Eleusis Review (PC)

The folks over at Nocturnal Works have seen the potential of a certain city in Greece, famous for its mysteries, and brought gamers Eleusis, a 3D first-person adventure game that has horror and obscure written all over it.

It's an adventure that takes place in a remote village in Greece, where the main character experiences a number of cryptic events, and tries to understand what is going on around him.

The story begins with us being informed of the reason behind the sudden rush of our character to his hometown after receiving a more than intriguing letter about his mother.

Not too long after, he begins to discover signs of a powerful cult at work and understands that he is the only one who can stop them.

As the story starts to unfold, a dark scenery lies in front of you. Trust me, this is not a game for the fainthearted.

The developers did a good job in setting the game’s gloomy atmosphere, from the country road and a certain event that happens during the drive, the complete darkness and lack of an immediate source of light and the impending feeling of doom present around the village itself.

Eleusis is a story-driven game that focuses on exploration, the player having to solve inventory item-based puzzles in order to further advance in the game.

First thing you must do when you start the game is to check out the controls as you won't be able to just point and click on places to move around. Things here are a bit more complicated.

Also, you will be able to use your mouse to control the direction in which you want to go, as well as left click to interact with objects.

This being said, you must also know that the game incorporates challenges that will make use of your agility as well as stealth tactics in order to survive whatever might loom around.

The puzzles can be quite a challenge at times but have a simple interface. The game tries to help players in some situations, such as missing to get an important object and so on.

As it is an open adventure game, you get the opportunity to move around as much as you want, even to places where there isn't anything to do, as well as to pick up things that aren't of too much use. Well, except for throwing them at your attackers.

For players that are accustomed to the typical point and click adventure game, where movement is limited, this could come as annoying and tiring. A more intriguing scenario could have diverted your attention from the item-scavenging and offer some variety.

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You can access your inventory and make use of what you have there. One thing that is quite alright, considering the fact that you can pick up almost everything, is that only things that can be used in solving puzzles will go into your inventory.

One frustrating thing that got to me more than once is the lack of manual saves. The game only has an auto-save feature that saves the game at certain points.

The graphics along with the sounds certainly make Eleusis one creepy and frightening game. Not to sound too much of a scaredy-cat, but the devs sure did their job.

The entire atmosphere gives out some obscure vibes, having the constant feeling that you're about to be kidnapped, killed or even eaten by the creatures that lurk in the forest (Wolves! Yes Wolves!)

You will be able to notice some amazing details, starting from the rock formations to the houses and going as far as to the rain and mist.

Speaking of rain, you will definitely get the chills because the sound effects are extremely real. There are a variety of sounds that make a great ambient soundtrack.

Who needs too much music when you can hear your footsteps, doors, locks, nocturnal sounds and so many more horror-like effects. Players will be able to notice that a lot of effort as well as talent was poured into this aspect of the game.

Conclusion

If by any chance you are into horror movies or anything related to the horror/thriller genre, you will certainly appreciate what Eleusis has to offer.

The game goes all-out on the whole spooky concept and delivers some captivating scenery and sounds as well as an environment that makes sense from a geographic and domestic point of view as you are able to walk and run (thank God for that) almost everywhere.

Unfortunately for me, the fairly large amount of wandering came to be very frustrating at some point as well as the whole problem with the automatic saves.

Other than that, being based on a real life place that had its own mysteries sure does add to the whole mix, at least for me. The game will make use of your knowledge of ancient Greece, as there will be clues based on actual history.

Trust me when I say it's not a game that should be played all alone in the house, at night... unless you’re up for it.