Three is certainly the magic number for Postmodern Adventures as he hits yet another home run with his latest point and click adventure, The Dark Rites of Arkham. Like his own version of the Cornetto Trilogy, this cosmic horror is another H.P. Lovecraft setting, not only connecting the dots to his previous games, but also a nod to the seminal author’s universe that includes Innsmouth, Dunwich and the Miskatonic University.
In this tale, you play as detective Jack Foster. He’s recently been put back on the job after a psychiatric evaluation, following the untimely demise of his partner. Initially seeking out a junkie/bootlegger type, he stumbles upon another crime scene that features a headless cadaver and a severed hand, some strange ritual markings, and yet no immediate evidence of a suspect. Did the deceased do this to themselves?
Foster is soon paired up with former psychiatrist Harvey Whitman, who is now a detective, though exiled to the police department’s basement in fear of spooking his colleagues with his quirks. This fella has a penchant for cults, though he isn’t so much of an oddball and has his own origin story that will highlight his motivations. At times, Whitman serves as Foster’s conscience, overall balancing the latter’s often reckless behaviour.
As one might expect with a decapitated body and runes, the clues take our duo to new heights, from cults to shoggoths, pagans to Men In Black. Postmodern Adventures is great at crafting these sci-fi worlds, covering the strange and unknown, graphically violent and disturbing paths of doom that make it massively immersive. For me, The Dark Rites of Arkham is the complete package with its excellent pixel art visuals, beautifully authentic score, a few obscure puzzles and somewhat logical for the genre, but overall, its storytelling.
To touch upon the narrative direction would spoil the experience, though The Dark Rites of Arkham is another great example of how to do Lovecraft well in a game. There are numerous references to other works, as mentioned at the start of this review, and it was nice to experience these as cameos, making this game feel a part of the previous games and other similar titles. Games like The Innsmouth Case, Dreams in The Witch House and Chronicle of Innsmouth Mountains of Madness are all in excellent company.
Adopting the old school approach, there are no hotspots in the game, so it does make it somewhat challenging to miss the odd item. For instance, while located in a woods scene, I couldn’t seem to progress and would wander back and forth and was unable to leave the area and return to the city. This would signify that the solution was right under my nose – which it was. The item in question was an ingredient that was literally in full view, but after three or four visits to the location, I had missed it every time. This isn’t a bad thing, as point and clicks are supposed to be explored.
As with the more recent An English Haunting, the threads are a little batshit crazy, but delightful nevertheless. The Dark Rites of Arkham was a game for me, that is, I bought it and played at my leisure, switching between laptop and Steam Deck; it worked faultlessly. That’s not to say that it would be technically demanding in any way, but I find that even with point and clicks, the cloud saves wouldn’t be accessible on other devices. That wasn’t an issue here, and each save file, or autosave, could be loaded seamlessly.
My playtime thus far has been over eight hours. I have to stress that when it isn’t an exclusive review title, I will spend even more time, and the atmosphere encourages that. With that in mind, as with previous games, there are a ton of missable achievements on offer, which promotes repeat plays. At this time, I haven’t got them all, so I will do that before compiling a walkthrough. There doesn’t appear to be a trivia achievement like before, however, unless that’s one of those I’m missing. Nevertheless, The Dark Rites of Arkham is without a doubt another highly recommended title for point and click adventurers – more so if you’re an H.P. Lovecraft fan.
If you haven’t already tried the developer’s other titles, I highly recommend that you seek out Nightmare Frames and An English Haunting.
