Gibbous - A Cthulhu Adventure Review (PC)

Once in a crescent moon, a video game developer launches a title that makes you wonder why are they still indie and not considered AAA yet, and that would be the case with Stuck in Attic's Gibbous - A Cthulhu Adventure 

Quick confessional

When I first started gaming I have to admit I was attracted to the more dynamic genres that were available and popular at the time, such as racing games, FPS and RTS titles. Of course, as I grew older and hopefully a bit wiser, I expanded my gaming palette to include games that were less about blowing things up and steared more towards story-oriented games where you need to actually use your brains and test your wits. This inadvertently lead to my trying out point-and-click games, and I have to admit I was lucky enough to start off with some pretty good titles, as I ended up hooked on the genre. Such is the story of how I eventually ended up interested in Gibbous - A Cthulhu Adventure. I will be honest and admit I disregarded the game when I first heard about it, since the studio it came from was rather obscure, but when I first saw the footage and played, I was deeply enamored.

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Prepare to laugh

I am fan of not caring and do enjoy a good comedy, but never in my life did I expect to laugh so much at a game that advertises itself as being all about dark arts, Cthulhu and Gothic artworks. Gibbous uses pretty much every comedic trope imaginable to ludicrous degree, such as breaking the fourth wall, out-of-place dialogue as well as anachronous and several pop culture references to the point where they can be considered tongue-and-cheek references. The jokes never get old, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I found out that, after the visuals, the script and dialogue department got the lion’s share of the game’s budget. Regardless if that is true or not, the money was well spent and to great effect.

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Beautiful

The first thing that caught my eye regarding the game was the art style. Given that I am a fan of the more darker aspects of art, I immediately fell for the Tim Burton-like atmosphere of the game.  More so, the hand drawn backgrounds made me feel like I was reading a really good book with A-list illustrations, and that further enhanced the atmosphere of it all. Of course, this was only when I came across the characters that I finally gave in and removed any restraints, and my love skyrocketed sky high. The game features what seem to be traditional hand drawn animations, as characters are extremely fluid in their movements and have very detailed facial expressions. More so, you get to admire several extremely funny cinematics that are as enjoyable to watch as your typical Saturday morning cartoons.  In fact I have to admit I had to play the game up until the very end just so that I can unlock them all.

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Enchanting atmosphere

Creating an atmosphere is all about finely balancing the visuals, the story and the sounds, and they really got their sounds just right.  Each different area has its own soundtrack which enhances the overall feel of that particular zone.  As an example, you will be in open streets of dark and gloomy cities and the dark cello music will make you look above the shoulders at all times.

Get those old cogwheels rolling

Point and click games are all about...well ...pointing and clicking. But you do all that clicking to find hidden objects, solve puzzles, talk to people and choose the right answers when asked about something. Gibbous - A Cthulhu Adventure keeps things interesting thanks to the story and every single side-quest that leads to another side-quest is just as entertaining as the main story. Because of this, you never get mad at having to diverge and help half a town accomplish their goals just so you can get just ONE step closer to completing yours. Despite being able to control three different characters, gameplay always stays the same, as there is no difference between what Kitteh can as compared to Don or Buzz as everything comes down to just a few witty comments. Objects are not hard to find, as they are usually in plain sight. More so, you have a mechanism that highlights all elements and people you can interact with, so you never get stuck by overlooking something that may seem obvious.

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The Good

The Bad

Conclusion