![]() Patreon.Inspired by Scandinavian literature, legends and fairytales, along with Norse mythology and the Icelandic sagas, Draugen is set in the early 1920s and delves into the deepest, darkest secrets of a remote fishing community where every single soul has mysteriously vanished.Īs the player explores the tiny settlement, gathering clues and memories, and unearthing the truth behind a terrible tragedy, they will learn more about the history of the village and its inhabitants. Your support enables us to continue to provide this type of content and more. If you want to contribute to our coverage of Chicago’s video game scene (and more) please consider becoming a patron. We are the only publication in Chicago that regularly reviews video games, and we cover lots of local Chicago-based events and more. If you like the video game, tabletop, or other technology content that Third Coast Review has to offer, consider donating to our Patreon. Beautiful and haunting with a compelling mystery and a novel setting, Draugen is worth checking out for adventure game fans. If you like tight experiences that will keep you hooked from beginning to end, Draugen is perfectly digestible. Draugen has secured a place in my head, and for much longer than most games have, despite its short length. But despite its length, it has an interesting story to tell-one that’s stuck with me. I was able to play through Draugen in a couple of short play sessions, and it can probably be finished in a single sitting. If I do have one complaint about Draugen is that it’s extremely short. And, while I don’t want to spoil the story, a lot of the resolution is up to the player’s interpretation: little is laid out in a concrete way. In fact, Draugen doesn’t really have a focus beyond its unsettling but picturesque setting and the mystery therein. While the nature of their relationship is not clear from the start, you come to learn how much Edward cares about Alice, and what kind of dependency he has on her.ĭraugen deals heavily with themes of loss and loneliness with a touch of mental health, though these aren’t the central focus of the game. Edward looks as dour as they come, with the countenance of a corpse, while Alice is young, vibrant, curious and even slightly playful. Alice is impish, and carefree: Edward’s foil. Screenshot: Draugenĭespite its crushing sense of loneliness, Alice is with Edward through the majority of the journey. But a game like Draugen isn’t about the gameplay, or even traditional puzzles, it’s about its narrative. ![]() ![]() If you lose sight of Alice you can call for her, and she’ll answer you-and the game will show you which direction she’s in. You can run, interact with certain objects, etc. There isn’t much in the way of gameplay in Draugen beyond walking, the occasional dialogue options, and finding objects to move the story forward. You’ll be experiencing the game through Edward’s eyes, but Edward isn’t the most reliable of narrators. Even so, nothing is really quite as it seems. Screenshot: DraugenĮxploring Graavik, and finding letters, journals, and other items will slowly uncover the mystery of what transpired. Edward and Alice are big city Americans in small town Norway, and while not fluent in the local language, Edward knows enough to navigate around, and piece together what transpired. In fact, the entire town of Graavik is seemingly abandoned. When you arrive, your hosts are nowhere to be found, nor is Betty. And boy does she love to toss around her era appropriate nicknames, like “old fruit” and “Teddy bear, old boy,” etc.Īrriving by boat, Edward and Alice’s goal is to find Edward’s sister, Betty, whose journalism career somehow brought her to the sleepy village of Graavik. You play as Edward, or “Teddy,” as his companion Alice calls him. While not strictly a horror game, Draugen is surreal-like walking around in a dream, or a nightmare. In Fact, Draugen is probably one of the prettiest games I’ve played all year. The setting is idyllic, and often striking. It’s a slow, pastoral game set in a small village on the coast, with beautiful mountains looming overhead. Screenshot: Draugenĭraugen is a first person adventure game set in 1920’s Norway. And while a game like Draugen can be labelled a “walking simulator”-a term that has negative connotations-it’s a beautifully haunting adventure game at its core. I love adventure games, and the folks at Red Thread Games have a pretty impressive adventure game pedigree with titles like Dreamfall Chapters, with some at Red Thread making adventure games since 1999’s The Longest Journey-a personal favorite of mine.
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