Allogloom Review – Come For The Art, Stay Because You’ve Been Eaten

What a peculiar game Allogloom is. First impressions of the artwork led to the assumption that it’d most certainly be an arty puzzle game and a little off-kilter, to the point that the point and click claims were made.

For context, I’m not a total point and click purist, though not far off. To me, a point and click is LucasArts and Sierra. A third-person perspective where you click where you want your character to move, select from dialogue options, and have a quirky inventory.

Some of these games are technically point and clicks, though usually first-person puzzle games without a narrative. Get out your party poppers, as Allogloom is a point and click, based on criteria set by yours truly (and plenty of other fans).

There’s definitely a narrative weave that’s leading you somewhere; there are plenty of quirky exchanges with the locals, and a plethora of inventory items that don’t feature illogical solutions.

So far, so good? Yes. Well, and this isn’t bad; the story is very unusual. This is from the opinion of an oddball who is just as at ease with mainstream storytelling as they are with ambiguous threads to pull at (my favourite). Another angle: Allogloom is odd.

Welcome to Gruesome Grove

You play as Nora on the eve of an important event in Gruesome Grove. It begins with preparations and combining items to celebrate the moths that the little village worships.

We get the impression that Nora is a little different to the locals, and that’s her tenacity in finding out what happened to her mother, who has disappeared.

While the locals in Gruesome Grove have been drinking the Kool-Aid and may have had the odd relationship with their cousin, they appear harmless enough, but are ultimately hiding something.

That comes to a head, and various other appendages, as Allogloom goes bat-shit crazy when monsters appear out of nowhere and start eating people, eventually kidnapping Nora’s brother and father.

When Moths Attack

The dark undertones are throughout from the get-go as moths, gorgeous insects, I must say, eat the people of Gruesome Grove. In fact, feeding one a squirrel’s anus really does set that tone.

Nora takes all the grotesque happenings in her stride, dealing her own variations of destruction towards the invaders, as she’s on a mission to rescue her family and perhaps find out about her mother’s whereabouts.

As could be a fair assumption, the quaint little festival soon turns into an ethereal adventure full of intrigue, intelligent puzzles and some absolutely beautiful imagery throughout.

Without giving away too much about the plot developments in Allogloom, Nora unlocks a new skill where she can traverse different worlds and meet a wonder of weird characters, all somehow linked to the moths.

Even if I could tell you more about the story, it wouldn’t offer total clarity, as the storytelling gets convoluted at times and doesn’t always connect. Always fascinating, mind.

Puzzles, Pixels, and Paranoia

Exploring the world of Allogloom is intuitive to any point and click fan. The only thing missing would perhaps be a hotspot indicator, though you don’t need it as you’ll want to soak up every single pixel.

The art is fantastic, and I’d say it’s a folky version of something like Cabernet, or perhaps the storybook quality of Growbot, with Life Gallery’s macabre. High praise indeed, and very impressive nonetheless.

The presentation clearly is a draw, but it’s not a distraction, as the puzzles in the game are excellent. Some require quite a bit of detective work and clue-deciphering to figure out what you’re looking for, with a couple requiring a specific order before you can interact with what you know you need to interact with.

Unlike the conventional point and click comparisons, the inventory selection isn’t illogical or absurd (the events are, but that consistency makes it the wonder that it is). That said, some solutions are tricky, but very satisfying.

A Work of Art with a Moth Problem

Allogloom has been a surprise from start to finish. Yes, it’s apparent there’s going to be a darkness to the utopia that Gruesome Grove is presented as (by the townsfolk, not Nora), but the way it was executed was excellent.

The pacing was great, where scenes never lingered too long, nor did puzzles feel utterly out of reach. As touched upon, the story lost its way a handful of times, though that’s the risk with the ambiguity and absurdity of it all, and in that case, it’s ok to get lost at times.

I was having an internal monologue on how to score this, as I think it’s very good, but didn’t blow me away. Then on reflection, despite the comparisons to other titles, I haven’t played anything quite like Allogloom, and even as I think about these last words and recall Nora’s plight, I can appreciate just how good and understated it is.

The visuals will overwhelm as the standout feature, as they are that good, but with the puzzle structure, unique storytelling and character interactions, Allogloom is a complete package and a work of art. It’s also given me some unwanted paranoia about moths.