The scariest adventure
game ever?! Sure it’s a subjective choice, but we double dawg
dare you to find a scarier game. Developed by Jonathan Boakes –
yes, the same developer of number seven on our list, the Darkfall series – The Lost Crown: A Ghost Hunting Adventure
is a horror tour-de-force.
The Lost Crown
has you playing the part of Nigel Danvers as you begin the game at
a train station located just outside of Saxton in the hopes of eluding
your employer – the Hadden Corporation. It becomes pretty apparent
that Saxton isn’t quite as calm and idyllic as it would first
appear. The town is steeped in tragedy and there might just be a restless
spirit or two lurking about in addition to some personalities whose
motives are in question…
Seasoned
JA reviewer Eric McConnell left no doubts how he felt about The
Lost Crown, “To give it to you in a nutshell, The
Lost Crown may actually go down in history as the best
horror adventure game ever written.”
The game itself runs
the full gambit of emotions – from sadness, to happiness, from laughter
to flat out fear. One scene in particular I found disturbingly shocking
and well, yeah, disturbing is the right word. REALLY disturbing.
The most amazing thing
about all of this is that it is the work of one person – Jonathan
Boakes. While Jonathan put indie adventure gaming on the map by showing
just what one person could achieve with Darkfall, The Lost Crown puts him on an entirely different
plateau. In one fell swoop he has managed to not only create a game
that will be talked about for years to come, but also made the majority
of adventure games that have come out in the last few years by teams
made up of numerous people almost laughable in comparison. So while
Jonathan was on top of the heap in terms of indie developers, he has
just elevated himself up into the ranks among the greatest of adventure
game developers.
The Lost Crown
stands head and shoulders above most of the adventure game offerings
that have come our way over the last few years and frankly I was saddened
when it finally ended. I have the sneakiest suspicion that I’ve
just been hugely spoiled and am going to have to suffer through some
withdrawals over here. While there is some room for improvement –
mainly on the production side of things – The Lost Crown
is as close to perfection as any adventure game I have played in the
last few years.”
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