Fight against the fear of the unknown and discover what ancient and terrible truths beset our curiosity in Conarium, a Lovecraftian adventure story developed by Zoetrope Interactive and published by Iceberg Interactive. Conarium released back in 2017 on PC and console platforms for $19.99 USD, and its popularity has propelled it to a Nintendo Switch port released Feb. 4, 2021. This review uses the Nintendo Switch version, which ran with zero problems.
Conarium lives as a retelling of H.P. Lovecraft’s 1936 novella, At the Mountains of Madness. Players take the role of Frank Gilman, a member of an Antarctic Expedition crew, woken up in the midst of confounding mysteries: Who am I? Where is everyone? And why were we here? Conarium takes the player on an adventure of epistolary exploration amidst a surreal atmosphere sprinkled with a few puzzles, but laden with questions, confusions, and fears.
Adapting the Unadaptable
Lovecraft was a master of pushing the written word to its limits, employing every trick in language’s book to produce feelings exclusive to written narrative. He would often employ a type of surrealism accomplished by directing the reader’s attention in conflicting ways, or he would describe the physicality of a setting or character as, “beyond the imagination” or “beyond the limits of language”. Horror is great at forcing people to use their imaginations in the worst way possible, but forcing that subjective imagination into an objective visual image will always be a struggle.
For the most part, the development team at Zoetrope Interactive surpassed that struggle, giving life to Lovecraft’s unimaginable imagery. The graphic textures and environments work marvelously towards a Lovecraftian atmosphere, so hats off to Zoetrope Interactive for succeeding where many Lovecraftian adaptations fail. Even beyond their visual successes, the music is the star of the show. I’ve never been so entranced with so many instruments combining in unorthodox ways to make the entire experience at once eerie, inviting, and archaic.
Gameplay? Walking Simulator?
In researching Conarium I found common sentiment that gameplay is merely a “walking simulator,” claiming too little interaction in a story-driven game. And while Conarium doesn’t offer much beyond a few puzzles and epistolary reading clues for interactivity, I find this criticism out of place. A Lovecraftian horror game is obviously going to be more about creating a surreal atmosphere of unease while uncovering some terrible mystery, and not a game about collecting loot or beating up bad guys.
To their merit, the puzzles within Conarium fit the theme perfectly by not telling players exactly how to solve them. Puzzles without explicit self-contained rules place the onus on the players to make inferences based on clues from notes or from the environment. With enough variance, challenge, and thematic fit the puzzles in Conarium complement the game well, giving players adequate opportunity to spin a thread within the overall surreal tapestry.
Conclusion
Conarium is short and sweet–it knows exactly what it’s trying to accomplish and sets out down the right paths to get there. The atmosphere is aptly creepy, the music and set design are incredible, the story is intriguing, and the gameplay to string all of it together gets the job done. Where many others fail in adapting Lovecraft, Conarium succeeds.
Score: 8.5/10
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Nintendo Switch Review
Recent Michigan State University grad and current Game Studies researcher who plays fantasy RPG's to escape, Smash to compete, and Stardew to chill. Also have a +1 to rage/toxicity resistance due to the many hours sunk into WoW, R6, and LoL.
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