[You wake up itching.]

I've found this game really smooth to play and enjoyed a good afternoon playing it untill I solved it.

The plot is good and it unfolds in a manner which keeps enthusiasm to proceede alive. I did not encounter any dead ends so, even though it's easy to die in the game, an undo operation is sufficient to get back to the game and try something else. Puzzles are well made and don't lead to frustrating situations where one gets stuck and worn out. There is an overall logic in the unfolding of the game which makes it rather clear which puzzles have to be solved first in order to proceed and what is expected from the player.

The game is not overwelmingly verbose yet it manages to say all that is needed to know provided you also look carefully at pictures! Some important objects are not mentioned in text descriptions but are to be worked out from the pictures which depict every room. Simple graphics make this game lively.

The game contains many secrets to be discovered - and it's great fun.

The overall plot is long even though the map is not to huge to handle. Basically, whenever you solve a puzzle the whole environment is to be revisited in a new light in order to solve the next one.

There are specific steps to solve the game, but it's order comes natural as you get in the game.

A good adventure if you like to play a game that doesn't get you in frustrating situations; all you need is being patient and resort to the most obvious lexicon implied by the game. Objects names are very well implemented with a good variety of synonims that make it easy to guess the right term to address any object.

Worth playing!

Let me start off by saying that I somehow missed that this was not exactly the whodunit mystery I was looking for. And... I think I'm glad? Even though I'm still feeling a little disturbed two days later.

Compelling, I think, would be a good word to describe this game. Enough so that I kept playing, even though I really, really didn't want to once I started to suspect what was coming. Very effective. Even if I had to read certain parts with my eyes closed. No guess the verb issues and vivid (too vivid, gulp) descriptions.

I ran into a few places I got stuck. (Spoiler - click to show)I didn't realize the window in the bathroom could be opened. And the gasoline evaporating after three turns almost forced me to reload, but fortunately I had just enough "undos". The walkthrough for the original Mystery House gave enough pointers for me to get through.

Overall, it successfully tells a creepy short story while allowing the player to gradually discover the scope of that story through his own actions and the actions of those around him.

I found this game while looking for games about (Spoiler - click to show)insects, body horror, infestation, that kind of thing. So the story, which some other reviews call a mystery plot, was obvious to me from the get-go. I found it solid and entertainingly told. Also not very original, but who needs originality when you've got (Spoiler - click to show)INSECT PARASITES?! That burrow under your skin and live inside you?!

Clears throat.

Anyway. What this game really is missing is well-clued puzzles. Good puzzles, really. I'm the exception among this game's existing reviewers on IFDB in that I thought the puzzles weren't very well done and ran into guess-the-verb errors a few times. In particular, I got stuck because I kept trying to (Spoiler - click to show)"loosen screws with butterknife" instead of "loosen painting with butterknife"... even though the painting is secured to the wall by the screws.

The navigation is also somewhat confusing. (Spoiler - click to show)You start outside the house, then go inside the house, and in classic fashion the door magically locks behind you. Alright. But what's unintuitive and underclued is that you'll eventually need to go outside the house by opening the bathroom window and going down a tree. Then you won't be able to get back in because of the magically locked front door, so you'll need to go east of the van into the woods, navigate a rather boring maze, and then you end up back in the cemetary. The process is made easier after you find Daisy and get her key, which works on the front door, but boy howdy is it annoying at first.

The endgame in general I found really unintuitive, to the point where I had to read the actual source code of this game to figure out what I was supposed to do. Thankfully the source code is available, otherwise I'd never have beaten this. But I've never played the game that this game is apparently based on, so some of the commands were just plain nonsensical. (Spoiler - click to show)How was I supposed to know to "push cabinet" in the kitchen? And "rub algae with towel" in the moist basement, to reveal the brick, was unintuitive for me. And don't even get me started on "open crypt with shovel" to "take slime" , or "pour gasoline on self", which I had to look at the source code to figure out. Maybe it's because I don't play enough oldschool parsers. I dunno.

The fact that this game is based on another, older one also explains the large number of items lying around that pretty much don't do anything. The pitcher or dagger, for example. I didn't like having those red herrings around and taking up space in my inventory.

But since there's still an interesting story hidden underneath all this, here's a walkthrough so that you, if anyone's even reading this, don't have to suffer like I did.

(Spoiler - click to show)
in
open door
n
w
open cabinet
take matches
x sink
take butterknife
e
read note
n
take candle
light candle
l
look under rug
take keys
s
e
read second note
l
open door
w
up
w
w
n
read third note
s
e
e
n
n
n
x painting
loosen painting with butterknife
take painting
press button
n
read book
s
s
s
up
e
x chest
open chest
look in chest
l
x camera
push camera west
switch on camera
take sledgehammer
down
n
n
e
x body
take towel
open window
e
down
s
unlock van
open van
in
take gasoline
x monitor
out
e
n
n
w
w
take shovel
open door with shovel
in
x slime
touch slime
x self
out
open gate
s
e
w
w
up
n
up
open trap door
climb ladder
x daisy
talk to daisy
z
z
l
take key
read fourth note
down
s
down
w
push cabinet
w
down
s
x flower
smell flower
take flower
rub algae with towel
take brick
unlock keyhole
down
down
n
x joe
talk to joe
z
z
throw flower at joe
hit joe with sledgehammer
x seal
hit seal with sledgehammer
i
blow out candle
drop all
l
take matches
pour gasoline on self
drop gasoline can
n
x queen
light matches

YOU WIN!
For bonus points (read: a !FUN! ending), try going in without the gasoline. Or lighting the gasoline can directly.