Genre: Adventure    

Developer & Publisher: Rusty Lake              

Released: September 27, 2023               

Requirements: OS: Windows 7 or higher

Processor: 2.4 Ghtz dual core

Memory: 1 GB RAM

Graphics: DirectX 9.0c compatible card

Storage: 200 MB available space

By flotsam

Underground Blossom

Rusty Lake

I chased a gaming rabbit done a burrow recently and ended up at Rusty Lake. There was an immediate appeal that resulted in me buying a bundle, and of the many games I acquired I picked this as my first experience, for no other reason than I liked the name.

I was very glad I did.

A train awaits, one that will take you through the metro stations of Laura’s past and future life. It’s a complicated journey, one that is essentially a series of escape ‘stations.’ Do what needs doing at a station in order to obtain a ticket and trigger the train to arrive and move on. Seven stations await.

It has a minimalist visual style, but it produces a highly effective canvass for the puzzles and the narrative. Sound effects, some spoken word, and occasional melancholic (and rather excellent) musical pieces finish things off.

There are no manual saves, the game autosaving periodically to a single save file. It is entirely point and click, but if you want hotspots you won’t find them here; you have to click on things in the hope of eliciting a response. The minimalist nature of things is your friend, as the scenes aren’t chock full of options. So too, each station is self contained, so everything you need is there within a limited number of screens. Which helps, but certainly doesn’t make it easy.

Your best puzzling brain will be your other friend, as will an inquisitive nature and a willingness to try things. The why of various puzzles will only be ascertained by trying things and trying them again. See what the pigeon does, and fiddle a bit, and then see what it does. Little by little you can winkle things out.

Not every puzzle is like that. Some just involve using the right inventory item (drag it from the ribbon right of screen); others require you to discern and/or interpret the relevant clue that will allow you to e.g., input the correct code. Some require a combination of all those things.

As I said before, it isn’t easy. But while I needed a prod more than once (a walkthrough is available via the menu), I thought for the vast number of the puzzles the rationale was fathomable. There were only a couple where I still don’t know why I would have done that, which might be me and not the game. It is without doubt a very satisfying bit of puzzling.

I should mention that there is a potentially uncomfortable interaction.

In each screen you have left and right arrows to turn, and perhaps a forward arrow. Clicking on objects or characters might cause you to zoom in, and a back arrow might then result. It is all very straightforward.

The story is both intriguing and perplexing. There is a supernatural element to the goings-on and a literal dark soul. Be it metaphor or allegory, or a ‘straightforward’ take on loss or something else entirely, its ambiguity suits and enhances the general vibe. That the world of Rusty Lake is inspired by the humour and uneasiness of Twin Peaks says it all.

The Steam page reckons it’s a two hour journey, but it took me half that much again, even with help. And having got to the end, a whole other bit of exploration opens up, one which involves finding seven missing cubes. I have yet to embark upon that endeavour.

Some Googling tells me that all the Rusty Lake stories are intertwined, so perhaps my interpretation of the narrative will be enhanced by a broader appreciation of the underlying universe. I very much look forward to finding out.

I played on:

OS: Windows 11, 64 Bit

Processor: Intel i7-9700K 3.7GHz

RAM: Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB DDR4 32GB

Video card: AMD Radeon RX 580 8192MB

 

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