Wailing Heights

Wailing Heights, developed and published by Outsider Games, is a delightfully unconventional adventure that combines the spirit of a comic book with the wit of a supernatural musical. Set in a quirky town populated entirely by the undead, it tells the story of Frances Finklestein, the former manager of a once-famous rock band called The Deadbeats. Frances finds himself trapped in Wailing Heights, a bizarre purgatory where ghosts, vampires, zombies, and werewolves coexist under an uneasy peace. As the only living human in a place that fears and mistrusts the living, he is quickly thrown in jail, only to be taught by a fellow prisoner a strange and mystical art called “possessional embodiment.” This allows Frances to possess the bodies of various undead citizens, using their abilities and perspectives to solve puzzles, explore the world, and uncover the truth behind the town’s many oddities. From its opening moments, Wailing Heights charms through its vibrant sense of personality and style. The game adopts a hand-drawn, comic-book aesthetic that perfectly suits its blend of humor and horror. Every environment—from gloomy graveyards and haunted clubs to bustling undead marketplaces—i…

The music slays! With tons of puns... Luv it!

The art style, the atmosphere, the music, the dialogue... is right up my alley. I've had this game for a few years now, I keep opening it up and playing it in small increments because it just drags and the puzzles drag.. and I just have to cut my losses and acknowledge that it's not a game that I can just get lost in. It's clunky when you're switching over to the characters 'other' form, the puzzles get repetitive and the missable achievements / items are almost off screen.

A charming oddity. There's a too much walking around, and the climax isn't very fun, but the art and unique gameplay are enough for me to give it a marginal recommendation. The switching between characters does get pretty tedious, and they could have used a few more voice actors. I did really like the art and most of the music, though. If you like campy horror stuff like Scooby Doo and Rocky Horror you will probably enjoy this. It isn't too long and is admirably ambitious.

Grabbed this game sometime last year on sale as it fit some of my niches - just got around to playing it last week as it was seasonally appropriate! I'm not exaggerating when I say that it's been on my mind a lot, the game really hooked me. The character designs are fun, the music is top-notch (I have many of them playing on repeat in my head haha) and it's so fun to see how interconnected a lot of the characters are in the town. Some of the puzzles were a liiiittle to obscure and took me a while to figure out (thank you for the people making walkthroughs!), the possession was a little tedious to sit through repeatedly and a couple of the acheivements seemed to not take for me (may just play a second round to see if it can be completed this time?), but all in all I had a really enjoyable time!

proper Irish game at last