Adventure Game Studio

Congratulations to you on the release, and to all of us for having this available. Lucky us!  ;-D

If you still have doubts as to whether this is another masterpiece or not, you are welcome to take a look at my game review: https://www.dasklapptsonicht.de/an-english-haunting/

If you need a translation, please use the online translator you trust.  :-D

Congratulations! It's a great game, love the style :D

Five and a half hours into the game - nearly done - and it is a thing of beauty!

Congratulations!

It is simply one of the best graphic adventures I have ever played.
The story is tremendous, the characters are written with great care and the setting is captured in incredible detail. It is a long game with a lot of events and locations, which nevertheless feels fluid at all times thanks to the great puzzle design. It brought back memories of the legendary "The lost files of Sherlock Homes" :)
In short, a wonderful adventure. Congratulations!!!

Oooh been looking forward to this one!

THis is definitly one of the best adventure games I played in the last few years since Unawowed.
Great story, wonderful music, nice puzzles, even some are optional, good characters and great dialogues.
Only thing, could have been longer and do you plan doing a sequel, after THAT ending?

Quote from: agentbauer on Fri 07/06/2024 09:23:40Only thing, could have been longer and do you plan doing a sequel, after THAT ending?

It's just a shocking ending. There are no plans for a sequel. There are so many more stories to tell and so little time! :-D

Thank you for the experience!

The game shines in its writing. You've really nailed the period. The characters backstories are deep and engaging, Beatrice Shaw probably being my favorite. I loved the Arthur Conan Doyle digression, it was very well paced into the story.

The puzzles of the game made great use of the limitations of that era, I'm thinking of the newspaper clipping office here but there were others as well. I think they helped create the illusion of being in early 20th century Britain.

The graphics are great with a lot of attention to ambiance such as fog, lighting, pedestrians and carriages passing by and, my personal favorite, butterflies! So yes, from the streets of London to the moors of Scotland the environment is bustling.

The orchestral music suits the era very well and it's fittingly scary and dramatic.

The one thing I did take issue with from the very beginning was the single-click interface, though. I felt a bit disempowered as I couldn't get any extra hints through examining. I couldn't make mistakes by forgetting to examine something either, which, as it may lessen frustration, also takes away a degree of agency.

All in all, thanks again! Definitely one of my highlights for the year!

I just finished it! It was a great way to start my mornings: Drinking coffee and getting spooked to get my brain going.

This is another great game by you all, along with Nightmare Frames. It piqued my curiosity about the Victorian era and its morbidities. I loved how you saved the best for last; the more I kept going, the more surprising and visually striking it became. It was a great payoff for putting in all the effort to play through it. I'd love to know more about how you made it... How did you make the time for all the characters with walk cycles, and how did you create those visual effects? Should we add a best visual effects category to the AGS awards?

If you're reading this, I highly recommend it! One of those must-play AGS games.

This looks absolutely stunning!

I finally played through this the last few days, and it was just as good as the fine people in the posts above have described. My impression is that you must have done a lot of research, because the game looks and sounds very believable and seems to nail the historical period very well. In a sense, the unnecessary bits, or the fine polish, if you will, elevates the game. The streets are bustling, sounds and weather conditions are just right - it simply makes the world believable. I've read stories in a bookstore, taken a horror quiz from the proprietor, and watched a silent movie in a theater, none of which are essential for the main story, but makes the whole package so much more. It must have been a ton of work.

The story plays like out like an investigation. There is a lot of dialogue, and some of the cut scenes are quite long, especially near the ending. There are many characters, so the game should preferrably be played intensively over a few days to avoid losing your thread. The story plays on some well-known genre tropes, borrowing from detective stories, horror stories and treasure hunt adventure stories. It's like a love letter to the type of stories alluded to. The writing is excellent throughout, and the characters have quirks and arcs with goals of their own. (Well, the most prominent characters, at least.)

Visually, it's very good. The attention to detail is staggering, and when you have an audio design complete with contemporary music pieces inserted, there is a lot to love.

Puzzles? The puzzles are by and large a part of the story and will require some back and forth, questioning people and confronting others with what you now know. Fans of Urban Witch Story (https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2471/) will know what I mean. There are also inventory puzzles, and the game even comments Patrick Moore's habit of carrying around strange items. The puzzles are fun, but the game's focus is on the storytelling and atmosphere/world building. I was never stuck, and I think most players will solve this mystery quite easily. The one-click interface probably makes the game easier to convert to mobile platforms, and I have nothing against it, but it makes the game easier. Don't expect to be put to the test with this game, but expect to be immersed and told a great story.

Is it the AGS game of the year? I haven't played all the full length commercial releases (yet), so I cannot tell for certain, but so far, I would say yes. A game like The Shame of the Pack (https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2804-the-shame-of-the-pack/) arguably has better puzzles and perhaps just as good music, so it's not impossible to  make a competition out of it, but my guess is that when the awards are coming, a fair share of them will belong to An English Haunting.

Wow, I just realized I never left a comment about this game. I played it a few months ago. From what I remember: it's very well written, the mix with historical figures is fascinating, and the constant interplay with literature is incredibly engaging. Congratulations!

Thanks a lot, guys! It's a pleasure to read your words. I'm really glad that the game is appreciated by the members of this wonderful community!