Fausts Alptraum

I've finished Fausts Alptraum today, but it has accompanied me in the past days, in these unnatural days of Summer formed by unbearable heat and weird behavior of the people under it, the music of the game constantly playing in my mind even after closing the game. I'm really surprised that this game is not as well known. I don't even remember myself how I found it the very first time, discovering that it was free here on Steam. It's an RPGMaker style game which has nothing to envy to classic ones like Yume Nikki, Ib, The Witch's House and many others. If anything, this free game has a lot of soul within it. The story takes inspiration from Faust, the German legend where the scholar Faust seels his soul to the demon Mephistopheles. It includes things taken from both Goethe's Faust, the most famous rendition, as well as Gounod's Opera Faust and Berlioz's [i] The Damnation of Faust. [/i] Only, it is not Heinrich Faust that we meet in this game: we see his funeral through the eyes of a young girl, his daughter, whom receives the manor as heritage after his death. When she visits it with her aunt, someone (or something?) comes out of a secret door, telling her that she will stay…

As a fan of hard puzzles, I enjoyed it a lot. It was like solving an enormous escape house. The atmosphere and story were lovely too. Great game.

One of the best RPGMaker games out there.

moaw

The story and art for this game are unique and genuinely charming in a way that reminds me of old school graphic novels with a sort of "goth" or fantasy aesthetic. I was immediately drawn in, and then became invested in learning the mystery behind everything. It's very high quality for a free game, so that's why I am giving it a 5/5☆ rating and recommending it. With that said, however, the puzzles are tedious, especially due to the size of the map. I consider myself decently good at puzzles, if not an expert, but I had to use a walk-through for a large portion of the game. It drains some of the fun out of playing, and I admit that I will probably just find the other endings online instead of playing the game again.

I originally got this without knowing anything about it because it was free and sounded interesting but oh my god, I am so whipped for this game. The atmosphere is amazing, the soundtrack works SO well and is so vibey, the puzzles are engaging and well-integrated into the setting, and it's all just the right amount of weird and creepy that I adore. I didn't really know what to expect going into it since I picked it up on a whim, but it immediately surpassed all of my expectations in the best way! I would happily pay real money for this game so the fact that it's free on top of being so well-crafted is amazing -- everyone who worked on this game should be proud of themselves!