In the 1990s, the horror games of the time loved to set their adventures in old Victorian houses. These houses were full of intricate puzzles involving strange statues and different shaped keys, often with animals carved on them. They were also full of monsters, ghosts and human enemies trying to kill you. Parts of the house would be unlocked at the beginning and it would be up to you to try and make every room accessible.
The first game I played in this genre was Alone in the Dark, but that was fast followed by Resident Evil and the like. The Tartarus Key is a game that has taken its inspiration – both in terms of content and visuals – from those 90’s games. But is it a journey too far back in time?
The Tartarus Key is a game that hooks you in from the start. You play the part of Alex Young who wakes up in a strange room without knowing how she got there. The doors are locked and there is no way out, so she has to do a bit of exploring and a bit of escape rooming…
She gets out and finds herself in a huge mansion. Her role now is to try and rescue the other people trapped in the house, ideally before they die. One is nearly gassed to death, another is trapped in a magical curse, whilst someone else has a Saw-like trap around his neck, threatening to chop his head off. The story involves getting to know these very different characters and learning the secrets of this strange house you find yourself in.
And in a nice touch as well (or maybe not a nice touch), even if you fail in keeping those characters alive, The Tartarus Key keeps on chugging away. The story is really good, and has a retro feel, but runs as its completely own thing. The writing is interesting and very funny at times, whilst the characters are all well-drawn and engrossing.Â
Gameplay works through a mixture of exploration as you go walking around the mansion, picking up objects, examining them, and collecting them in your inventory. Each room has several puzzles to solve and most of these are very ingenious to take in.
You get all sorts of puzzles to enjoy too. There is one in which you have to guess the right ritual to dispel a curse. In another, you have to arrange the shapes of a projection to create a shape of a door that will manifest so you can get through. Another has you simply working out dates of postcards you find around a room, revealing a safe combination. The puzzles are truly genius and well thought out, fun to solve. There’s no doubt that fans of escape rooms or any gaming conundrums will have a brilliant time here.Â
The visuals of The Tartarus Key take on a very retro feel. It all works as a homage to early PS1 games and the closest I can think of would be Alone in the Dark on PC in the early 90s. It has that blocky lo-res feel to it. Now, some gamers will love the retro feel of the graphics and the look of the game, but personally, it doesn’t do it for me. I loved the puzzles and enjoyed the gameplay found in The Tartarus Key, but with it being a throwback in terms of graphics, I was put off somewhat. It’s because of this visual style that items are sometimes hard to see, characters look old and I don’t see the interest. But that’s just me and others may well love the old feel to the game.
In terms of the audio and whilst there isn’t any voice-over to the game, the soundtrack works well with the atmosphere of the game.Â
The Tartarus Key is brilliantly designed, running a fantastic range of puzzles and escape room situations. The gameplay is equal to that, the story itself is witty and intriguing, and it comes with some well-drawn characters and a great setup. Personally I’ve not been taken by the retro visuals, but I may well be in the minority with that one.
On the whole though, if you can look beyond the graphical style and want a good old-school puzzler, then The Tartarus Key could well be right up your alley.
