The Incident at Galley House

My exploration of the deduction genre continues with The Incident at Galley House! I suppose I'm running out of clever framings, this a game that I had high hopes for, and it definitely met them. I had only the most general idea of the concept and mechanics of the game, that it was somewhat like my beloved TR-49, and also (Elanna warned me), "pretty dark".

Both of these impressions were immediately borne out as I quickly sorted out the game's system of indexing scenes, and started sorting through a sequence of unfortunate deaths and forgettings. Talking about the details of what's going on in the game spoils a lot of the effect and even challenge, so I don't want to go too deep into that, but I can say that the game puts you in the position of watching tragic and distressing events happen to a number of people. There was one moment, halfway through the game's main timeline, where I realized something was coming that I absolutely did not want to watch, experiencing a sense of dread that a video game hasn't given me since Deck Four in System Shock 2.

With all that, it's a real credit to the game that it was fascinating enough that I was eager to keep going through all the loss and dread. The central mystery is fascinating, and the ways of working it out tickled my brain in all the right ways. Close reads, spatial reasoning, and a bit of trial and error were enough for me to work through the game with no hints and fairly little frustration (except when I would forget to turn one of the dials or hit one of the buttons to get to the code I actually wanted).

At the risk of getting a bit spoilery, I want to close with a thematic point that I am surprised to realize I really enjoyed. Despite the game being centered around figuring things out, there's a central part of the mystery that remains mysterious, and the ending only narrowly dodges Lovecraftian bleakness. The fact that a deduction game is so willing to tether itself to the unknowable, while still bein still be incredibly satisfying as a deduction game, is quite a notable feat.