It’s been seven months since our previous Loath Nolder preview and we’re happy to report that we have just finished playing the pre-alpha demo and it looks worse than ever.

That’s right, insects scuttling across moldy walls and disappearing under strips of paint peelings, dingy hallways with scuffed-up floors and creaking floorboards, a mysterious rustling from the shadows and that sick feeling deep in the pit of your stomach as your body fights to not take another step forward, but you know you must. Ah, truly the stuff of demented minds!

Loath Nolder: Labores Solis – the first of a proposed trilogy – is a panoramic first person 3D adventure/horror thriller which takes place in the imaginary “Lovecraftian” town of Wellsmoth. The story was influenced by the works of H.P. Lovecraft so players will encounter a dark and frightening world to interact with, and a host of sinister characters.

But, who is Loath Nolder and just as important, what character are we to play? Loath Nolder was a once-successful P.I. who suddenly left life as he knew it and took off for parts unknown after his last case. According to those who saw him, when he returned he was no longer the same man; something had happened to him out there in one of the African countries, or perhaps the Oceanic ones. Either way, he was no longer the same man and was soon caught up in a murder case in which he became the main suspect. He has now disappeared and our man Howard Loreid has been hired to find him. With our own P.I. hat firmly set upon our heads, we venture into the gloomy darkness and begin our own investigation into what happened to this mysterious, elusive man.

We know that he was on the hunt for a man named Clark Field, and after perusing both Howard and Loath’s offices we get to explore Clark’s beautiful mansion for ourselves. The ease of movement is to be applauded. Panning around the room you can see everything from the ceiling to the floor and back again, and to move forward you simply wait for the hand to point and click your mouse. Viola! Also, discovering items, notes and the like is made easy as well. Simply slide your mouse over the section you’re in and a magnifying glass will appear, letting you know there’s something important to be discovered. Along with these attributes, there is a neat “thinking system” that allows you to click on objects, click on an icon of Howard’s brain, and see what he’s thinking. In this way you get a read on how the game is affecting him, what he’s discovered, and also what should be done next. (There are hints in here as well when the player gets stuck—another much appreciated feature!)

There are also ‘horror moments’ when Howard will see something that defies imagination. During these moments, Howard will audibly gasp for breathe until he is able to reach a safer location. This and other human attitudes like panting, coughing, and offering personal opinions about some places make Howard a much more believable personality than is usual in a game.

Many other little touches have been added such as underlining words in a note to gain clues, sizing up pictures in a special screen to see if there might be a secret area to explore, and combining items in order to move forward in the game. You can also get ideas from the people you interact with and often that will move you along when you find yourself stuck and unsure of what to do next. Luckily this won’t happen too often because the game is so user-friendly and fluid discovering what to do next is often as easy as asking yourself the question, “what can I use here?”

In addition to all of these wonderful touches, you get to discover many different locations; all of them fairly humming with atmosphere. The outdoor scenes are as wonderfully gloomy as a rainy Saturday afternoon, and the house (belonging to Clark Field) is my favorite part of the whole game. It’s beautifully done; sumptuous in some places, dark and frightening in others, and so lovely I wanted to climb through my monitor and move in! But if you like things that are creepier than a gorgeous old haunted mansion (yes, I said haunted. No, I can’t say by what. Only because I don’t know!) then you might enjoy the underground passageways, dark and dripping with God knows what; ruins that could’ve been built to some god many moons ago; or the old witch cemetery.

In all of these locations you can feel the care that went into creating them because suddenly the words “create” and even “game” tend to disappear, leaving you standing there in this Lovecraftian world wondering just what you’re doing there and how the heck you’re going to get out! It’s like curling up in bed with a Lovecraft story, burrowing under the covers and watching the plot play out in front of your eyes. Only this time you can’t simply read the pages in your hands and think, “God, I have to save him! What are we going to do?!” This time YOU are him (or her) and you must save yourself as you solve this mystery. Because as lovely as this world is, it is also quite dangerous. Think of all of the strange beings from those old stories and you’ll get an idea of what’s ahead of you!

Now that you’ve had a tiny glimpse into the game, I have a few questions for you:

Do you like games that really make you think and follow clues? Do you like wandering around beautifully created locations that are so real you feel like you’ve left your computer desk? And most importantly, do you like being scared…to death? Then you will LOVE Loath Nolder: Labores Solis. Trust me, I did.