The Lost Crown is a game of wildly varying inconsistencies. It's got an interesting, lengthy plot, conventional but ultimately well-designed puzzles, and a great atmosphere thanks to its black-and-white art style, use of real world photos as backdrops, and solid, often unearthly sound effects and tracks. Yet on the other end, the game is crammed full of stereotypical personalities, presentation issues, and atrocious 3D character models and animations. The good does outweigh the bad in this game's case, however, though such a statement is directed mostly toward those who already enjoy point-and-click adventure titles. For anyone who got sick of this kind of game a long time ago or never enjoyed it to begin with, there's little here you're likely to appreciate.
Metal Arcade: Liam Rogers writes:
I did not expect Darkling Room’s The Lost Crown to be a point-and-click adventure, based on the fact that the tag lines touted it as an atmospheric horror game. While games like Amnesia have redefined the horror genre and point-and-click games have practically disappeared from the industry (with the notable exceptions of The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us), there was a time when horror games were less about jump scares and more about mood, and that’s where The Lost Crown excels. Originally released in 2008, it’s been ported to Steam in anticipation of the upcoming sequels.
DHGF: You may be wondering what the differences are between this version of the game and the original. For the most part, the changes are minor details like the smoke from a train stack sticking closer to the engine. However, several of the changes help modernize the experience. For example, you can now double click on an exit point to have Nigel instantly travel to the next location. You’ll probably save a couple hours of watching Nigel walk to and fro because of this. Also, you can now skip dialogue. This is great if you stumble across lines you’ve already heard before. It’s nothing mind bending to be sure, but these changes will definitely be noticeable to people who’ve played the game before.
DHGF: Back in 2008, Darkling Room released what is one of the absolute best adventure and/or horror games ever made – The Lost Crown. It was a follow up of sorts to 2003′s Dark Fall: The Journal, which is almost universally in every “Top Ten Horror Game” list by anyone who has actually played more than the Resident Evil and Silent Hill franchises. Somehow, The Lost Crown surpassed it in every way and it went on to win multiple awards from us in 2008. Since then, fans of Darkling Room and Jonathon Boakes have been waiting, waiting and well…waiting for the next game in the series, The Last Crown.
