Genre: Point-And-Click Adventure
Release date: October 29, 2015

Jonathan Boakes is well known for dark, atmospheric adventures, and The Last Crown – Midnight Horror doesn’t disappoint. The. The game is an intermezzo between The Lost Crown and The Last Crown: Blackenrock. In The Lost Crown we saw ghost-hunter Nigel Danvers waking up on a train and finding himself in the wind-swept seaside town of Saxton. While there he does a bit of ghost hunting with the help of his employer (from whom he thought he was running). It was all very spooky and jolly good fun.

In The Last Crown – Midnight Horror, Nigel is still in Saxton, presumably waiting for his next adventure, The Last Crown – Blackenrock, and it’s now Halloween. Something is haunting the guest rooms above the local harborside pub, The Bear, where a party is in full swing. But the spirits have their own agenda…

TLC Midnight Horror is a quick little game (I completed it within three hours) and takes place in the Last Crown environment. It’s a simple challenge – you go to a party and a ghost shows up and proclaims, “Help me!  I’ve been murdered!” Or wailing to that effect. So you break out the ghost-hunting equipment which your employer so thoughtfully sent you and start investigating.  

The gameplay is mostly inventory/environment puzzles with some dialog trees. I say “environment puzzles” because sometimes you just have to go someplace to move the story forward. There’s not much to explore. The universe has been limited to the environs immediately surrounding the pub. There’s also five mini-games which can be played. One is mandatory for moving the story forward and the other four are optional and are only useful in helping you win the Halloween competition.

The gameplay is quite linear, which is alright as long as you have a good idea of what needs to be done next. And usually you do. The challenges are lined up all proper and you simply knock them down in order. There were a couple of times however, where I had completed the task at hand and was left wondering, “What do I do now?”  My only choice was to either visit every location until I found something new, or consult the walkthrough. But considering all the tasks to be completed, having only a couple leaving you in the lurch isn’t too bad.

The graphics are superb. The view is third-person with node-based movement. Jonathan’s training as a photographer is apparent as each scene is beautifully composed. And the textures are all accurately collected from the real coastal town. My only criticism is reserved for character movement – it’s very awkward. The people of Saxton don’t walk as much as they moon-walk by remote control. But that’s a minor part of the game.

The voice acting is mostly excellent. I say mostly because the one character of Nanny Noah appears to be losing it. Unfortunately, the actress was not thoroughly informed of the context of her lines. As a result, she may give three lines in a row with all three conveying a different context (enthusiasm, fear, nonchalant, etc.)  You begin to wonder if dementia has finally set in. But you don’t have to talk with her often, so it’s again a minor quirk

Otherwise, sound effects were spot on with the occasional fanfare when a major task is completed.

So, what are we left with?  A professionally-made game with a couple of quirks. It’s spooky, but never scary (the partying crowd is always within earshot.) It’s short but inexpensive, and acts as a worthy teaser/lead-in for Nigel’s next adventure The Last Crown: Blackenrock, which I hear begins on the painful morning after the Halloween party. I highly recommend it!

+ A nice spooky ghost story which never gets horrific + Excellent graphics and voice acting + Puzzles well-integrated into the story line + Several mini-games can be played for extra credit + PDF walkthrough comes free with game   – It’s not always obvious what to do next – Gameplay doesn’t always advance when you would expect it to