D’Vile’s Curio Shoppe

Some friends had already played ‘Night Terrors’, the precursor to this game, and had raved about it.  Happily, you don’t need to have played that game to play this one, so I duly signed up and we began to look for a missing blogger who had disappeared after visiting the eponymous shop…

This game exudes atmosphere from the off and what initially feels like a straight forward mission belies what’s going on.  Each step of the game builds up with more than a hint of theatricality to an impressive finale.  There’s a lot to see in the ‘shop’ and it is worth searching the shelves for clues and all the little nooks and crannies.  Some of the puzzles are a little ambiguous and can leave you scratching your heads but you should get there in the end.  The game builds up to a wonderfully theatrical finale that works incredibly well.  Immersion was maintained throughout and the puzzles and gameplay reflected that.

The host was in character the whole time and was engaging and helpful.  The video was done with Zoom and inventory by Telescape and both worked incredibly well throughout.  The 360 overview allows you to explore the room independently of the avatar but you never get the feeling of having to ‘play the interface’ as opposed to playing the room.

In closing, this was a great room that is highly atmospheric, couple that with the subject matter, a couple of genuine jump scares that were executed brilliantly and some genuine theatre then I would rate this room as a 12A and not overly child friendly.