This game is hard with a capital H, I could never beat this game when I was younger and bought it new, and even nowadays it's very difficult to get through. The game starts off with the report that the owner of a mysterious mansion has died, leaving you as the sole heir. Upon entering the mansion to check it out, only to have the door seal shut behind you and discover that the mansion is haunted by the living dead. Basically the point of the game is to discover and ultimately destroy whatever evil force is controlling the house and make your escape.
The puzzles are hard and you will require every clue you can find to solve them, look for notes, newspaper clippings, hints in painting, things like that.
The game is completely mouse driven, the interface really couldn't be easier, everything can be accessed with right and left clicks. The graphics are beautifully drawn, especially considering the year this game came out, with plenty of detail throughout so you aren't left guessing what an item is. Game play is something of a cross between an RPG and a survival horror such as Silent Hill. The whole thing reminds me of something out of Edgar Allen Poe or Alfred Hitchcock.
You can choose from several pre-made characters at the start, each with differing stats, some even start
with spells, and they grow in the typical RPG fashion: Kill a monster, get some experience, then use that to increase your stats or skills. Your stats include things such as intelligence, strength and dexterity, and each one of them will affect a subclass of skills, like intelligence affecting first aid, strength affecting bludgeoning damage, dexterity affecting your accuracy with firearms, etc.
As for defending yourself, weapons are everywhere, and nearly everything. There's the usual stuff like guns, knives and swords, but you can really use any heavy object you can pick up, like a wine bottle or vase, to attack with. There are also spells that you can cast with the help of a spell book, some of the characters start with spells, but any new spells have to be learned from reading certain books lying around the house. There is armor, although it's somewhat hard to find, and works in an odd way. Armor such as a bullet proof vest will best protect you from projectiles, while a suit of samurai armor would best protect you from sword attacks.
Inventory is sort of a difficult thing to manage, since you can only carry 4 small objects, like keys or notes, in your pockets, and anything larger you want to carry has to be placed in your hands, which of course takes of space for weapons or the spell book. If you want expand your inventory beyond your pockets, you'll need to find a container of some sort to carry with you.
All in all, it's a very good game, however you'd best be very good at puzzle solving and beating down zombies if you even hope to survive, let alone beat this addictive, yet difficult game.
