Boreal Tenebrae Act I: “I Stand Before You, A Form Undone”

Bought and played this game soon after release. Haven't played it since. Thought maybe it would've been fixed since then but seems the game has been abandoned. Liked the art style and the unique world, but unfortunately as other reviews have stated, it has several game breaking bugs. The one I ran into froze the game entirely, stopping all progress after about 2 hours of play-through. I tried restarting the file, same bug. Uninstalled and reinstalled and played all the way from the beginning only for it to freeze again. Couldn't refund as I'd "played" too much at that point to qualify. I saw some other people had made complaints of the same bug (and many others) but the developer never responded. This review is very late, but to see the game hasn't changed after years, I don't feel others should spend money on something unplayable.

I played Act 0 first, which is how I'd recommend going through this, as you're introduced to all of the characters enough there to care more about them when everything starts happening here. Also, while Act 0 improved the visual aspects of the game, I think Act 1 is a better game over all. The way the story is told to you in fragments is more interesting, the puzzles are more thoughtful. There is even a pretty solid hint system in the game, so even when I felt lost, I never needed to bust out a guide. The ending was very abrupt though. The way things were heading, it felt like the game was going to have some form of closure, but I heard it had a cliffhanger ending, so I anticipated the game wouldn't have a definite end. I could not have prepared for just how undefined it was. This game ends up feeling like a demo the way you solve a puzzle and it just hard cuts to "To Be Continued" and then shuts down. No credits even. Considering this game came out in 2020 and its now 2026, It is strange they decided to make a prequel game rather than a conclusion. I'd say it comes off like the dev wanted to do a Twin Peaks, cliffhanger ending followed up with a prequel, but instead of endi…

Tekkonkinkreet meets Twin Peaks

The game was good and the story was fun. The controls' explanations on "how to open the inventory" or "how to swing the bat" are missing (they're not even mentioned to the player), luckily the "i" key for the inventory was easy to guess, while to swing the bat I had to press literally every word on the keyboard to get the right one (a "control" section in the menu, showing the player all the controls, wouldn't be so bad to have). To this day, there are still a lot of visual bugs/glitches: the camera or some videos ended up freezing; some sections got bugged; some icons sometimes fail to appear; the game’s resolution went haywire when I tried to launch it; some sections ended up not closing, etc.. (luckily you can fix all of this either by playing the "esc" key or by reloading the autosave or your own save file, so it's only a matter of seconds). So, to end my review: the game still has plenty of issues to this day, but I managed to look past them because the plot was well-constructed and interesting, and the gameplay (solving all the puzzles) was fun.

Love this game, holds a special place in my heart

Boreal Tenebrae Act I: “I Stand Before You, A Form Undone” is an unusual horror adventure that builds its identity around surreal storytelling, retro presentation, and the unsettling atmosphere of a northern town seemingly collapsing under forces its residents barely understand. Developed by Snot Bubbles Productions, with music by Guidewire, and published by Snot Bubbles Productions, the game was released on May 19, 2020. Its inspiration is immediately recognizable in the fixed-camera presentation associated with PlayStation-era adventures, but its stranger qualities come from embracing dreamlike narrative logic rather than following the more conventional structure of survival horror. The story begins with a ritual that has already gone terribly wrong. Sarah initiated the rite but was consumed by it, leaving the player to continue what she started. The apparent objectives are deceptively simple: investigate a murder, find Sarah, and complete the ritual. These goals gradually lead into something far less straightforward as the player encounters interconnected stories concerning the town and its inhabitants. The narrative deliberately withholds clear explanations, allowing individua…