The Horror at Highrook

At 5 hours in, I am really enjoying the game. I opened up a couple of new rooms fairly quickly, then there was a longer stretch until I opened up a third room. Next came a kind of dry spell were I wasn't progressing much, and I was getting a bunch of the same cards that were really of no use to me. But then I hit a rapid stretch of progress, open more rooms and have been very busy every since. The only complaint I had in the last couple of hours in the game is I was getting swamped with letters, notes, journal entries, all of which you have to read before you can continue. That was annoying, but didn't detract from the fun I was having. This game reminds me of Stacklands & WitchHand, but with much better artwork. I am happy with my purchase, and look forward to getting back into the game tomorrow.

I give my review with a heavy heart because I wanted this game to be what it wasn't in the end. I can see the hard work in it but sadly I can't recommend it. Pros: - what you see in the demo is accurate and it's not overselling. - the game has a story, although nothing you wouldn't expect - characters are nice an unique compared to each other - the game has side content - interestingly enough the lore section is the most developed through notes that you can read and sometimes it can be more than just exposition - atmosphere is on point, visual style, audio, all good - I didn't encounter any bugs. shows that execution wasn't done to 90% so that it works with some glitches but it was cared for Cons: - the game doesn't develop much further from what you see in the demo. during the game you will pretty much face the same challenge with a variation of higher difficulty or an added obstacle. I don't want to go into too much detail in case you decide you want to play - side content is shallow - most likely it changes part of the ending but that doesn't come close to the effort you put int them - the game doesn't really test you, there are no puzzles, if you pay attention to cards that are unique through the game and focus on them, you are set for victory. I don't really see how you could fix this issue and I wouldn't want to start a discussion here. - too much farming. mostly in relation to how much other stuff you are doing - character status system. this goes back to the previous point. most of the time needing to send someone to sleep is just a nuance that you have to do at times. and if you want to feed someone, you execute a 3 step action to go back to normal. and you do this throughout the game for the sake of doing it. necessity collision is not a real issue. - this point is personal since I like to be very precise with my timing after cultist simulator and book of hours - the UI tends to pause when I stop time. after some event happens and I would need to click a card and I had to let the game run and keep clicking. I would ignore this if not for the rest but this way it's just adding to the negative experience I finished the game mostly to see the end of it, did all side content but at some point there was nothing new in the game, just the continuation of the story. If you want more than a linear farming game, I don't recommend this for you.

Very fun lovecraftian mystery. The art style is immaculate and the writing is incredible. Couldn't stop playing once I started.

It's a fun game. A nice brain teaser for how to combo into the required task scores and interesting characters. What I would have expected from the genre were some more "This is all sliding into chaos, how do I stop this and what will it cost me?" situations, but these are almost entirely absent - you can always get to a stable board state relatively easily.

All in all a very interesting concept and good presentation that kinda gave me a "Betrayal at House on the Hill" vibe in a good way. That being said, I'm not sure I would recommend. The story kept me somewhat intrigued for most of the way through but fell flat after the 2/3's mark and the characters felt one-dimensional. It went from this spooky horror/gothic feel to more of a micromanagement game where everything led to the same outcome, regardless on how long it took to do it. I never felt like I was in danger of failing at any time even when I miss-stepped here and there with the order I upgraded my cards in. Also I know there are those who like collecting achievements and some who don't make a fuss about it but its kinda annoying having to replay the entire game, experience all the exact same events again, just to make one slight change to a very basic "And Where are they now?" trope that I know wont really affect anything story-wise.

Being a fan of anything Lovecraftian, this was easy for me to enjoy. I really enjoyed the new take on a card game and especially enjoyed the story. It was fun to progress through each chapter. The art style was nice too. Loved the visual depictions of the "demons". If there were any criticisms, it would be that you can get lost in what to do next, but this easily resolves by using your tools as hand - some steps take using the tools multiple times to get the forward step you need. Great game.

I was impressed with the demo. So I bought the full version. Still impressed. It's less of a card game and more of a puzzle game. If you use a card for an action and it's correct? You get the correct result. Otherwise you may get nothing or a random substitute. Haven't completed it yet, so while it's definately linear. I'm not sure of the reply value. Story is good, but once you know it? You know it. Randomization may give it some reply though. For the price? Worth it. IMHO.

The game might be something I would generally recommend, even though I have some minor issues which lead me to 'balance the ratings' slightly for some things the developers could improve upon. This will not impact me continuing to play it at a later date to an extreme degree, only my investment in the worldbuilding. A strong concept, a game detailed in a style many are familiar with. The concept of the game, the atmosphere and everything seem fine. Nothing seems wrong mechanically and the game is sound overall. However it seems to stumble on the writing in parts, which would be one of the key metrics of engagements for players in this type of genre. The writing doesn't have nearly as much polish as other older titles in the style of game, missing fullstops, sporadic tone changes within the text, using logical and precise 'clean' words before rambling into more flowery prose. The tone of the text could benefit with a bit of an intentional rewrite mostly to repair; what would otherwise be perceived as a minor issue for some. [i] A recalcitrant bundle of sinew and muscle, Hawk's blunt manner is as intimidating as his stature. [/i] I highly doubt they mean to imply his manner is a bundle of sinew.

Decent game. Gameplay is a bit repetitive, but the story is well told for the format, and the game doesn't really drag so the repetitiveness doesn't really feel like grinding. Not much in the way of replay value as far as I can tell, but it was fun while it lasted. Warning: Pay attention to how much of something you can have at once; excess will simply not be produced. This is particularly relevant because you can only make so many dream droughts *total* so if one vanishes because you already had two when you made it, you can no longer progress in the game. This is the only such glitch I've found.

The game is not without its quirks - I rolled a bad draw of cards six times in a row near the end (Moon Mirror, a curse on ye!), but overall it's a nice, atmospheric game. Not my favorite, but not the worst of its kind that I have tried.

I really enjoyed this game, the atmosphere and visuals are definitely big high points. It took me just under 9 hours to do everything including the side missions, so be aware of the time vs cost if that isn't a ratio that is worth it for you personally. I'm a huge fan of board games like Betrayal at House on the Hill, and this definitely scratched that itch.

Good fun, and a much more accessible take on Cultist Simulator's "cthonic solitaire', but it also feels too short for the price...I was expecting something like 15+ 'chapters' instead of 8, adding to our party of 4 as time went on, or there to be more sudden-but-inevitable betrayals. If the dev kept their code in decent shape, though, I could see them banging out an entire series exploring the setting with these mechanics over the next couple years. tldr: try the demo, the game is probably around 5-20 hours long depending on how much of it you read/pause for, but it is good enough to show friends and hope for more in the future!

The Horror at Highrook is a mystery investigation game that plays more like a puzzle than anything else in my opinion. The progress is linear and the game can be completed in around 10h with no missable achievements (if the autosave at midnight is taken into account before committing to final choices). I enjoyed my time with it, I liked the aesthetics, I loved the card based gameplay, unlocking new support tools and cards always felt great as it opened up parts you could not reach / access before. Openening more and more of the manor also was really nice. All characters got their moments to shine by having their unique traits and even characters I disliked first got more personality over the course of their personal quest and the context of the events, including ending slides. If anything I would have wished for narration in the style from the trailer in which the characters are introduced as it would have benefited from narration or voices akin to darkest dungeon with the vibes of the mansion and rituals gone askew. So thumbs up from me! :D

A great little game, it took me about 12 hours to finish it but if you're smarter than me you could do it faster. there are no jump scares just, creepy music art and writing. If I had to complain Id say it isn't very hard, but this is hardly dark souls.

really fun mystery so far, i feel like im very close to beating it. Super worth playing

Really enjoyed this game, except for that damn cat....the amount of times I couldn't feed a starving character because we can't possibly move the cat was annoying. But other than that it was fun trying to figure out how to advance in each chapter. It would have helped if I had paid more attention to where the support cards were made from but that's my own inattention not the game's fault

I thought this game was great, if you abuse the Pause game button it can be easy but playing in real time can give some more challenge. The story was fun and interesting until the end The whole thing really felt like managing a team of investigators who are so obsessed with finding answers that they will forget to eat, sleep and drink if you let them. So the game becomes mostly about finding the pieces you need to complete tasks without also getting so distracted that you forget to make them take a break to eat and sleep.

Good time waster although would be nice if it was a bit longer and also a little clearer I suppose about some things. In the end, it is a good relaxing puzzle type game. Hopefully there will be more content added.

tried the demo and was instantly hooked, wonderful game

The white man is rough around the edges, brutal, and lacking refinement. However, the scientific mind of the black man is refined, methodical, and hyper composed. The woman's strength and independence would be hindered by her husband's interference in her scientific studies. A husband who is not good for his family gets involved in occultism. Other than that, it's an interesting game.

The Horror at Highrook is an interesting combination of board game mechanics with the possibilities offered by video games. It tells a neat, if not exactly groundbreaking, cosmic horror story using resource management gameplay. While it's a bit of a mess in places, The Horror At Highrook is worth a try if you appreciate mythos stories and are willing to put up with quite a lot of repetition. The gameplay of The Horror at Highrook works like this. You have four people, each with skills in certain areas, who have needs that must be balanced like sleep, hunger, etc. Each room is then associated with one of those skills: the laboratory for using chemicals, the kitchen for cooking, etc. Thirdly, the game will give you tasks which require time and a certain amount of a specific skill in order to complete. Finally, there are support cards which give a bonus to a skill and can be used to help complete harder tasks. So to complete the game, pick a person, pick a task, put them in the correct room, watch progress bar complete. If this sounds boring, then this likely isn't the game for you. Watching the tasks complete and picking up new tasks and lore can be very satisfying at first. Even as someone who enjoys this kind of thing though, I couldn't help but feel that The Horror at Highrook could have been a couple of hours shorter since the progress bars were feeling pretty repetitive at that point. Still, finding new items and tasks always had a charm to it. The biggest issue with the gameplay is that there is basically no depth to it beyond what I've already described. If you have a new task, complete it. There's never any thought to the game beyond this and nearly no decisions to make. The game tracks your number of days but I'm not sure if that matters for anything. Perhaps there is an overall time limit but it never came up in my playthrough and I completed all side quests and even spent the whole first day not realizing the game was a real-time with pause situation. I couldn't help but feel like the gameplay would have felt better with a shorter runtime and more replayability. Choices to make or puzzles to figure out that could have offered more depth and direct player interaction. Allowing characters to interact more would have also benefited the game quite a bit. The overall story was solid but the character writing was extremely flat, likely since the only way to expand on the characters was to do their side quests and read their notes. I'm imagining instead a system where the choice of character to task matters beyond just the simple act of being able to complete it. Perhaps there are permanent effects added or removed from characters who use certain artifacts. Also, if tasks could be cooperatively completed by multiple people, this could allow for interaction between the characters and may be able to support a relationship system between the characters that impacts their dialogues with each other. It seems like some of these interactions were intended, as one character does come with a semi-permanent status effect and certain combat tasks suggest that multiple skills could be used to complete them, despite them being stuck in one room and thus, are only usable with one skill. Perhaps these systems had to be stripped down to make a release date? Regardless, as it stands, the only puzzle really is to determine how to get the proper support items to allow you to complete higher level tasks and none of your choices seem to make any meaningful difference. The Horror at Highrook may not have reached its full potential but it certainly does have that potential to be something great down the line. If that is something that interests you, I recommend trying the game out and enjoy the pretty cool mythos story along the way. I personally would wishlist a sequel immediately and I hope the devs can come up with some cool ways to really flesh out this gameplay style.

Art like Darkest Dungeon, playstyle like Cultist Simulator without the replayability. Writing is acceptable. All in all a solid 7 hour experience, 14 if you want 100% achievements.

I must say, i really enjoyed this game, i was captivated by the premise, tried the demo, fell in love and instbought it, i literally devoured this game in just a day, absolutely enjoyable experience, not difficult, which kind of left me wanting for more, i hope to see similar games in the future!

A bit grindy at times, but enjoyed this one quite a bit!

A wholesome story that gives you some cards to fiddle with.

A lot of fun. Low stress

Geez, Uno got dark.

Fun

Mr Tubbs my beloved