bermuda Triangle The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, is a loosely defined region in the North Atlantic Ocean, roughly bounded by Florida, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. Since the mid-20th century, it has been the focus of an urban legend sug ...
. Broady complimented the graphics, writing, "''Drowned God'' is loaded with freaky animations and unexpected visual twists". Ramsey praised the visuals and the audio, saying both contributed to the game's "shadowy and secretive feelings". His one significant criticism was that dialogue was difficult to hear, with no option to display text for it. Regarding the game's audio aspect, Broady said, "The soundtrack is less impressive, primarily because of overuse: The background effects drone on mercilessly, and many of the game's narratives (which are universally well-written and finely acted) must be listened to over and over again." The puzzles, according to Broady, were of uneven quality. He called some "hopelessly difficult" and others extremely derivative. By contrast, he viewed the
Albert Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...
and
Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton () was an English polymath active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author. Newton was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment that followed ...
dialogue puzzle as "brilliant", but said, "Ideas as original as Horse's call for puzzles to match, not rehashes of things we've seen far too many times already." Ramsey thought the puzzles were challenging but not overly difficult, arguing "on almost every occasion I felt that I was making progress, and I never felt bogged down and hopelessly lost." He felt the puzzles were mostly well-integrated, and found those that were not did not detract from his enjoyment. Ivey remarked, "For puzzle lovers, ''Drowned God'' is a treasure trove. ... This collection of tricky puzzlers are challenging and frequently innovative." Broady panned the navigation for being confusing, counter-intuitive, and requiring the player to revisit locations multiple times. He concluded his review by saying, "The net effect is that the story—which made this game so intriguing in the first place—is almost totally lost, and that is a shame." GameSpot considered the game one of the most disappointing of 1996 in their annual recap, writing "the great premise is buried like the mysteries of the ages themselves under a mediocre ''Myst'' clone". Bob Strauss of ''
Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...
'' opined that the game tried to be too many things, and quipped, "the result is a game so obscure, you'd be better off perusing something more comprehensible—like the collected works of
Zoroaster Zarathushtra Spitama, more commonly known as Zoroaster or Zarathustra, was an Iranian peoples, Iranian religious reformer who challenged the tenets of the contemporary Ancient Iranian religion, becoming the spiritual founder of Zoroastrianism ...
." Mark Reece and Brooke Adams of ''
Deseret News The ''Deseret News'' () is a multi-platform newspaper based in Salt Lake City, published by Deseret News Publishing Company, a subsidiary of Deseret Management Corporation, which is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS ...
'' also had mixed feelings about the game, calling it both "clever and deep" and "frustrating and difficult". McDonald wrote that he was "frustrated by the lack of good game play." Hughes called the pace of the game and its puzzles both "tedious" and "ponderous", but said it "had ambition out the genetically modified ears." The editors of CNET Gamecenter nominated ''Drowned God'' for their 1996 "Best Adventure Game" award, which ultimately went to ''
The Neverhood ''The Neverhood'' (released in Japan as ''Klaymen Klaymen: The Mystery of Neverhood'') is a 1996 point-and-click adventure video game developed by The Neverhood, Inc. and published by DreamWorks Interactive for Microsoft Windows. The game follow ...
''. They wrote, "The ''
National Enquirer The ''National Enquirer'' is an American tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1926, the newspaper has undergone a number of changes over the years. The ''National Enquirer'' openly acknowledges that it pays Source (journalism), sources for tips (chec ...
'' meets ''Myst''. For the adventure gamer with a taste for mouse-pounding puzzles—it just didn't get much better than this."


References


External links


''Drowned God'' Electronic Press Kit
at
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

Review
in
PC World ''PC World'' (stylized as PCWorld) is a global computer magazine published monthly by IDG. Since 2013, it has been an online-only publication. It offers advice on various aspects of PCs and related items, the Internet, and other personal tec ...

''Drowned God'' page
at Harry Horse website {{featured article 1996 video games Adventure games Cyberpunk video games First-person adventure games Single-player video games Video games about ancient astronauts Video games developed in the United Kingdom Windows games Windows-only games Science fiction video games Inscape (company) games