Necronomicon Reviews

• Delightfully Creepy

  
  By ARO119CO4HZH5 on 2001-07-16
  If you're a big fan of H. P. Lovecraft, you may feel with good reason that this game uses his writing as little more than a context for standard role-playing conventions. But, it does manage to give a few chills as you wander deeper and deeper into the action. And, bring to mind some of the shiver-producing moments experienced while reading Lovecraft.

  I nearly jumped out of my chair at one point when my phone rang. The game had brought me so deep into the action and the sudden unexpected noise caught me while I was expecting something to suddenly appear in the shadowy view on my computer screen.

  This game has good atmospheric components. Ambient sounds fit the environments well. And the background music is very good -- never overwhelming but never boring either.

  As for danger, there are very few risks involved. However, when you do encounter a tricky situation, you'd better be prepared. And, as the game progresses, the chances for a bad end due to a poor decision are greater.

  That's to be expected. Playing with dark magic and reviving the dead -- I call that serious business! You'd better be certain about what you're doing.

  A couple of drawbacks as far as I'm concerned -- there seems to be a little too much "wander and find" activity at some stages of the game; and, secondly, the in-game animated videos are not always the best quality...but they do what is needed to advance the story.

  This game has some of that old New England creepiness which we saw in "The Blair Witch Project". So, if you liked that, you should give this game a try.
  
  

• Excellent, unique, but misunderstood, game

  
  By A2GBNMYG9P9KCM on 2004-12-29
  Although this game does indeed have it's flaws, what game doesn't? Every game has problems. The reason this game had so many problems is because Dreamcatcher misjudged its audience. The target was, H.P. Lovecraft buffs like me, people that are interested in the occult, also like myself, and finally, those who like these types of games.
  
  Here's where the first problem starts. People who play these kinds of games, although they are all great thinkers (they have to be), that range is in fact so broad and vague, that too many people won't get it.
  
  There are several big, recurring complaints about this game. One, it's too hard. Okay, a fair argument, this game is very hard, yes. But, if you are a bit educated in the occult, it will not be nearly as difficult. One thing many people fail to realize about this game is that some of the secrets and puzzles in it are based on real occult information! Much of it is rather simple, like astrological signs, signs of the days, and the lik e (as a hint for people playing this game: look for a book called Heptameron - you can probably locate an online version more than easily - or look on a website called www.hermetic.com. It has lots of occult books and authors ranging from simple to complex, and they're all FREE to read right off the site) However, when you have to perform the spirit summoning spell of Eliphas Levi, there is a complicated ritual that you have to go through, and lots of items to collect for it.
  
  However, I will vouch for the difficulty complaint be saying that there not enough hints to nudge you in the right direction. Like the salts room, for example. There are about 8 long aisles lined to the brim with shelves jugs and pots full of ashes of all different kinds. You're looking for one particular jar - there are no tips as to its location anywhere in the game - the only way to know is to already have enough knowledge of who Eliphas Levi is. And that, again, is based on real occult information, littered throughout the game in very cryptic forms that the average shmuck won't understand. Better yet, there's one point in the game where you have to mix a special brain fluid. Once again, the chemical shelf is lined with all kinds of chemicals, with no clues to the mixture. The only way i solved this puzzle was through trial and error - long trial and error (i'm too stubborn to use a walkthru).
  
  All that aside though, this game is VERY good. And keep in mind, Lovecraft fans, it ISN'T directly based off any of his stories! Instead, it takes certain elements from various stories and meshes them together (very well, i might add). Stories such as Charles Dexter Ward, Nameless City, Dunwich Horror, etc. are used. Even one of the houses is designed directly after Strange High House in the Mist. So Lovecraft fans fear not - you'll get your fill! Just not in the way you might imagine.
  
  I highly recommend this game to anyone that doesn't mind having to do a bit of research into the occult world to fully understand what's going on. Either that or look at a walkthrough. The developers definitely had their hearts in the right place with this interesting game, but their minds seemed to have gone off on a bit of a tengent with the puzzles.
  
  

• Linear Irritation

  
  By A27REM35ZUPF4K on 2001-10-20
  This is, quite possibly, the worst game I've ever played. Admittedly, that's not saying a lot, since I don't play PC games that often; however, I am a fan of H.P. Lovecraft, and while the atmosphere of Necronomicon is suitably creepy, there is little of Lovecraftian lore to hold a fan's attention and less good gameplay for those unfamiliar with H.P.L. The game's three main problems are:

  1) linearity--it is impossible to explore freely, to talk with people more than once, or to do things not strictly adhering to the (convoluted) storyline, you can't even explore the second story of your own home!;

  2) voice acting--half of it is passable, the other half is atrocious, on the level of dubbed Hong Kong action flicks, the character you play sounds 12 years old (he isn't), and there are at least three different pronunciations uttered for Wytcherly's name, as if the actors hadn't been told how to say it--someone call for a director;

  3)the puzzles--as another reviewer has noted, many of these are illogical, rendering them nearly impossible to complete without a walk-through (there are several available on-line), they generally add nothing to the atmosphere of the game, and they result in disappointing payoffs--the end of the game is a massive anti-climax.

  Although the graphics are nice and some of the characters sufficiently creepy to evoke Lovecraft, the game isn't worth your time or your money.
  
  

• Average

  
  By A3I92PEEL1B62O on 2002-07-16
  _Necronomicon_ is a stunningly average game. Like most games, it has its good points and its bad points. Unlike many, however, it has nothing that really sets it apart in either direction. The good parts are simply pretty good, not thrilling. The bad parts aren't unforgiveably bad; they're merely annoying. As it is based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft and I feel the same way about those, in this respect it turned out about as I expected.

  You play William Stanton, a scholarly fellow who lives in the Rhode Island town of Providence. The time is the late 1920s (although the character costumes make it look more like the late 1800s). As the game opens, you answer the door to your old school friend, Edgar. He tells you he's in danger and entrusts you with a mysterious artifact. Soon after, a man appears who introduces himself as Edgar's doctor. Edgar, he informs you, is suffering paranoid delusions. His family is worried about him. Can you find Edgar and figure out what's going on? Trying to accomplish this superficially simple task leads you into an unexpected realm of necromancy and black magic.

  The graphics are great, as is the voice acting. I felt that in both look and character _Necronomicon_ really taped into the New England feel, where things are both endearingly quirky and a little eerie, especially to outsiders. The game relies heavily on the sense that there's something mysterious going on here that everyone knows about but no one is talking about. Every non-player character is at least mildly eccentric and some are downright creepy. This gives you a sense that you don't know whom to trust. Unfortunately this doesn't really go anywhere, aside from creating atmosphere. I kept expecting to find hidden agendae, or to uncover things that weren't as they seemed on the surface, but this was not the case. As a result, the whole game lacked depth that could have made it more interesting.

  The puzzles are mainly inventory-based mechanical. They are neither particularly challenging nor particularly easy. Any challenge comes from some external situation rather than the puzzle itself. For example, a room might be so dark that it's hard to see what's going on, or a solution might depend on combining one or two of a large number of items, where no indication is given which are correct or even what the result should be. This gives the game an annoying degree of randomness and makes it seem that every solution is a matter of chance, rather than brainpower. You're just a likely to stumble on the answer by chance or luck as you are to "figure it out." Often failure to get it right means death, so there were long periods of dying over and over again while trying different things out. I found this trying.

  _Neconomicon_ suffers from extraneous detail: things you can look at that have no purpose or things you can interact with that don't really have a function. I constantly found myself wondering, "Is this a puzzle or isn't it?" A lot of this stuff seemed to have been put in there just to extend gameplay, but it left me feeling gypped. In general, it seemed that there was too high a proportion of irrelavant material and the material that was relevant just didn't thrill enough or make up for the make-work. There was too little of the satisfaction that comes from solving a really complex, logical puzzle from carefully collected clues.

  _Necronomicon_ is also one of the most linear games I have ever played. There's almost no sense of interacting with the game or doing things in an order that makes personal sense. Once you start, you're locked into a pre-determined path. It may be a fairly interesting path, but it just doesn't involve the player like a more non-linear game.

  There are two different endings to the game -- a "Successful" ending and a "failure" ending. Which you get is contingent upon your success in figuring out the last puzzle. Unfortunately, once you start the last puzzle you can no longer escape and start over even if you figure out you're on the wrong track. This resulted in having to view the "bad" ending sequence about 20 times, and you can't escape from that either. That was the singularly most annoying thing about the game, in my opinion. By the time I had seen the "bad" ending 5 times I was ready to give up and go look for the answer just so I didn't have to see it again. After all that, the "good" ending was distinctly anti-climactic.

  On the whole, I neither liked this game nor hated it. It was just something to do on several summer afternoons when it was too hot to do anything else. In that respect, it was worth it. If you decide to play _Necronomicon_, don't expect too much and you should get along fine.
  
  

• truly full of lovecraftian horror -- but not as intended

  
  By A2MT20HEAJOX2C on 2004-06-02
  You will experience true horror -- at the quality of the acting, programming, and writing. You will encounter many singular and strange -- software bugs. And you will be confronted with the ultimate conundrum of all: how did this game get past QA?

  I generally like anything gloomy and dark, no matter how bad it is. Yet even I like to have one candle dimly flickering -- so as not to be the thing that goes "bump" in the night against every corner and chair. (I'm not a bat -- I have eyes) Yet many places in this game the screen is pure black -- you have to literally click on a black screen by trial and error! As much as I like the color black, i'd rather not sit there clicking on it...

  The voice-acting is so bad that all you hear are mumbles and whispers -- there is NO way to turn the voice up reletive to the background sound, and there are NO subtitles! And there is no way to escape from a cut-scene or conversation once you started it -- no matter how long and annoying it is.

  Puzzles come in two varieties: those that require a knowledge of the occult and obsesive re-readings of the given books and materials as well as some guess work (which happens to be my idea of fun) -- and hard-core pixel hunting (which doesn't!)! I don't mind a few pixel-hunting quests -- but looking through screen-fulls of identical jars just to find the right one is a bit ridiculous! Even Tetris is a better computer game than "look though 100 identical things to find the right one"!

  In conclusion, you must be a masochist to enjoy this game! Go re-read a Lovecraft book. If you don't like reading, get Black Mirror -- which, with all it's flaws, is still a much better dark-occult game than Necronomicon.
  
  

• A dark journey through your mind
  By A2QYKFOLT65VFB on 2002-03-26
  ...Since the very beginning of the game, your character meets many different people and through dialogues the story of Necronomicon begins to develop. You explore a dilapidated house, an alchemyst's laboratory, search for books in a large library, summon a spirit. The puzzles are very intersting but extremely complicated. Nevertheless if you sum up all the information you have and take notes, (and through a bit of experimentation) the puzzles are solvable without a walkthrough. There was this moment when I had to make a potion but I haven't got any clue how to do it, and I had to choose two bottles of about 20 available and mix them. However, once you start thinking logically you will realize that the possible combinations are limited, since the variation of the pots is limited (although that is not immediately obvious). The process through which you summon the spirirt from the past provides exciting puzzles, which I rarely have recently encountered in an adventure game. I disagree with the other reviews, which criticize this game for its lack of reasoning. Logic dominates, but if you like the easy-3-hour-gameplay-plus-the-constant-assistance-of-areliable-walkthrough, then this game is not for you. The thrill this game provides is in its making you think deeper and make logical connections in order to solve the puzzles. The game is challenging and patience is a key factor in enjoying the game as a whole. Necronomicon has nice graphics and a dark atmosphere that often thrills you as you walk in dark corridors in search for a lantern (almost a hint :-)). The interface of the game is a point-and-click type, typical of the Dreamcatcher adventure games, and sometimes even provides hints telling you that you should use an item at the particular situation. Well, some people will hate me for this review, but I hope others will make use of it in a more beneficial way. I strongly recommend Necronomicon, even though I have not already finished it.
  
  
• Good enough that I wish it was better.
  By ACDME82WBJDTZ on 2002-09-13
  Necronomicon is set in 1920s Rhode Island. The hero, William Stanton, is charged with sleuthing around to find the connection between Providence, Rhode Island and the World of the Dead. Stanton is an archaeologist by trade, and he is very young, fairly naive, very polite, and very determined. I liked playing from this character's perspective. And the idea that there is a dark underside to such a quaint and seemingly peaceful town is provocative, and appeals to my everpresent suspicion that all is not as it seems.

  The first half of the game is preoccupied with unraveling the mystery around Stanton's friend, Edgar Wicherly. Wicherly brings Stanton a pyramid-shaped stone and tells him to give it to no one, "not even me!" This portion of the game is quite riveting---the graphics in the town are quite nice with fairly involved detailing. Stanton's task is to explore what has happened to Wicherly, and what kind of research he has been doing to provoke such odd behavior. The eerieness is well-developed by the odd behavior and taciturnity of the towns folk.

  There is a stretch of game where I was literally terrified---I confess to being so absorbed by the storyline and graphics that at times I could not bring myself to press the cursor on the hotspot for fear of what might happen next (at one point I got up from my chair and stood behind it to press the cursor---something about doing this made me break the hold the narrative had over me). Really great work here---the designers have a good sense of what is really terrifying, in a Blair Witch tradition.

  There are some moments of broken story logic (it seems to me) having to do with the central scene in the middle of the game. There is an implausible moment in the storyline, which affects my relationship to the main character (I refrain from revealing the details). Nonetheless, the story picks up from that moment and shifts into an entirely different world apart from the dreamy Rhode Island setting. I think I would have remained more engaged had the story stuck to the Rhode Island space a little more, giving a more palpable sense that the other side is much more integrally connected to the world in which all the characters live and breathe. As it is, the game is separated into "The Rhode Island Segment" and "The Other World Segment." It loses some of its efficacy because of this for me.

  The game is puzzle-heavy, to an astonishing degree, particularly in the second half. Rather than bog myself down in frustrating solutions, I opted to find a good walkthrough for the puzzles. There are also several mazes, which are slightly less frustrating, and on which I usually did not cop out by going to the walkthrough. There is some interesting alchemical work, as well as some fairly engaging library work (Stanton follows the path of many a researcher in just such a library). It seems to me that the facts and details of the storyline are fairly historically plausible, if not accurate.

  I give this game 3 stars because the first half is so engaging--for its narrative development, voice acting (the newspaper man at the Gazette is a memorable delivery), measured eerieness, and logical sleuthing. It gets no more than 3 stars because the second half fails to sustain the enjoyment of the first half--the story loses plausibility and connection to the first half, it is almost all puzzles and mazes with no non-player character interaction, and even though it takes place "on the underside," it is slightly less eery than the disturbed world of Rhode Island.
  
  

• Yes, it's perfect !
  By AD9OVPOUIJM6D on 2003-08-27
  First of all I don't have the pc version of the game but the ps one version, I would actually recommend the playstation version to bye for those who have one, rather than the pc version.

  On to the game.

  After having played and successfully completed the two Dracula games I bought this one with an exspectation of high quality graphics and lifelike characters, just like the dracula games.
  And I was satisfied, it's a fantastic story, with alot to offer on a cold winters night, it shines of darkness and dispair.
  William Stantons life changes in every aspects as his childhood freind Edgar visits him. Edgar seems almost panic and breifly tells a bit of his lately doings, and then he gives William a strange prism, but what William doesn't know is the horrific secret that lies behind the pyramid...and so his journey through darkness begins...

  William experience some strange conversations around the town pawtuxet, but without really getting anywhere...what is he to do?...find out for yourself...keep your mind clear...or else!

  You'll visit some creepy places from the well room where diabolic creatures hides in the wells waiting to strike at you to the downbroken laboratory of the alchemists chambers to the torture room...keep your sanity clear or loose your mind...

  Darkness is closing in on you...
  What are you to do...?
  can your expose the occult experiments of the alchemist...?
  Can you find out the true meaning of the Necronomicon...?
  It's all up to you...

  An ancient darkness is awaken the souls of the damned are alive,
  The names of the doomed are standing on the shelfs,
  as light seems fading...seek the wisdom of the machine
  Keen is the brain who tells of the past, of the alchemist using the doomed souls of the cast...passed seems the past, but as long as he walk...you'd better keep on talk...to the machine...

  That was a little help from my side, solve the riddle and you will understand the true meaning of it.
  Experience a beautiful detailed world with many unresolved issues, unlock the secrets of the Necronomicon.
  
  

• Nice graphics
  By AC62SNVRI158P on 2004-07-02
  The world of the game offers you the 360 rotation of most modern "shooters." It has a very loosely related H.P. Lovecraft theme but no connection to any story I know. There are some tough "hunt and peck" pixel quests which can become tedious (especially the one in total darkness.) I did enjoy it, but the box says that this is the "first adventure game to be directly indpired by the writings of H.P. Lovecraft." This was annoying because there have been much better Lovecraft ports such as the excellent adventure games Shadow of the Comet by Chaosium/Infogames in 1994, and my favorite text based Hound of Shadow 1990 from Eldritch Games, and the Alone in the Dark series from the early 90's.

  I didn't personally encounter any serious (lockup) bugs but it did drop out to windows sometimes. The cut scenes and movements played without any choppiness at all but sometimes the voices would stutter. The graphic detail of the towns and building was excellent, especially the fishing village. Riding the little antique motorcycle was fun. As one reviewer noted, the main character sounded unnecessarily like a 12 year old-- good description. However, the people were mispronouncing the guy's name differently for a reason: they were indicating or pretending they didn't know him, of course. This was not a flaw by the game designers.

  In sum, the graphics were pretty, but gameplay could have been better. Worth a look in the bargain bin.
  
  

• starts off good
  By on 2001-09-24
  Well, I liked this game at the beginning, until you get half way through and then you spend more time "dying" then anything else. It got to the point where I no longer wanted to finish the game because of how and why you "died". It was just, quite frankly, too annoying to continue to play.
  
  
• Necromonicon
  By on 2001-10-16
  I do not recommend this game for the following reasons: Too complicated to get through without a cheat guideline. Disappointed with many of the scenes. I would have liked to be able to explore the upstairs of the first home, but was unable to do it. I became bored too soon with this game.
  
  
• Nice story but too dark!!!
  By on 2002-04-08
  When I mean 'dark' I mean 'dark'! What made this game frustrating was that some scenes were too dark to find anything! Getting around the lab was really tough cuz you got find these switches to light up the room.(yes, I put my brightness all the way up!)
  
  As for the puzzles, some are easy (just keep clicking the symbols if you don't understand the clues) some are hard (just read those books you find) and some are just time consuming (you can get through those mazes eventually!!!).

  I think the most "illogical" part comes after you leave the lab. You have to find the right urn and have the charcoal with you.
  
  As for the lip sync, I don't really care about it. It is afterall just a video game with limitations. I don't think the average player is going to notice that.

  I think this game could have been better if it had more puzzles and less of picking up stuff. Nice story though.
  
  

• Evil
  By on 2002-08-22
  ..., I played and enjoyed this game. The story is cool and the graphics and sound are excellent. If you like the occult, satan and stuff like that, and you are an adventure gamer, I recomend this game.
  
  
• Unpleasant beyond belief
  By on 2003-09-06
  Being an H.P.Lovecraft fan I bought this game with high hopes and initially was happy with the excellent pictures. My brief euphoria, however turned to frustration and then anger when I had to turn the brightness up to the max on my monitor and still couldn't see anything during the dungeon part of the game. I could just imagine the game's designers sitting around saying "Let's make it even darker! That would be really fun!" Even with a walkthrough I had a terrible time manuevering around and eventually the boredom took over, and I got rid of this turkey. Save your money or read some H. P. Lovecraft books instead. I will never buy another Dreamcatcher game again.
  
  
• really awful
  By A38EDDASAM1W0V on 2002-06-05
  I picked this game up because it was cheap and happened to be one of the few adventure games I didn't already own. It was a waste money. This most awful computer game I've ever played. The storyline is boring and confusing and the graphics and voice acting are terrible. It's an excruciatingly slow game to get through, not because it's hard, but because it takes forever to get from point A to point B and then you have to listen to some awful dialogue for a while. The puzzle I had the most problem with in the game was the one where you had to light torches in a dark tunnel. You can't go on to the next stretch of tunnel until you light the torch in that area, and it's impossible to see anything. I was reduced to searching the screen with my cursor until I could find a spot where the game would allow me to use my matches. It wasn't hard to figure out what I had to do, but actually doing it was another matter. Save youself the frusteration and boredom and buy some other game. Whatever else you might get, it'll probably be better than this game. If it's worse, you have my sympathy.
  
  

• PC Gamer (1-year)

• Post Mortem
• Seven Games of the Soul
• Delaware St John: The Seacliff Tragedy
• Jack The Ripper
• Microids: Dracula III