''Strangeland'' is a
psychological horror
Psychological horror is a subgenre of horror and psychological fiction with a particular focus on mental, emotional, and psychological states to frighten, disturb, or unsettle its audience. The subgenre frequently overlaps with the related subgenr ...
point-and-click adventure
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 video game, puzzle-solving. The Video game genres, genre's focus on story allows it to draw ...
video game developed by Wormwood Studios and published by
Wadjet Eye Games
Wadjet Eye Games is an American indie video game developer, voice casting/directing contractor/subcontractor and publisher which specialises in point-and-click adventure games. It was founded in 2006 by Dave Gilbert (game designer), Dave Gilb ...
. It was released for the
Microsoft Windows on May 25, 2021. The game draws inspiration from many sources, such as nordic mythology and the american drama television series ''
Twin Peaks
''Twin Peaks'' is an American mystery serial drama television series created by Mark Frost and David Lynch. It premiered on ABC on April 8, 1990, and originally ran for two seasons until its cancellation in 1991. The show returned in 2017 fo ...
''.
Plot
The game follows the story of Stranger, a man who finds himself in an unfamiliar, fragmented world that resembles an abandoned
carnival
Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival ...
. While exploring, Stranger meets a golden-haired woman. Almost immediately, she throws herself down a well right in front of him. The other residents of the carnival insist that death works differently here; the woman may be dead, but she is not gone. Not only that: she keeps dying over and over again for Stranger’s sake. Soon after, Stranger dies as well. He gets brought back to the same spot he first appeared in. When he reaches the well, the golden-haired woman is there again; and, just like before, she jumps to her death.
While exploring the nightmarish carnival he found himself in, Stranger discovers The Dark Thing. In order to save the golden-haired woman from a cycle of continuous death, he must destroy it. Eventually, Stranger manages to reach the top of a
rollercoaster
A roller coaster, or rollercoaster, is a type of amusement ride that employs a form of elevated railroad track designed with tight turns, steep slopes, and sometimes inversions. Passengers ride along the track in open cars, and the rides are o ...
, where The Dark Thing is caged. While attempting to kill it, he releases it instead. Freed, The Dark Thing knocks him off the rollercoaster and begins to methodically kill all other inhabitants of Strangeland, attacking them one by one. By the time the Stranger manages to make his way back up the rollercoaster, he is one of the few living beings left.
On the tracks of the rollercoaster, Stranger is attacked by a giant
crab; it is implied to be another form The Dark Thing took in order to stop him. He manages to defeat the creature, but loses his head in the process. When he wakes back up, he is in a place called Deadland – a distorted version of the world he was just in. Stranger’s body was separated from his head during his confrontation with the monstrous crab. Once he manages to recover it, he sets out to try and find his way out of Deadland. He realizes that a lot of the previous inhabitants of the carnival have been replaced by twisted versions of himself.
Once again, Stranger is led to the top of the rollercoaster. Except this time, instead of The Dark Thing, the cage holds the woman he has been looking for. Her golden hair is gone entirely. When he frees her from the cage, The Dark Thing appears again. It has taken the form of a man and begins to teleport Stranger from place to place, recounting his mistakes and regrets. Once Stranger manages to break free, he finds himself on a floating island with both the woman and The Dark Thing. It is revealed that the woman was Stranger’s lover – and that she has been dead, truly dead, this whole time. During the final confrontation, the woman tries to inspire hope in Stranger, while The Dark Thing continues to try to break his resolve.
The game has four possible endings. Three of them result in Stranger’s death. In one, he jumps off the island, in another, he stabs himself, and in the third, he attempts to fight The Dark Thing, only to lose. Stranger manages to escape Deadland in only one of the endings. His only chance to escape is not to lose hope and accept the fact that the golden-haired woman is already dead.
Gameplay
''Strangeland’s''
gameplay
Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game, and in particular with video games. Gameplay is the pattern defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them, plot and pla ...
focuses on point-and-click
puzzle
A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together ( or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to arrive at the correct or fun solution of the puzzle ...
s, some of which have multiple different solutions. In order to find solutions, the player has to interact with the world of the game as much as possible. Left-clicking on objects makes Stranger interact with them. Right-clicking allows the player to examine them instead. All available
tool
A tool is an object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many animals use simple tools, only human beings, whose use of stone tools dates ba ...
s and items are accessible from a drop-down panel found at the top of the screen.
Reception
''Strangeland'' received an overall positive reception with a few mixed reviews from larger sites. KeenGamer described it as “both a satisfying mystery and an atmospheric horror journey through a dark nightmare".
Adventure Gamers
''Adventure Gamers'' is a computer game website created by Marek Bronstring in March 1998 dedicated to the genre of adventure games. It publishes reviews and previews of adventure games, as well as opinion articles and interviews with game desi ...
praised the game’s writing: “''Strangeland'' is smartly written, and its strongest aspect is how it uses real-world concepts as physical manifestations to create a compelling
enigma
Enigma may refer to:
*Riddle, someone or something that is mysterious or puzzling
Biology
*ENIGMA, a class of gene in the LIM domain
Computing and technology
* Enigma (company), a New York-based data-technology startup
* Enigma machine, a family ...
”.
''Strangeland'' won three of the site’s Reader’s Choice awards for Best Story, Best Setting and Best Writing (Drama).
In 2022, it won four
Adventure Game Studio
Adventure Game Studio (AGS) is an open source development tool primarily used to create graphic adventure games. It is aimed at intermediate-level game designers, and combines an integrated development environment (IDE) with a scripting language b ...
awards: Best Character Art, Best Puzzles, Best Voice Over and Best Programming. Additionally, it received the AGOTY Game of the Year and Best Screenplay awards, as well as Best Point-and-Click Adventure of 2021 from the German indie game magazine Welcome to Last Week.
However, a few sites criticized the game.
PCGamer wrote: “The narrative is strong and dark, but the game beneath it struggles to keep up”.
On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, ''Strangeland'' received an overall rating of 77/100.
References
{{Reflist
Windows games
Point-and-click adventure games
Psychological horror games
Wadjet Eye Games games
2021 video games