Necronomicon

List Price: $19.99 Discount Price: $9.88

Features:

• PC from DreamCatcher
• ESRB Rating: T (Teen)
• Role playing game/Adventure

Accessories:
PC Gamer (1-year)	Games for Windows: The Official Magazine

Customer Reviews:

Yes, it's perfect ! [Posted on 2003-08-27]
First of all I don't have the pc version of the game but the ps one version, I would actually recommend the playstation version to bye for those who have one, rather than the pc version.

On to the game.

After having played and successfully completed the two Dracula games I bought this one with an exspectation of high quality graphics and lifelike characters, just like the dracula games.
And I was satisfied, it's a fantastic story, with alot to offer on a cold winters night, it shines of darkness and dispair.
William Stantons life changes in every aspects as his childhood freind Edgar visits him. Edgar seems almost panic and breifly tells a bit of his lately doings, and then he gives William a strange prism, but what William doesn't know is the horrific secret that lies behind the pyramid...and so his journey through darkness begins...

William experience some strange conversations around the town pawtuxet, but without really getting anywhere...what is he to do?...find out for yourself...keep your mind clear...or else!

You'll visit some creepy places from the well room where diabolic creatures hides in the wells waiting to strike at you to the downbroken laboratory of the alchemists chambers to the torture room...keep your sanity clear or loose your mind...

Darkness is closing in on you...
What are you to do...?
can your expose the occult experiments of the alchemist...?
Can you find out the true meaning of the Necronomicon...?
It's all up to you...

An ancient darkness is awaken the souls of the damned are alive,
The names of the doomed are standing on the shelfs,
as light seems fading...seek the wisdom of the machine
Keen is the brain who tells of the past, of the alchemist using the doomed souls of the cast...passed seems the past, but as long as he walk...you'd better keep on talk...to the machine...

That was a little help from my side, solve the riddle and you will understand the true meaning of it.
Experience a beautiful detailed world with many unresolved issues, unlock the secrets of the Necronomicon.

Unpleasant beyond belief [Posted on 2003-09-06]
Being an H.P.Lovecraft fan I bought this game with high hopes and initially was happy with the excellent pictures. My brief euphoria, however turned to frustration and then anger when I had to turn the brightness up to the max on my monitor and still couldn't see anything during the dungeon part of the game. I could just imagine the game's designers sitting around saying "Let's make it even darker! That would be really fun!" Even with a walkthrough I had a terrible time manuevering around and eventually the boredom took over, and I got rid of this turkey. Save your money or read some H. P. Lovecraft books instead. I will never buy another Dreamcatcher game again.

truly full of lovecraftian horror -- but not as intended [Posted on 2004-06-02]
You will experience true horror -- at the quality of the acting, programming, and writing. You will encounter many singular and strange -- software bugs. And you will be confronted with the ultimate conundrum of all: how did this game get past QA?

I generally like anything gloomy and dark, no matter how bad it is. Yet even I like to have one candle dimly flickering -- so as not to be the thing that goes "bump" in the night against every corner and chair. (I'm not a bat -- I have eyes) Yet many places in this game the screen is pure black -- you have to literally click on a black screen by trial and error! As much as I like the color black, i'd rather not sit there clicking on it...

The voice-acting is so bad that all you hear are mumbles and whispers -- there is NO way to turn the voice up reletive to the background sound, and there are NO subtitles! And there is no way to escape from a cut-scene or conversation once you started it -- no matter how long and annoying it is.

Puzzles come in two varieties: those that require a knowledge of the occult and obsesive re-readings of the given books and materials as well as some guess work (which happens to be my idea of fun) -- and hard-core pixel hunting (which doesn't!)! I don't mind a few pixel-hunting quests -- but looking through screen-fulls of identical jars just to find the right one is a bit ridiculous! Even Tetris is a better computer game than "look though 100 identical things to find the right one"!

In conclusion, you must be a masochist to enjoy this game! Go re-read a Lovecraft book. If you don't like reading, get Black Mirror -- which, with all it's flaws, is still a much better dark-occult game than Necronomicon.

Nice graphics [Posted on 2004-07-02]
The world of the game offers you the 360 rotation of most modern "shooters." It has a very loosely related H.P. Lovecraft theme but no connection to any story I know. There are some tough "hunt and peck" pixel quests which can become tedious (especially the one in total darkness.) I did enjoy it, but the box says that this is the "first adventure game to be directly indpired by the writings of H.P. Lovecraft." This was annoying because there have been much better Lovecraft ports such as the excellent adventure games Shadow of the Comet by Chaosium/Infogames in 1994, and my favorite text based Hound of Shadow 1990 from Eldritch Games, and the Alone in the Dark series from the early 90's.

I didn't personally encounter any serious (lockup) bugs but it did drop out to windows sometimes. The cut scenes and movements played without any choppiness at all but sometimes the voices would stutter. The graphic detail of the towns and building was excellent, especially the fishing village. Riding the little antique motorcycle was fun. As one reviewer noted, the main character sounded unnecessarily like a 12 year old-- good description. However, the people were mispronouncing the guy's name differently for a reason: they were indicating or pretending they didn't know him, of course. This was not a flaw by the game designers.

In sum, the graphics were pretty, but gameplay could have been better. Worth a look in the bargain bin.

Excellent, unique, but misunderstood, game [Posted on 2004-12-29]
Although this game does indeed have it's flaws, what game doesn't? Every game has problems. The reason this game had so many problems is because Dreamcatcher misjudged its audience. The target was, H.P. Lovecraft buffs like me, people that are interested in the occult, also like myself, and finally, those who like these types of games.

Here's where the first problem starts. People who play these kinds of games, although they are all great thinkers (they have to be), that range is in fact so broad and vague, that too many people won't get it.

There are several big, recurring complaints about this game. One, it's too hard. Okay, a fair argument, this game is very hard, yes. But, if you are a bit educated in the occult, it will not be nearly as difficult. One thing many people fail to realize about this game is that some of the secrets and puzzles in it are based on real occult information! Much of it is rather simple, like astrological signs, signs of the days, and the lik e (as a hint for people playing this game: look for a book called Heptameron - you can probably locate an online version more than easily - or look on a website called www.hermetic.com. It has lots of occult books and authors ranging from simple to complex, and they're all FREE to read right off the site) However, when you have to perform the spirit summoning spell of Eliphas Levi, there is a complicated ritual that you have to go through, and lots of items to collect for it.

However, I will vouch for the difficulty complaint be saying that there not enough hints to nudge you in the right direction. Like the salts room, for example. There are about 8 long aisles lined to the brim with shelves jugs and pots full of ashes of all different kinds. You're looking for one particular jar - there are no tips as to its location anywhere in the game - the only way to know is to already have enough knowledge of who Eliphas Levi is. And that, again, is based on real occult information, littered throughout the game in very cryptic forms that the average shmuck won't understand. Better yet, there's one point in the game where you have to mix a special brain fluid. Once again, the chemical shelf is lined with all kinds of chemicals, with no clues to the mixture. The only way i solved this puzzle was through trial and error - long trial and error (i'm too stubborn to use a walkthru).

All that aside though, this game is VERY good. And keep in mind, Lovecraft fans, it ISN'T directly based off any of his stories! Instead, it takes certain elements from various stories and meshes them together (very well, i might add). Stories such as Charles Dexter Ward, Nameless City, Dunwich Horror, etc. are used. Even one of the houses is designed directly after Strange High House in the Mist. So Lovecraft fans fear not - you'll get your fill! Just not in the way you might imagine.

I highly recommend this game to anyone that doesn't mind having to do a bit of research into the occult world to fully understand what's going on. Either that or look at a walkthrough. The developers definitely had their hearts in the right place with this interesting game, but their minds seemed to have gone off on a bit of a tengent with the puzzles.

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