What is it?
A casual puzzle game that requires you to use your skills of deduction to identify a growing collection of bizarre items, to satisfy the requests of various patrons who are in need of items for specific purposes, and to solve a number of mysterious clues to ultimately stop a magical catastrophe in the town of Undermere.
How much playtime can you expect?
I finished a full playthrough (that included some pause time and I played through the epilogue to identify a few unidentified items) in 12.5 hours. It's perfect for short or long sessions as you can save and quit at any point. There's much replayability though (which I will explain).
Pros:
+ If you've played Strange Horticulture the gameplay hasn't changed much and is easy to pick up. Each day you can click on the bell to meet with a new customer. That customer will request that you find a specific item for their needs--sometimes they will describe a need and you'll have to consult your handy guide to magical items to figure out which item will best solve their problem or they will simply request a specific item. Once you've picked the item that you think fits, you present it to the customer. If you've correctly identified it a window will pop up to confirm that you've puzzled out the correct clues--this time around they've also included a handy setting (that you must enable in the settings menu) that will auto-label any items you've correctly identified.
Certain characters that are part of the main story will visit the store and present you with the option to pick between specific items. Usually one item is a bit on the darker side and the other seems more innocent. These choices play out in the story and at the end of the game you find out the effects of your choices.
+ Multiple endings! I don't know exactly how many endings there are, but if it's anything like Strange Horticulture there are many. There's a great amount of replayability built in to facilitate multiple playthroughs.
+ A vast number of options for labelling objects--you can change the shape and color of labels to better help organize them. I didn't have much of a plan for this, but you could definitely group objects according to their traits.
 |
| There are three different books to consult for clues. |
+ More layers to puzzling out item identities. Often you'll need to consult multiple books (you get three guides in addition to the basic guide) to gather together the information that you need. There's a book on gemstones and another one on symbols. Plus, there's another item that I don't want to spoil.
+ Little mysteries around the shop to solve. I just started clicking on random stuff in the shop that looked like it might do something and discovered several hidden puzzles that could eventually be solved to unlock more items. It's fun to find these hidden (and sort of not-so hidden because they are eventually revealed) puzzles.
+ A cute new shop cat named Jupiter! You can pet Jupiter and listen to his/her cute purrs.
+ The option to play the epilogue which will allow you to identify any items that you might not have identified.
+ Daily puzzle cards to solve. Each day a new mystery card will challenge you to explore one of three different locations to find additional objects. Most of the puzzles are easily solvable, but a few are a bit of a headscratcher (I'll admit here that I did look a few things up).
+ Music is calm and soothing--perfect for relaxation while puzzling.
+ If you incorrectly identify items you will eventually have to play a little game to restore your sanity. This time around it's a dice game that requires you to match certain combinations of symbols. It's fun to play and mostly easy to reset to the beginning of the day.
Cons:
- I didn't think the world and groups seemed quite as ominous as in Strange Horticulture. There's still some inherent creepiness, but a slightly less strange and intriguing group of characters.
- Rather than one large map for exploration there are three smaller scale maps. In some ways this was nice (figuring out which map to use is easy) but in others it made exploration a bit easier. Some people might find this disappointing.
- Hints can be fairly unhelpful. Usually you will have figured out the basic information but need a little bit more--the hints definitely do nor provide much extra help. I wish they would give a bit more of a nudge if you need more than one. I tried very hard not to look anything up but did eventually get stuck and resorted to Googling.
Recommendation:
If you enjoyed Strange Horticulture you'll find that Strange Antiquities is very much the same kind of adventure. I had fun figuring things out and enjoyed the rewarding feeling of identifying items. If you like puzzle games and using your noggin to solve problems from a vague set of clues, it's perfect for you. If you're someone who gets easily frustrated and gives up, it might be best to avoid. The replayability factor also makes it an attractive choice--you can go back and make different decisions to see how the story plays out.
