Anchorhead

If you're a fan of Lovecraft's stories, you'll be delighted at all the familiar tropes this game has on display, many of which directly or subtly reference his classics (the shopkeeper's violin is one small example). The text is moody and the locations evocative, and several parts are very chilling. Obviously a labor of love from a big fan of HPL and horror fiction in general.

The puzzles put you in the mindset of a Lovecraftian investigator, so if you enjoy researching dark histories and putting the pieces together, you'll be right at home. Taking notes on important names and dates is recommended.

The game gives you a lot of freedom early on, but it has clearly divided time segments, and you may find yourself having to restore in the late game because you didn't do some small thing you needed to when you needed to do it. In a few places I could see where someone new to IF could get frustrated, and I wasn't able to beat it without peeking at a solution once or twice, but overall the puzzles in Anchorhead are fair and don't unduly disrupt the creepy atmosphere of this well-told tale.