Incline Dreams in the Witch House - Out now on Steam and GOG

[Modron]

https://af.gog.com/en/game/dreams_in_the_witch_house?as=1649904300

Spoiler

Dreams in the Witch House currently has demo as of June 2nd, I am not sure if it will be around after the upcoming Steam Next Fest in the coming weeks. The combination of traditional point and click adventure game with rpg/life sim mechanics is something you should try out. Figured this game is worthy of having a dedicated thread outside of the Random Adventure Game News Thread.

About This Game
Whether the dreams brought on the fever or the fever brought on the dreams Walter Gilman
did not know. - H.P. Lovecraft, The Dreams in the Witch House

Arkham, Massachusetts 1929. Walter Gilman, a promising math student, has just moved to the city and is starting his studies at Miskatonic University. The Dombrowski’s boarding house where he resides has a bad reputation, but Walter doesn’t mind the old rumors... Until the dreams start. A hideous scheme is underway, and if Walter is not careful, it could cost him more than his life. It could cost him his soul.

Dreams in the Witch House is a unique mix of classic point and click adventure and open world RPG. The gameplay is nonlinear and many of the elements are generated randomly, making each playthrough different.

You have two months to prepare Walter for the dreaded May-Eve. How you spend the time is completely up to you: concentrate on studies, get friends and stay in good physical and mental state. Or explore the old rumours, read the forbidden books at Miskatonic University, and work on your occult thesis. Or just stay in bed, and hope that it all goes away!

Based on the short story "The Dreams in the Witch House" by H.P. Lovecraft.

• Open world sandbox meets point and click adventure game
• RPG elements: money, health, sanity, and many character stats
• Day / evening / night - cycles and changing weather
• Several endings depending on player’s actions
• 10 - 20 hours of playtime
• Original soundtrack by genre favourite Troy Sterling Nies (The Call of Cthulhu, The Whisperer in the Darkness)
• Creeping tension: otherwordly threats intensify gradually
• 320 x 180 pixel graphics
• Plenty of detailed animation and visual effects

You can find more on their pages (youtube is a bit sparse at the moment)
https://twitter.com/atombraingames
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD00Vcfg6kqrthIbDDtoSIw

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

On one hand cool, Lovecraft, on the other, I'm not a fan of sanity mechanics and 320x180, really?

 

[Modron]

There are mechanics in game to mitigate some sanity loss events (actions you can take to prevent them in the first place, items you can purchase with money earned from stipends/odd jobs) and you can restore sanity (a good night's rest/warm meal/some events restore a modest amount).

 

[Alienman]

Wrote a short demo impression on my blog, you can read it there, or down below if interested!

Spoiler

Dreams in the Witch House is a point & click/RPG made by the Finnish developers Atom Brain Games. It’s based on the Lovecraft mythos, and in my personal opinion they absolutely nail the feeling from the stories – which of course has the effect of enteral suffering on me since I now have to wait patiently for the full release.

You play as a young and fresh student of Miskatonic University with the name of Walter Gilman. And thanks to the financial aid of your aunt, you have managed to rent a small attic apartment in an old, run down building in the suburbs. Your field of study is math, and your thesis involves math in combination with the occult/folklore, which naturally fits the kind of theme this game sets out to be.

The game is a mix between an RPG, and classic point & click adventure. You control your character in the typical P&C way, however Walter also have RPG stats that will affect events in the game – like for an example math, and occult skills, but also health, and sanity. This means you have lots of different kind of stuff to focus on for you to build up your character for the upcoming exams, and you do that by reading the right kind of books. It sounds simple, but it isn’t that easy since everything you do in the game advances time, and for you to survive, you need to spend money on food, and other things, like for an example medicine if you get sick. So, there are a lot of things to juggle here, time, money, school, and of course the inevitable private investigation into strange happenings.


I find it all a very fresh and fun take on the classic point & click adventure formula, to me, the survival aspect of the gameplay just enchanted the stakes, and general immersion. I also like when games actually have time sensitive tasks, and I don’t mean like when you only have 10 minutes to disarm a bomb kind of stuff. I mean, when you have a meeting to keep track of for an example – it adds agency to the world, and to other characters, which makes NPC’s come alive differently from the usual static placement.

Dreams in the Witch House has a pretty spooky atmosphere too, typical of Lovecraft’s work – the slow build up to something otherworldly that slowly drains the sanity from our protagonist. From the demo at least, the centerpiece for this feeling is the attic apartment. Every time my character returned home at night from whatever thing he was doing, I felt genuine dread going up those stairs to the loft. Considering the material, that is a great feeling to have! I don’t want to spoil anything here, but this is one spooky room, and I also love the foreshadowing by talking to the other residents in the building. It’s a classic take on letting your imagination do the build up, which actually rewards your anticipation in the end.

Visually, the game looks great, retro pixel art all the way, and not the cheap looking kind either. The game is filled with animations, and detail. Very visually stimulating to look at. Sound, and music is good, even if I wish there was a little more ambient noises, some areas felt a little flat without any clear background sound. There is no voice-acting, and I don’t know if that is planned or not, but I would say it’s not needed. Music is also suitable spooky at places, which increases the tension – especially when it comes to that damn room in the attic!

All in all, a very good impression. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the demo. It has this cozy, and yet creepy atmosphere that take turns in mesmerizing you. I also enjoyed the different kind of characters you get to talk to. The dialogue felt very natural, and flowed easily from one subject to the next. In other words; I can’t wait for the full release, which is set this year, thank the cosmic lords.

Spoiler: I liked it.

And thanks to Modron for finding it.

 

[Modron]

Pretty sure LESS T_T found it like all things, all I did was make sure it had its own thread and encourage people to play the demo which is still available after the next fest in case you guys didn't get around to it.

They are starting to trickle out some further tidbits on their twitter


Posting an older one because it shows other areas in the game and because

 

[Darth Roxor]

Finished the demo. Pretty fun. But what it actually reminded me the most of was Papers, Please with all the resource management to make sure Walter doesn't starve, die, get insomnia and still has enough money for that bootleg whisky

 

[Modron]

Sounds like they are plugging away on the game, maybe they will have a more finite release date announcement soon.

 

[Modron]

Apparently the game is going to have some randomization within content and not just event triggering:

Yes, it's randomized, and in the full game there's one more place where it could be.

Spoiler

So I'm betting you'll find it under the carpet, if you figure a way to lift it up

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1902850/discussions/0/3425564948156596661/#c3425564948156729704

And since I bumped this for that tidbit might as well do a twitter roundup even if there has only been a smattering of stuff since he's in crunch mode to finish the game

 

[Modron]

A point and click adventure with difficulty modes:


Oh and I missed this status update a month ago on steam:

AUTUMN UPDATE
Current status of the game
Hello! The year is rapidly nearing the end, so a quick status update.

Dreams in the Witch House release date is still the vague 2022. I just finished the new version for testers, and all the key elements are now in place. The work still continues with adding missing sound effects and bug fixing. So hopefully things go well and I can announce the release date soon-ish. It's starting to get exciting!

Meanwhile, here's a pretty picture you can enjoy. You won't find this room in Lovecraft's story, but I think many of you will know the general location.

Take care, talk to you soon!
- Antti

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1902850/view/3288214038330916240

 

[Darth Roxor]

A point and click adventure with difficulty modes:

curse of monkey island

 

[Modron]

Dreams in the Witch House lands a publisher and slips to Q1 2023.

Jenkem

 

[Alienman]

Man, I hope something comes out in 2022.

 

[Modron]

Seems like they've been focusing on making the game but here is recap of the last couple months:

 

[Modron]

Here is a recap of the last month's game related twitter activity.

New location teased:

There is alchemy in the game apparently:


He took part in an adventure game round up (I suppose you would call it):

And here is the relevant bit:

 

[Modron]

Release date announcement incoming?


Edit: Dreams in the Witch House is coming out February 16th:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1902850/view/3639506859393411328

Prepare for the Lovecraftian Fever Dreams: May-Eve and Witches Are 16th of February to Steam

ARKHAM, Massachusetts
- Step into the madness and unravel the mystery! The highly anticipated adventure game based on H.P. Lovecraft's "The Dreams in the Witch House" is finally coming to haunt your screens on February 16th. Get ready to experience an old-school adventure with a twist of RPG elements and an estimated playtime so long, you'll forget what reality is.

Strap on your sanity, grab a flashlight and prepare for a journey that'll make you question everything you thought you knew about the universe. But beware, the witch house holds secrets and terrors beyond your wildest nightmares.

Don't believe us? Check out the trailer on YouTube and see for yourself.



Features and gameplay in a nutshell:

• Unique mix of adventure game and open world survival game
• You have 60 days to prepare for the May-Eve witch sabbath
• Day / evening / night -cycles
• RPG elements: health, sanity, occult & maths skills
• Lot’s of endings depending on player’s actions with 10–20 hours of playtime
• Original soundtrack by genre favourite Troy Sterling Nies

Game have been in development already 7 years, since 2015 by Atom Brain Games. Now the wait is almost over, mark your calendars, lock your doors and get ready to face the unknown. See you in the witch house! ️"

 

[Modron]

Coming to GOG as well if that is more your speed:


Daily update countdown going on:

 

[Alienman]

It's out boys. Insta-bought it. Nice price too. Not started it yet, though.

 

[Jenkem]

no launch discount means I'll wait, lol..

please post impressions in here for anyone who has grabbed it.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Well, this game offers a very accurate representation of student life.

After being forced to dumpster dive after food, I finally get my weekly allowance of $10 from my aunt on Monday, OH YEAH PARTY HARD

by Wednesday I've spent it all on booze, fancy clothes and wom*n

 

[Modron]

Only 2 hours in myself, haven't been reduced to eating garbage yet.

 

[Darth Roxor]

not everyone's made for student life

 

[Darth Roxor]

Also this game is such a hilarious uphill struggle at times

I got the crucifix from Joe and enjoyed a few good nights of slep

but then of course the bitch wrecked the crucifix

well guess it's time to slep with the lights on fo-

*lightbulb breaks*

KURWA

 

[Alienman]

I had one course that went flawlessly, I had money, and food and the Witch didn't fuck with me too much. Managed to get the "exam" to 10 even. Then comes the next course... I'm genuinely haunted now, everything that can go wrong goes wrong. Barely any sleep, low on money, the rat gnaws through the wood thing instantly, hearing voices in the night, etc etc.

Oh, and yeah, I got robbed too... so I'm wounded also.

 

[agris]

is this the lovecraftian survival adventure game we didn't know we need?

 

[Darth Roxor]

Oh, and yeah, I got robbed too... so I'm wounded also.

I succeeded on my bluff roll to avoid it

is this the lovecraftian survival adventure game we didn't know we need?

Well I'm having lotta fun so far. Gameplay-wise it actually reminds me a lot of Papers Please in how you have to balance 'plot' matters with mundane tasks like studying and acquiring potato and not freezing to death.