Some of my favorite games have been ones I’ve been able to almost immediately pull some level of meaning from. Something that I can look into deeper than the surface. And then there are games like Gloomy Juncture that twist my brain around in such ways that I’ll be unraveling it for days, or maybe even weeks, before I even get around to making that happen. There’s something there and a lot of it. I can just see I’m going to need time to pull it out.
I have no idea what to do with ‘gloomy juncture,’ and i can’t wait to see more
The demo is only about an hour long, but that is more than enough to immerse you in its world. First things first: that art style. It’s 100% hand-drawn by the developer, Filipe Rodrigues. He’s the sole developer of Gloomy Juncture. If he didn’t tell me that himself in the email he sent, I wouldn’t have thought it. It’s oddly beautiful. The visuals are inspired by N64-era graphics but modernized. I can’t properly explain exactly how he achieved this look, but please watch that video above. It’s incredible. More impressive is that even with the game turned down to its lowest settings, it looks amazing. It’s the best of modern gaming’s tech with — I can’t believe I’m saying this — old-school graphics.
Gameplay-wise, it’s a first-person “neo-noir psychological thriller with a point-and-click core.” You play as a janitor who just wants to get the hell out of his job but has one last task for the night. Clean up some vomit. It’s this task that acts as a tutorial of sorts, getting you used to the in-game inventory and journal. There’s no death condition, so you truly are meant to explore.
What I found most interesting, though, is how little the game attempts to hold your hand. I was actually drawn to certain areas of the game just because I saw something and wanted to explore it. I ended up solving one puzzle before I was “supposed” to get to it. Not in a speedrunner way, just in a “Hey, this puzzle is here, let me solve it. Oh, look, the answer I needed for this problem came from that puzzle” way.
I have both eyes on this one
The voice acting is another highlight, and I can tell that the game is committed to locking you into your character’s mind state. Almost immediately after finishing the main task, I was met with a gigantic floating hand and everything in the room floating upside down. I am very clearly going to question not only my character’s sanity, but my own. If the game can consistently tie this mind-bending storytelling with the puzzles and keep them engaging? I genuinely believe that Gloomy Juncture could be one of the most talked-about indie games of the year when it releases. “You had my curiosity, now you have my attention.”
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