They have really pulled out all the stops with their first effort and created one classic piece of Adventure gaming. Just don’t get too used to that luxury called sleep.
Scratches is not "F.E.A.R." – it is infinitely more subtle. It is not "Monkey Island" – it is far darker with less arbitrary puzzles. Scratches is a work of art in the horror genre, and if you aren't willing to appreciate it as such, you should not bother.
An all time great. Loved the duology story, loved the music and the atmosphere is incredible. One of my favourite parts of this game were the pieces of diary notes you'd find as you explore the house and learn more about its previous owner, it's very well written and engrossing. By the end you'll have experienced one of the best horror games with a gripping story, a likable main character and a well made exploration game which you'll never forget.
Scratches creates an immersive feeling that creeps along building suspense and at times has you gasping at the edge of your seat, afraid of what is around the next corner or door. The beautiful ominous environment along with a deep dark haunting story **** you into this puzzling thriller with lingering chilling fright. Play at night with the lights out, if you dare.
However, this point-and-click adventure game is for people that have more than average patience; those who don’t mind taking time searching, clicking, exploring, reading, studying clues, solving brain-scratching puzzles, and figuring out the mind-bending actions to advance the story line. Many fans of the game admit using an online guide to complete certain game sections – while still enjoying the beautiful haunting suspenseful atmosphere and the creepy engrossing story while having frightful fun in trying to solve a good horror mystery.
This game is not for those who do not have a great deal of patience, get frustrated in taking time trying to figure out how to manipulate things to progress a story, find difficulty immersing themselves in a subtle slow suspenseful environment, and/or have trouble putting themselves in a character's shoes.
It's the standard point-and-click adventure/horror/mystery game that has been around for years. The ability to look around to several different areas of the same area is a welcomed feature but results in some problems in moving to different areas in the game.
Scratches would have been a runaway hit … 10 years ago. Today? It’s just fairly tedious. This one’s only for die-hard point-and-click fans; others will be bored stiff.
This is a very well done horror title. The story, voice acting, and atmosphere are all well done. The only drawback is it is a little low-tech, even for a 2006 game. If you aren't worried about that, and enjoy horror games, check this one out.
Although the title font and color might lead one to assume that this is just a throwaway horror flick, Scratches actually provides a compelling game experience. While it may not add much to the point-and-click adventure scene, this really ought not count against it; in a time when point-and-clicks are really made purely for the sake of classicism more than innovation, this game does a great job of capturing the spirit of the genre. This set aside, the game offers a story which keeps the player guessing through the end, and provides a good dose of suspense and an occasional jump to go with it. The visuals are stunning, as well as the sound layers; both do a good job of attaining a solid feeling of immersion, very similar to reading a good suspense novel. All in all, this game may not look like much from the outset, but it has a lot to offer to the right player.
It's impossible without a walkthrough. Linear storyline in an open "world" means lots of wasted time looking stuff over and over. The story, voice acting, and especially the music are good, but this is just a terrible "game". It would be quite entertaining to watch it unfold as some veteran played through it. But the puzzles are too hard. You have to know what to do. I have two dozen items and a hundred interactive points. Mostly the puzzles don't make sense. But the music and sound effects are phenomenal. They are they only redeeming factors to give it two points. And story. That is three.
I've heard people rant and rave about this "horror game". It took me a long time to track down a physical copy of this stupid game and by the time I did get one... It didn't work. The game is old enough to have compatibility issues with new versions of windows, there's also a bug that I ran into the causes the game to crash every time.
Technical issues withstanding, this game is not only slowly paced, but completely uneventful. I am a huge horror fan, but I came into this expecting some sort of actual horror game, instead it's really just a writer walking around being freaked out.
In the end, the game writers left it up to you to draw your own conclusion if there was actually anything paranormal or if it was all just in your character's head, which frankly, is lazy writing no matter how you try to defend it.
Contrived, slow, stupid, poor writing, bad pacing, outdated. This game isn't worth any sort of time investment.
SummaryThis atmospheric point and click adventure game finds you cast as famed horror writer Michael Arthate just arriving at Blackwood Manor, your newly acquired Victorian home lost in the outskirts of a small English market town. Soon after your arrival, a terrible secret from the manor’s past emerges to haunt the present. Now isolated by a ...