The Life and Times of Daniel Vastberaden
Master Suite · 2025 · Adventure, Point & Click, Puzzle, Escape Room, Gothic
PC
7 user reviews71% · 7
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About The Life and Times of Daniel Vastberaden
The Life and Times of Daniel Vastberaden (p. 1906) is a biography of the New York mechanical engineer and inventor written by author Bernadette Brooks. The book is notable for the first public discussion of Daniel's beheading and his miraculous survival in the winter of 1862, which he had concealed from all but two people until his second death in 1901. It primarily focuses on his home life, family, and philosophy, and features many excerpts from his diary, the main source of Bernadette's research.This adaptation follows the 1913 publishing, the last to keep mention of homosexuality and to maintain its biographical status, with all later printings being labeled as fiction. Chapter introductions feature an abridged excerpt from the book, and chapters are largely in the first-person. Chapters can be played in any order, and can be skipped. Collect and use items, solve puzzles, carry conversation, and don't be afraid to use your head.Features include:
- Eight engrossing levels and an epilogue (2+ hours expected play time)
- Casual yet challenging puzzles and minigames
- Multi-generational story about love, loss, and secrecy
- Unique gameplay mechanic: use your head as an item to solve puzzles and access new areas of the house
What Steam players say
Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.
[h1]A story of horror and tragedy...[/h1] [h2]Introduction[/h2] [i]The Life and Times of Daniel Vastberaden[/i] is a story-driven, point-and-click game with mini-puzzles developed and published by Master Suite. In all of the chapters (except for the epilogue), you take on the role of Daniel, narrating notable events from his life, such as the early moments with his wife and daughter, as well as his family and philosophical thoughts. It's based on the fictional biography under the same title, written by Bernadette Brooks. I won't reveal a lot about the story since it would definitely fall under spoiler territory, but it ends with Daniel's death, along with an epilogue by his daughter. Also, the story is quite emotional, with plenty of tragedy and a bit of horror. As for the gameplay, it mainly consists of point-and-click elements in which you have to explore various rooms and pick up items. The items are needed to complete various mini-puzzles, which can vary from reassembling picture puzzles to making potions. There are a total of eight chapters, along with an epilogue. Steam achievements are present, but they won't count towards a user's global total until the game is ou…15 found this helpful
The Life and Times of Daniel Vastberaden has a nostalgic feel reminiscent of the early Rusty Lake games. It offers an intriguing experience with well-designed puzzles woven into a strange and captivating story. However, the game does have its fair share of bugs, so I’d recommend picking it up on sale. That said, it definitely deserves more recognition!3 found this helpful
Haunting and tragic generational tale with a great mysterious atmosphere, fans of Rusty Lake shouldn't miss this game. The puzzles are simple but good, and the surreal "detach your head" mechanic creates some very interesting moments. Currently there are some bugs that should be fixed, but most of them aren't bad. The exception is chapter 4, which has several issues, but I wrote a post in the forum explaining how to avoid them. After you finish it be sure to visit the developer's Itch page to enjoy some more content related to the game (all of them free), including a sequel game.3 found this helpful
A throwback to those surreal, Rusty Lake era flash games1 found this helpful
The game seems interesting and the story kind of intriguing. It seems to be going for a Rusty Lake vibe. However, the actual gameplay is very badly designed. To start, once you enter a chapter there isn't any way to save, or even to *exit*. You either have to complete the chapter or force quit, the former of which can be impossible to do. The actual triggers in the chapters keep messing up. I had to restart chapter IV five times because the trigger to talk to your son simply wouldn't activate, and you can't give him the needed item unless you load that conversation first. Certain item triggers can be repeated, but if you're not meant to do so the game will just CTD. The puzzles themselves aren't interesting enough to make up for these problems. By the end of chapter IV I was frustrated enough with the game I just stopped playing, and wish I could get a refund for it.
very interesting story, but easy to softlock yourself. the controls aren't entirely working, and there's no ay to exit or save once you've entered a level.
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