Poppet

You are a doll, waking up in a long-abandoned house, and must solve the mystery of how you got there and why you’re awake when your child is nowhere around. This game harkens back more to Night House than the Guttersnipe games, with a similar theme of exploring a scary darkened home at night. You’ve still got to adjust to the unique qualities of Quest, with its give-you-some-of-the-options-through-clicking-but-not-all play format, but this feels a little more intuitive than in previous entries by this author– most of the stuff that requires typing is ‘ask’ or ‘use x with y’ and it’s pretty obvious when you need to type those commands.

The puzzles require enough thought to be satisfying (researching and putting together spells is a big part of it, and it’s a blast) but aren’t that difficult – I finished the game in a single session, and only needed to check the walkthrough once, when I was on the wrong track with a solution and needed to make sure I wasn’t just missing the right phrasing. The atmosphere is deliciously creepy – this is always one of Bitter Karella’s strengths. If you like not-too-tough puzzles and a touch of horror, don’t miss this one.