Anchorhead

One of the best experiences you will ever have in 90's interactive fiction. If you are familiar with the genre, this is a must play. If you are not, never a better time to learn! Effective use of prose (borderline purple, but that's a key part of the genre), excellent use of setting and puzzles (which, I wouldn't fault you if you looked them up), and is probably better than its influences.

I recommend it if you like text based adventure games and H.P. Lovecraft for sure(not based on specific work but the theme is everywhere) BUT if you play this game on a OLED of any sort be warned that even in full screen there is a solid white bar at the top of your screen at all times and being that this is a reading based game you might play for hours there is some risk of burn in. It's crap that you can't at least invert the colors so that the bar is black and the text in the bar is white instead.... but apart from that it's awesome if you like text based stuff like Zork and cosmic horror.

The greatest work of interactive fiction (text adventures) ever made. (...With the exception of the work of Emily Short, of course).

this is an interesting game and I don't necessarily regret buying it, but it is too frustrating and lacks any kind of basic help, quality of life, UI or anything else. I am now stuck in a maze and it seems there is nothing to do. Maybe running around for hours would help ? But come on. Looking online, I am not the only one in this situation. I am quite salty about it, honestly. Maybe I'll reload an old save, retry and, maybe change this review but righ now, yikes

Some of the best prose you'll find in gaming. This is an underappreciated gem and I hope it can be enjoyed and remembered for many years to come.

In 2019 I finished The Lurking Horror. The experience was bumpy. But I had a great time. TLH was my first IF game that I finished. With it came a learning curve. Four years passed and I find that I’m burned out on modern games. Maybe it’s because I’m older. Maybe it’s the endless exploitation of the consumer. Either way, modern games don’t spin my disc drive like they used to. Returning to IF I knew I wanted Lovecraftian. In 2019 I did finish a handful of smaller games after TLH. But I wanted something long to sink my teeth into. The critically acclaimed Anchorhead called my name. I started with the original release. Overcome by a nagging feeling, a feeling of spoiling my first experience, I picked up the steam release. And there’s no regrets here. In the twenty hours it took to finish Anchorhead I didn’t use hints. Mind you… I was paranoid. 1. Saves I saved 111 times during my playthrough. Something that paid off several times. Without the saves I’d have found myself softlocked frequently starting with the third day. I don’t consider this a flaw. When playing a dangerous game, you stack the deck in your favor. 2. Mapping I learned from the error of my ways after The Lurking …