Draugen, where the truth is only through what your mind perceives.
The year is 1923. You play Edward Charles Harden, an American traveller — and increasingly unreliable narrator — who’s come to Norway to find his missing sister. But you’re never alone: every step of the way, Edward is accompanied by Lissie: a lively and enigmatic young woman with a mind of her own.
Together with Edward and Lissie, you must explore a forgotten coastal community nestled amongst the dark fjords and towering mountains of rural Norway, and unearth the terrible secrets that lie beneath the picturesque surface. And what begins as a quest for a missing woman becomes a journey into a painful past.
This game looked like an interesting one to try out when I saw the cover image for it and noticed that it was sort of like a walking simulator with a mystery to uncover. I’ll admit, I first watched someone play a short amount of it first and though there were humorous sections regarding the girl, Lissie, man did she get annoying.
As an introvert, I get annoyed by extroverts sometimes. They always want to talk. About anything and everything.
Ironically, though, I don’t get mentally exhausted by listening to characters in video games. Plus, it still looked highly interesting to play. I just forgot about it for quite a while. Shame on me for waiting so long.
- Developed by Red Thread Games
- Published by Red Thread Games
PC
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Draugen Gameplay
There’s a mystery to solve here–where is your missing sister? As such, you’ll need to play something of a detective role (one you’re not really that great at, mind you), by just looking around at the different things and basically having conversations about them after observing.
I suppose you could label it as a walking simulator detective game. Kind of like the Sherlock Holmes games, if you will, though our main dude isn’t in the detective field.
When you see certain things, text will come up on the screen, and you can choose which thought you want to touch base on for a conversation or observation. You’ll need to try to pay attention to certain things, as they’ll clue you in on what you need to do to progress the game.
The map isn’t huge, but I got lost for a moment on figuring out what to do in one section.
Are there achievements?
Yes, 13 of them.
Draugen Navigation
This game is super linear, so there isn’t too much to explore, but you should take advantage of looking around at the environment, as it really is beautiful in some settings. While it does stick to a main path, you can wander around anywhere in the general vicinity, unless closed off.
You do have a map, and it will draw things out for you as you find them as a way to keep track of things.
Draugen Soundtrack
I knew as soon as I landed on the main menu that I was going to really enjoy the soundtrack this game had to offer. It has a mysterious peacefulness to it. Something I would listen to if I were just taking a walk out in the wilderness and letting my mind wander as I took in the sights.
But that’s just on the menu screen.
I think the in-game soundtrack is a whole lot better, probably because it’s provided with the ambiance of nature, so it’s not all just instrumentals soaking your ears. You’ve got the rippling of streams, your footsteps, rainfall, the fact that you get out of breath as you’re walking up the hill in the beginning of the game, and all these other little nuances that add a grain of pleasure to your eardrums.
At least, they do for me.
Draugen Graphics
The graphics of the characters themselves remind me of BioShock Infinite. They aren’t bad at all to look at, but they certainly aren’t the greatest if you’re looking for perfection. There are things you’ll be picking up and looking at, and even those have some damn good graphical quality to them, showing signs of the age and year this takes place in.
Such as photographs, for instance, but also letters.
Thank god for not having to actually read letters and such that we pick up, because that old time cursive is hard to decipher.
The background is where it’s at graphic-wise. The landscape is gorgeous to look at in the distance and is only marred by the fact that there are sometimes buildings in the way of nature. But ain’t that just like reality?
In fact, I can almost say that standing still, the environment could also be a replica of an oil painting.
Plus the fog that rolls in at the very beginning adds an eerie effect to the silence and emptiness of the town without casting the game into horror.
The only real downside of the graphics would have to be the water itself. At a certain distance, it looks amazing, just like the rest of the graphics, but go too far out and look at the sea and it’s just not on par with everything else. It looks…fake.
Final Thoughts
This is a highly psychological game where the ending isn’t set in stone–it’s your decision. Which is interesting in and of itself, since you don’t know the whole story to be based on facts, and therefore have to make up your mind on what happened.
I still can’t really figure out who a select few characters really are but…sometimes a little mystery works, I guess?
The game as a whole was highly intriguing as things started to become pieced together, though a lot of names of the townsfolk were lost on me, since I kept forgetting who they all were. As far as paying the price point of the game itself? I think they could get away with lowering it, so if you are interested…I’d wait for a sale.
