Anchorhead

I really wanted to like this game. As a Lovecraft reader and a resident Massachusettsan I relished reading a story about the man-made horror beyond comprehension that is Massachussetts small towns. But there really is nothing going for this game that would justify its position as #2 on the IFDB Top 100.

The writing comes off as juvenile to the extreme. It violates the holy rule of "show not tell" which is especially essential in a horror game, and it just leads to a complete lack of atmosphere. It felt like the "horror" was being forced upon me like "are you scared yet?? how bout now??". The dialogue is awkward and stilted, and none of the characters seem human (even the ones who are actually human).

The gameplay is tedious. The map is just large for the sake of being large. I also spent more time inputting tiresome commands (like needing to unlock the door every time you want to open it, getting out of bed first before grabbing an item etc). This should have been implemented automatically.

All in all, a very disappointing experience. Its an ok game, it just doesn't deserve to be so highly rated when there are so many newer IF games that do a better job.