A Needful Things Sim That Gobbled us up for a Couple of Evenings
I haven’t played Strange Horticulture, the previous game in the ‘Strange’ series. But I’m going to very soon. That’s how much of an impact Strange Antiquities had on me: after completing it, I immediately opened the Xbox Store and bought its predecessor. No hesitation, no waiting for a summer sale – an instant purchase.
Strange Antiquities had a similar effect on me as Return of the Obra Dinn, if not to quite the same extent. It was the feeling of being completely absorbed by a mystery puzzle game. Like Obra Dinn, I was filling up notebooks with psychotic-looking scrawls. I was hooked on the thrill of rummaging around for answers to problems, only to come up with a result that could only be correct. There’s a special dopamine hit that you get from Strange Antiquities, after tinkering at the edges of a client’s request, trying to find the magical object that would solve their malaise, only to stumble over something so utterly perfect that it must be the answer.
Count us in for Four or Five More ‘Strange’ Games
If you’re like me and you have not played either of the Strange games, then you will probably want a little clarity on what Strange Antiquities is. But a small part of me doesn’t want to give that information to you: Strange Antiquities does such a good job of slowly revealing what it is, and that comes with an assortment of surprises, that it’s tempting to just say ‘if you like puzzle games, Lovecraftian fiction, mysteries, deduction or the dusty charms of an antique shop, then don’t listen to me any more and just buy it’. The only caveat is that I’m not sure Strange Antiquities will be for everyone – such is the volume of text and how much the game demands of you – that I think it’s worth trotting out a small introduction.
In Strange Antiquities, you are given temporary custody of an Old Curiosity Shop. Inside are artefacts with magical properties, some beneficial and some less so. Clients arrive at your store-front with problems that these relics could solve, and it’s your job to find out which one fits the problem snugly. It’s no good accidentally handing a curse to someone who is looking for a love potion.
No Help for the Wicked
What makes Strange Antiquities absolutely my jam (but possibly not yours) is that there are no labels on the relics. There’s no indication of what they do at all. Instead, you have to dive into books to find clues. At first, the customers are helpful and give you the name of what they need. The reference tomes might be helpful too: an illustration might show a cultist wearing the amulet you want, so it’s a simple game of spotting the one on the shelf. But the puzzles don’t stay that easy. Oh no no no. Soon, you’re handed multiple manuals, multiple tools for determining magical provenance. And you’re not necessarily even told the name of the artefact. You have to diagnose the ailment, and find the item that will reverse it.
This is a game all by itself, but what makes Strange Antiquities so engaging and unique is that it doesn’t stop here. It is not only a kind of magical hospitality sim. Because you also need to source the artefacts, and that involves standing over maps with clues in hand. You’ll get tip-offs of where a horrid monkey’s paw might be located, and you need to stab a pin in exactly the right location or risk incurring a penalty. Too many of these penalties, and you’re left playing a game of dice with the Reaper (quite literally).
I lived for these Indiana Jones/detective intermissions. I almost wished there were more of them, but I know that would mean a shop overflowing with cursed items. Strange Antiquities is astonishingly adept at giving you the smallest sliver of a clue, yet that sliver is still enough to solve the problem. You can often feel like the greatest detective that ever lived, even though the puzzle has been designed to make you feel that way.
The Tome you Might Reach for, Though, is a Walkthrough
If there’s a kink in Strange Antiquities’ armour, it’s that it can be obtuse. It feels odd to me, because 95% of the puzzles and problems are perfectly set up: there’s almost always a clue or variable that makes you bullish that you have chosen the right artefact or digging spot. But there is that 5%, and that 5% feels designed by someone completely different. Even after I’ve been told the solution to the problem, I think “really?”. There’s no way that I could have felt confident that I had chosen the right path. The path to some solutions seems to be ‘read the entire reference book, back to front’, and no one wants to do that.
But there’s always the hint system to nudge you along. The Xbox has also gained Strange Antiquities quite late, which means there are numerous online walkthroughs if you are so inclined too. A constant process of elimination helps you out, too, as the number of potential answers to each problem dwindles as the game goes on. And for every slightly rubbish puzzle, there’s another twenty that will make you nod with appreciation.
I’ve pumped hours into Trash Goblin recently, a game that aims to do similar things to Strange Antiquities, but looking back on it now, it seems prosaic by comparison. Because while Trash Goblin relied on routine, Strange Antiquities seems disgusted by it. Strange Antiquities wants to pull you in dozens of different directions within a single one of its in-game days: it wants to broaden out its Innsmouth-aligned story; it wants to take one more step in a character’s tragic arc; it wants to hand you a puzzle-piece that you have been waiting for, allowing you to access a new section of the store; and it wants to get you ransacking magical locations for new stock.
Strange Antiquities makes me wonder/hope that Strange Horticulture has the same determination to mess with its own format. I guess I will find out soon. I absolutely adore that the shop itself has secrets, little nooks that only get revealed over time.
Absolute Ambrosia for Deduction Fans
By the end of Strange Antiquities, I felt like I had developed a life-skill with almost zero contemporary use. Thanks for that, Strange Antiquities. If you’ve got a Curse of Forgetting, or the need for a Spirit Vault (so that you can capture a Wandering Shroud), then I can tell you precisely what to do. I’ve become a bit of a whizz at identifying mystical iconography, and I can use a reference book’s Index page to find a back-door to a solution. Is any of this useful? Absolutely not. Is it absolute ambrosia for puzzle and deduction fans? Why yes, it is.
If you’re okay with hefty dollops of reading and a lack of handholding, but also love mysteries and puzzles then – wowser – do I have the game for you in Strange Antiquities. And if you haven’t played Strange Horticulture, then I might have two games for you.
Important Links
Strange Antiquities On Xbox And PlayStation Takes You Behind The Counter Of The Occult – https://www.thexboxhub.com/strange-antiquities-on-xbox-and-playstation-takes-you-behind-the-counter-of-the-occult/
Buy from the Xbox Store – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/strange-antiquities/9NSK0002SQ2N/0010
