Conarium

To be clear, Conarium isn’t quite a walking simulator, but it does put the player into a strange location and let them fully experience it. While it’s only about three hours, it succeeds so thoroughly at what it sets out to do that I don’t want to fault the developers for pricing it a little high for the amount of content it offers. This is one of the most faithful expressions of the Lovecraft aesthetic and worldview offered in a game, and anyone who values that should make it their business to track it down.

Conarium may estrange some diehard adventure fans due to its easy puzzles and streamlined mechanics but I believe that everyone can appreciate its gripping story and roaming the untrodden halls of inhuman ruins in pursuit of forbidden wisdom.

The plot can be a little vague at times, and the opening hour is fairly meandering, but Conarium is an otherwise exciting, creepy jaunt through the realm of unspeakable evil.

Quotation forthcoming.

Conarium is labour of love, for its inability to strike a similar sense of wonder the written work did, it makes up for in sheer presentation; like a wonderful catalogue for enthusiasts to drool over. Horror fans might find it somewhat lacking in the scares department where monster interaction is kept to a minimum, but fortunately it never presents itself as a horror game. Fundamentally it provides a wonderful introduction to the visual themes of H.P. Lovecraft, which hopefully, will encourage many players to pick up the books and delve deeper into this world.

Conarium is an homage to Lovecraft and his "At the Mountains of Madness". Despite the scarce interaction, the walking simulator structure and the length (3 hours, more or less), it deserves a try.

For $20, players get a decent adventure game that has some pretty good puzzles and a decent story. Granted, it’s not the longest game out there and completionists can get pretty much everything on their first run if they really try. Conarium came out of nowhere and surprised me when I finally played it. It takes a few moments to get into it, but when it ramps up, it gets pretty good. Give it a shot if you enjoy adventure games and a decent horror story.

This is another way in which Conarium stays profoundly true to the works of Lovecraft, a writer whose best stories were rarely more than 15 or 20 pages long. It left me wanting more, for better and worse. It left my mind racing with the reality-shattering implications of this universe’s dark lore. But I finished Conarium wishing it would have pushed a little deeper, a little further and with a little more quality, even as the most solid attempt at bringing Lovecraft to video games done so far.

Conarium is hauntingly beautiful and competent as an adventure-puzzle game with some light horror elements, but as a true H.P. Lovecraft survival horror game it isn’t long or scary enough.

An interesting experience for Lovecraft readers, Conarium keeps our attention if we enjoy the classic adventures but also feels a little slow and rhythmless.

Although it's easy and short, the visual style, the plot, the narrative and the lovecraftian themes make Conarium a very interesting adventure.

Conarium is an effective piece of Lovecraftian fiction.

Conarium tackles the difficult task of capturing Lovecraft’s ephemeral psychological horrors and, for the most part, pulls it off. Sometimes clumsy, sometimes streamlined, sometimes elegant, Conarium is an effective piece of Lovecraftian fiction that does its best to respect the source material while adapting it to an effective interactive experience.

Conarium does a fantastic job on the atmosphere and giving players those fearful moments of panic where you are holding your breath at every turn. The gameplay; however, is somewhat unchallenging and puzzles are few and far between. While the story and plot are good, Conarium is quite short. This being said, those who love anything inspired by Lovecraft and his creatures should surely enjoy this title.

Conarium is not a game that’s suitable for those that want constant action or in-your-face jump scares, but for the more cerebrally-inclined it offers an interesting story wrapped up within a slow-paced but visually enticing adventure.

Multiple endings and a cool feature for statistics translate into hours of entertainment. With beautiful graphics, an intense, fluid soundtrack, and relatively straightforward gameplay, Conarium is a different horror title.

A true "lovecraftian" game short in length and interactivity. The plot is a bit messy to. Just for lovers of the Providence's writer.

Conarium's fascinating world is closely based on a Lovecraft story, taking players through ancient tombs abandoned for eons. The adventure puzzles are a bit too simple and its rough edges needed smoothing, but it is still a faithful adaption.

Conarium is a game with a lot of potential. Those early hours spent with it will prove to be difficult to walk away from. However, it is too willing to toss away its fairly slow and tense pace to thrust forward the reveal of the truth behind its mysteries. With those questions gone, all that remains is a standard adventure experience of some puzzles and brainteasers on the way to the end of the story.

Conarium fails at horror even when the protagonist completely loses his grip on reality — you just don’t feel anything. You are supposed to care about the ill-fated explorers, but character development pretty much doesn't exist in this story.

I expected more from this metaphysical thriller. The Lovecraft induced premise with wild visions as well as the technical and supernatural setting shows promise. But the storytelling dynamics and lack of challenge leave a lot to be desired.