Riddlewood Manor

Alright. [i]Riddlewood Manor[/i] is done and dusted. This is an innovative comedy horror point and click game that incorporates a vast variety of well thought out puzzles and creepy meets charming writing into what is an involved and yet somehow casual gaming experience. I would actually characterize this as a great game. Not good. Not very good. Actually great. Also, it's reasonably lengthy. It took me around five hours to complete. And I wasn't tired of it at the end either. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3671791838 Typically, if you're playing PnCs and it's not your first time doing so, you're going to have some familiarity with the genre's puzzle logic. A thing that can keep gamers up at night, lol. Because often, the logic simply doesn't logic, or it's convoluted to the point of being obtuse. That is not the case with this game. Although, there is a bit of hidden meta in this game where it knows what PnC gamer expectations are going to be as it pertains to puzzle logic and uses that to subvert expectations and throw everything on its head from time to time. But puzzles are the core of this experience, and there is a vast array of unique and innovative ways in which they are presented and solved. A lot of times, they have a degree of silliness or even ridiculousness to them, but they are all intuitive. The game does require you to pay attention. Some puzzles are pretty much right in front of you. Others involve actions through multiple rooms in the manor and indeed solving multiple puzzles to get the solution for yet another puzzle. And sometimes, the solution is actually something you've seen repeatedly but maybe didn't really think much about until it actually comes up. Or perhaps you saw the solution at the beginning of the game, but the actual puzzle isn't presented until you're closing in on the end of the game. In those moments, you know you have nobody to blame but yourself if you can't remember what it is you saw previously. Because this game does let you know that everything is important even if it doesn't necessarily seem like it in the moment. Back to the subversion of expectations for a moment. This game employs what I'd call reverse puzzle logic from time to time. Which is to say that where in most games, the solution is at the end of your puzzling, in this game, sometimes the seeming end of the puzzle is really just the clue you need to take back to the beginning of a puzzle in order to solve it. I know that seems vague, but in the spirit of not solving puzzles for you in a review, it needs to be a little bit vague. Suffice to say that sometimes, the end of a puzzle is actually the beginning of the puzzle. And possibly also simply a part of yet another puzzle, lol. I really loved the way puzzles were handled in this game, and their presentation was chef's kiss. The game will lock you into a certain room or area, and often, the solution is presented in a different room, which is the game's way of seeing if you were paying attention. You almost always will remember seeing the thing that was probably the solution, but did you actually track it or write it down? If you're me, -ish. I always remembered where I'd seen the likely solution. But sometimes I'd have to trigger a death to get out of the room so I could go back and revisit what I thought was the clue or solution to the latest puzzle. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3672220518 Speaking of death, you will die a lot, and each type of death triggers an achievement, so you're actually going to want to see all of them. Plus, some of them are pretty funny. And it's also a game mechanic in which the game allows you to leave an area you're trapped in to start a puzzle over if/when that feels necessary. When you die, you're given the option to continue from your last autosave point, or simply choose an area you've already unlocked to respawn in. It's actually a fun and convenient way to prevent soft locks. While the writing is very whimsical, that belies the inherent horror and darkness of the story, which involves human sacrifice, spiritual possession, murder, torture. I don't know how they did it, but whoever wrote this managed to make those super dark topics all feel...charming? It's a wild line to ride, but they do it well. As such, despite the dark themes, this feels like a game that can be approachable to almost anyone. The graphics support this as well. They're just fun. Even when they're gross or disturbing. And the audio really lends itself to that light-hearted haunted mansion vibe as well. Speaking of horror, this game offers an option to warn you ahead of jump scares. Which are almost all something jumping out at you or past you from a thing you're investigating. Accompanied by their screech or mad giggle or whatever. Honestly, they're all pretty silly, but they're sudden and do count as jump scares. There is a setting in the menu that allows the game to warn you before that happens. I didn't use it, so I've got no idea how it's implemented, but it's there. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3672220610 Now, I do have a quick note here. After the end of the game, there is an epilogue, and unlike the game to that point, the epilogue really doesn't give you any idea of what you're supposed to do next. IMO anyway. You could spend an hour trying to find the things that have changed, and maybe even then there would be some uncertainty. This was the only part of the game where I felt compelled to use a guide, and in so doing, it cut down the needless backtracking significantly. I think it took me maybe five minutes to complete the epilogue, and once I had the necessary items, I stopped using the guide and figured out the puzzles on my own once again. I do think a guide is pretty essential to get you on track for this singular part of the game. Anyway, I can't get over how well designed the pacing, progression and puzzling were handled in this game. I'll be chewing on the game design for a while. From my experience, it's as good as it gets in the point and click genre, and if you have any interest in these types of games, this is a 100% must buy must play. It really serves to show how you can take tired tropes and make them exciting again while also providing new twists that should and could inspire future PnC developers. Riddlewood Manor is really as good a point and click puzzle adventure as you're like to see. [b]I received this license via our IndieGems Curator program.[/b] [code]If you found this review helpful and would be interested in supporting my Curator group, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32549618/]Robilar's Reviews[/url], it would be appreciated. Cheers.[/code] [code]Also follow [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32732116-IndieGems/]IndieGems[/url] for more reviews like this one.[/code]

Good but flawed escape room horror. The most obvious insiration is Rusty Lake, but this isn't as polished. I feel the main issue with it is that the game locks you into the room whenever you enter a new part of the manor. But in some rooms you can die and then respawn in a room of your choice (this feel like a way to prevent soft locks more than anything, but is also a problem of their own making if the game would just let you move around freely this wouldn't be needed. It's also a bit anoying that some of the achievements (and progression) means you need to bring specfic items into some rooms. The constant locking of doors is more anoying than not, and in the end it really only maks the game easier since you often only have a few select items. or things to interact with. As it is, the game is fairly easy, especially if you played many similar games before. There are a handful of missable achievements, mostly either secret deaths and a few if you solve a puzzle too early.

Landing on a recommendation; but know this was an uphill battle. That was surprising because...the demo is so flawless, that if the entire game was on that level, I would just say it's a "home run" in that genre of dense puzzle filled rooms. --- Let's start with the best parts of the game: visuals, sound design and story are super engaging, and done with a lot of care. The visuals kind of speak for themselves: comedic comic book style, with inky blacks, bright colors and monochrome palette composition. Characters are goofy, slighly animated and make funny noises. The architecture is readable yet full of details. And there is an overall good visual hierarchy; it happened to me once only to really miss something because I didn't think it was interactive. The vast majority of the time spent looking at the game, you know what you are looking at. The story is also suprisingly more layered than I eally expected it to be! Going in, it looked very much like a pretext, and to be frank, still lands on cliché. But it has enough meat on its bones to want to pay attention to details; and enough little twists to push player to the end to see where it's going. The game also hides a couple of jumpscares here and there, provided you interact with background elements in a certain way. I personally found them fun; though I think they can be disabled in the settings. --- This is all well and good, and if I were to judge the game solely on that, I wouldn't have struggled with the recommendation. It's when it comes to the puzzles and systems that I have more reservations. The general goal in Riddlewood Manor is to exorcize different demons, to unlock hearts or diamonds that will unlock major plot parts and exorcisms of the manor. Each main room will be densely packed with puzzle chains (at least two concurrent ones) composed of two or more puzzles. Solve them, and either progress to the next room or, if you've reached the last room in that branch, exorcize an entity and get the next heart or diamond. On a puzzle to puzzle basis, it's fun! Like most escape room type games (Escape Academy, We Were Here, Inheritance Of Crimson Manor etc), each puzzle on its own tends to be fairly quick to solve, or to understand. The goal is more to entangle the current room's mutiple puzzle starters and clues, and then unlock something that will be the starter for another chain or puzzles; and on, until you've solved each strand of puzzles. Puzzles range from hanoi towers, sokobans, deciphering text, matching symbols to push buttons in the right order, or simply observing the background properly to find something. It's fun to solve most of the time, but there is an issue that kind of plagues the game, and reveals itself in the "worst" rooms. The game has a death mechanic. Basically, some rooms will have deadly hazards that will instantly kill you if you activate them. Before I whine about it, I want to note that, for the most part, after getting munched the first time and learning that this is a thing the game does, other deadly interactions will be well telegraphed. Thing is, when you die, part of your progress in a room is reset and you lose whatever you were holding, and either start from the outside of the house, or in a room you've already visited. Now, there is some amount of saved progress, but the issue is, the game is very unclear about what it is doing, about why this puzzle is still solved, but not that one. When the puzzle is just about picking up a stick, it's fine. If it's about a long ass Hanoi Tower or sokoban though sigh... What really aggravates that is, when you are stuck in a room, you cannot leave it. Doors close behind you, and your only choice is dying and reset whatever progress you made here, or push through, until you've find a new room or exorcized a demon. [edit: about next paragraph and sentence, devs patched the game to facilitate backtracking so it's irrelevant now] This wouldn't be so bad if some puzzles and new room access were not dependent on an item from a previous room. It's rare, but when you realize you are trying to solve something that actually requires an object you didn't pick up elsewhere, and you can't leave the room to get it...kind of gets on your nerves. 100%ing the game depends on that, also. What was seemingly added to create tension ends up bringing unwanted friction at best, and frustration at worst. --- Riddlewood Manor is an obviously well made puzzle/escape game with the potential of being very very fun, that sometimes ends up being just intermittently enjoyable, because of a couple of fairly bad design decisions, in my opinion. Ultimately, though I almost quit the game in the first third, I'm still glad I pushed through.

Das Spiel wäre so so toll wenn es nicht ständig Bugs hätte. Zum Beispiel im Garten Level passiert nichts wenn die grüne Flüssigkeit in den Trog läuft. Somit erhalte ich nicht die Gegenstände die ich für den letzten roten Kristall brauche. Schade

Гра дуже сподобалась! Цікаві головоломки, вписані в похмурий сюжет. Все компактно, немає зайвих ходінь по локаціях з одного кінця карти в інший. Є скримери, але їх можна вимкнути в меню. Пройшла за 2 вечора. Рекомендую!

Riddlewood Manor is a horror-themed point-and-click adventure developed and published by Peanut Button that combines escape-room puzzle design, supernatural mystery, and dark comedy into a surprisingly distinctive package. Rather than relying solely on frightening encounters or jump scares, the game builds its appeal through exploration, problem-solving, and a steady stream of strange discoveries hidden within a sprawling haunted estate. The result is an adventure that feels equally inspired by classic puzzle games, gothic ghost stories, and quirky comedy, creating an experience that stands out from many traditional horror releases. The story centers on a mysterious manor filled with secrets, traps, spirits, and long-forgotten history. From the moment players step inside, it becomes clear that the house is far more than an abandoned building. Every room contains clues, hidden mechanisms, unusual characters, and puzzles that gradually reveal the truth behind the estate's curse. The narrative unfolds through exploration rather than lengthy exposition, encouraging players to piece together the manor's history by examining their surroundings and interacting with the strange inhabitants that still linger within its walls. Puzzle-solving forms the backbone of the entire experience. The manor is essentially one enormous interconnected puzzle box where progress depends on observation, experimentation, and logical thinking. Locked doors, hidden compartments, coded messages, and environmental riddles constantly challenge players to pay attention to details. Many solutions require information gathered from completely different areas of the mansion, making exploration feel meaningful and rewarding. The game does an excellent job of creating those satisfying moments when scattered clues suddenly come together to reveal a solution. One of the most interesting features is how the game treats failure. Instead of simply punishing mistakes with a traditional game-over screen, death becomes part of the overall design. The manor is filled with dangerous situations, and players will frequently find themselves meeting unfortunate ends. However, these failures often contribute to progress by teaching valuable information about hazards, puzzle mechanics, or the layout of the house. This approach transforms experimentation into a core part of the gameplay and encourages players to take risks rather than play cautiously at all times. The atmosphere is one of the game's greatest achievements. Riddlewood Manor successfully creates a sense of mystery that persists throughout the adventure. Every newly unlocked room feels like a discovery, and the uncertainty surrounding what might be waiting behind the next door keeps exploration engaging. The mansion constantly gives the impression that it is hiding more secrets than players currently understand, motivating continued investigation even during the more challenging puzzle sections. While horror is certainly present, the game frequently balances its darker moments with humor. Strange creatures, eccentric characters, and unexpected situations appear throughout the adventure, preventing the experience from becoming overwhelmingly grim. This blend of comedy and horror works remarkably well because it keeps the tone unpredictable. Players may move from solving a sinister mystery to participating in a bizarre interaction with one of the manor's unusual residents within a matter of minutes. These lighter moments help give the game a unique personality that separates it from more conventional haunted-house adventures. The visual presentation contributes significantly to the overall charm. The hand-crafted art style combines colorful character designs with eerie environments, creating a world that feels both welcoming and unsettling. Rooms are filled with small details that reward careful observation, while character animations and illustrations add personality to every encounter. The art direction succeeds in making the manor memorable without relying on graphic horror or excessive darkness. Exploration is enhanced by the manor's interconnected structure. As players acquire new items and knowledge, previously inaccessible areas gradually open up. Returning to older locations with fresh information often reveals hidden pathways, overlooked clues, or entirely new puzzle opportunities. This design creates a strong sense of progression and encourages players to think of the manor as a cohesive environment rather than a series of isolated levels. The game's pacing is generally strong, though some of the later puzzles become considerably more demanding. Certain solutions require careful note-taking and a willingness to revisit earlier areas in search of forgotten clues. Players who enjoy complex adventure games will likely appreciate this depth, while others may occasionally find themselves stuck for extended periods. Fortunately, most challenges feel logically constructed, making successful solutions particularly rewarding. Another strength lies in the game's willingness to reward curiosity. Optional interactions, hidden secrets, and alternative outcomes encourage players to thoroughly investigate every corner of the estate. Completionists will find plenty of reasons to explore beyond the main objectives, and the presence of multiple endings adds further incentive to experiment with different choices and approaches. Riddlewood Manor ultimately succeeds because it understands the appeal of mystery. The game constantly provides new questions to answer, new rooms to investigate, and new puzzles to solve. Every mechanic, from exploration and puzzle-solving to its unusual approach to death, supports the central theme of uncovering secrets hidden within a dangerous and fascinating location. For players who enjoy escape-room challenges, classic point-and-click adventures, and atmospheric horror with a sense of humor, Riddlewood Manor delivers a highly entertaining experience. Its combination of intelligent puzzle design, memorable setting, quirky characters, and supernatural storytelling creates an adventure that remains engaging from beginning to end. While some of its more difficult puzzles may test patience, the satisfaction of unraveling the manor's mysteries makes the journey well worth the effort. Rating: 8/10

Good game but holy god that one puzzle with the blue and black pieces in the catacombs is so annoying

eigenartig zusammengewürfelte Horrorgeschichte mit automatischer Speicherfunktion (nervt), Rätsel ganz gut, Sprachausgabe furchtbar → naja Persönlich: 2 Schwierigkeit: 3 Musik/Sound: 3 Dialoge: 3 Grafik: 3

This was really really good! Fun puzzles and suitably creepy yet silly atmosphere. Lots of fun