Goetia Review

Ever since I was a kid I have always enjoyed a good story of a haunted house. Naturally I was drawn to Goetia when I found out about it’s existance. With it’s interesting graphics, spooky vibe and intriguing mystery Goetia is quite an experience. The game, beside playing like any other point-and-click game, you can use your poltergeist skills to manipulate objects throughout the house.

The main character of the game is Abigail, a newly diseased woman outside of her family’s mansion. Not entirely sure what happend it is up to you, the player, to uncover the story of your death and the fall of your family’s Great House.

It is soon clear to Abigail that not all is what it should be. Rummaging through her late family’s belongings she quickly learns that they were studying demonology – and even worse, managed to summon them! Some rooms are also protected by demonic energy hindering our protagonist from entering them until dispelled.

The story leads you through not only the Mansion, but through the nearby town, and even back in time! Flying across the world of Goetia as a ghost orb you can pass through every wall, ceiling and flooring, picking up objects and using them on the correct spot.

As for the puzzles themselves, they are on the hard side. Also the game does not hold your hand, missing a clue-system to guide you if you are ever lost on a puzzle. The in-game world is rather large with a lot of places to discover (big enough to warrant hidden passageways that serve as quick travel), so you could be stuck for awhile.

That being said, if you can get past the puzzles you have a great game ahead of you. It has multiple endings, leading you to a better understanding of what happend to Abigail and her family. The story is great, an intriguing mystery. The characters within the game are interesting and the scenery looks pretty damn good.

The graphics and artstyle is very dark, fitting for an old decaying mansion. It looks great, and has a lot of odd details to look at.

With this great visual aesthetic sound is important too. Here Goetia delivers some very fitting music and ambience that enhances the experience. The sound effects are very ghostly, the musical score (if there is any) sets a tone for the game. Most of the time it is more of a creepy ambience, fitting for the dark visuals the game has to offer.

All in all Goetia has a lot going for it. It is visually interesting, with it’s cool artstyle. The story is good, and the game world has a lot to offer. One of it’s shortcomings is the difficulty of the game, being rather hard with little to no hinting system. Using a walkthrough might be needed on some parts of the game, and at the very least a pen and paper to keep track of the clues.

If you need a game to play in the Halloween time of year Goetia is definatly worth it, to spice up the month of horror. Just beware not to pick up any ghostly hitchhikers!