Previously released as The Dark Eye in 1996, this is a self described piece of "narrative driven exploration," involving stop-motion puppetry and video collage that will take you literally inside three Poe tales.

In each of the tales you get to play both the protagonist and the victim, either sequentially or by jumping from one character to the other at certain moments. Flickering eyes are the giveaway, and whilst I have yet to take up that opportunity in this first 60 minutes, I remember it as an intriguing aspect when I played the original. I intend to give it a go once I proceed further.

You inhabit each of two characters in the particular tale, and progress by finding and engaging with the relevant hotspots. There is no puzzling as such, the challenge being to do what is required to progress the proceedings. You might engage with other characters, pick up an item here or there, but it's fundamentally about the storytelling.

Whilst it's all point and click, the nuances of how the experience works is a little opaque, but you can consider that part of the puzzling. Or you can get the 'survival guide' from your original boxed version (a very good box it is too) and review how things work. It relevantly explains the Soul Jump (the flickering eyes), the various versions of the Hand of Fate cursor (including the little side to side caress that is essential at times) and how the phrenology map works. It doesn't tell you everything though, not least of all that when the 'waking world' goes blue, you are looking for a reflection to trigger the alternative Poe reality.

As I said, you can consider how the worlds work to be part of the challenge, but I do think the availability of the manual somewhere would be helpful.

It looks surrealistically interesting, even given its age, and the sounds and the voice acting are rather good (did I mention narration is by Wiliam S Burroughs?). Animations can take a little while to trigger so be patient. The game autosaves exclusively, and I have yet to fathom its intricacies.

That is largely because of a number of lock-ups that required me to control-alt-delete to overcome, which tended to happen when I wanted to save and exit (double click Esc). Half the time I ended up with a black screen of death. More frustratingly, the load screen on activating the second character in the first tale refuses to move on, in effect preventing further progress. I might be able to work around it by replaying the previous character and 'soul jumping' into this one, but having gained early access I am hopeful that this will be sorted by the makers somehow. Having bricked up Fortunato, I am keen to get his perspective.

Thanks flotsam (and Drac)!

Thanks so much for your impressions, flotsam and I hope we hear back regarding the issues soon so you can carry on!

Thanks, Drac!

Ana

I too have the original boxed version. I can't remember if I played it or not. There is a manual on Steam's page. I don't know if this helps flotsam, does it give you what is needed to run the game without question

Thanks for look flotsam and thank you Drac


EDIT:

I remember games in the past where they hid guides, strategies and manuals in the game files. It might be worth a look