14 DAY TRIAL // 
At first glance, the pixel art of Vlad Circus: Descend Into Madness would suggest to any seasoned gamer a classic point and click adventure with horror elements. And they would be right, at least partially, expecting an unnerving story and fiendish puzzles. What no one would expect are the combat mechanics that turn the entire experience on its head and not for the better.
When you hear circus freaks you already know you are in for one twisted tale. Vlad Circus: Descend Into Madness in on exception taking back the players to the 1920s when instead of trained lions and fancy acrobats, the visitors would pay to see freaks of nature like bearded ladies, conjoined twins or other self-proclaimed monstrosities. But the game pushes the envelope even further and tackles topics like addiction, hallucination, substance abuse and mental health in general.
From the very first moment when you meet your hero, the down on his luck clown Oliver, you already feel the game creeping up on you, promising to be a scary experience. The decrepit old villa that serves as the meeting point for the old troupe, reeks of ill fate and bad omens. Why would you choose a place like this to take a photo that should conjure positive memories?
The same person who believes it is a tremendous idea to revive the circus after a fire that left everyone maimed, physically or psychically. The frame of the story is the ideal setup to show how far the heroes of the circus have fallen.
As a player you will discover the strong man who is now bound to a wheelchair and can hardly lift a glass, the bearded woman who is expecting a baby in less-than-ideal conditions, the legless man who is supposedly the father, or the director himself who is far from full mental capacity.
The freaks are indeed freakish but more in a mundane and alienating way, rather than the smokes and mirrors of a circus way. In the middle of all this, Oliver will suffer from spontaneous blackouts, that leave him clueless about the recent events. Luckily his diary notes down every major event. But still, how can you tell what is real and what is merely the result of debilitating hallucinations?
In order to be able to answer the questions you will have to wade through the puzzles making up the game, a process that will take you around 2-3 hours, depending on how familiar you are with the genre. Most of the puzzles rely on item manipulation and figuring out the correct sequences just as in most of point and click games. The items needed can usually be found in the vicinity of the puzzles, and can be easily carried around in the limited, but expandable inventory.
Overall, the story and the characters are well written, and deliver a truly horrifying experience. On the other hand, the puzzles lack finesse and often require you to follow a certain train of thought, put in place by the developers to extend the gameplay time of a game that is short by default. Even if you take into account the fact that Oliver can wield weapons in order to make way through the hostile creatures blocking his path.
As mentioned earlier, there are some combat sequences that feel pretty alien compared to the rest of the game. Fortunately, most of them can be ignored, and you can just run past the rats, but when it is unavoidable to face some horrors of your imagination, it becomes frustrating. Neither the melee, nor the weapon aiming are accurate, and these make it really annoying to traverse scenes in order to solve the puzzles.
The pixel art visual style is also minimalistic, but it works well with the story in order to create the depressing atmosphere of the game. A nice touch is the lighting system that sets apart Vlad Circus: Descend Into Madness from other pixelated games, involving the players imagination to fill in the gaps left by the obscured details.
In general, the controls work, but they prove to be really clunky when it comes to the most frustrating part of the game: the combat interlaced with the puzzles. There is no voice acting and the soundtrack works well with the rest of the game, but it is utterly forgettable.
The Good
- Horrifying story
- Pixel art with lightning effects
- Well written characters
The Bad
- Very short and no replay value
- Inaccurate controls in combat
- Combat elements are frustrating
Conclusion
This game might actually be the fun activity you are looking to do on a Halloween evening: lock yourself in and ignore the pesky trick or treaters. It can be finished in a few hours, and while it has some memorable moments, the overall takeaway is “frustration.”
Review key provided by the publisher.
