The call of the dark
Necronomicon is the sort of the game that looks and sounds like it should be great and indeed, thanks to its mix of intricate puzzles and dark storyline, it's pretty decent stuff. It's similar in many ways to the Dracula games, Last Sanctuary and Resurrection, being a first-person point-and-click adventure, but it suffers from just a few too many annoying elements for it to live up to its full potential. As you might expect from the title, the story is very much inspired by the work of HP Lovecraft, and takes place in 1927 when a young man named William Stanton is handed a mysterious object by his friend. Although Stanton is not supposed to ask many questions about the object, his curiosity gets the better of him and it's not long before he discovers his friend is mixed up in the occult and that the fate of the entire world now hangs in the balance. What follows is a traditional point-and-clicker, where you explore a number of environments while seeking out clues to the mystery and solving puzzles. This latter element is one area where the game shines as the puzzles on display here are excellent, being complex, satisfying and well implemented into the story. The narrative is the second area where the game shines as it too is well-crafted, spooky, and genuinely compelling. Things are let down somewhat by an overreliance on frustrating mazes which are almost impossible to map and by the visuals which are just a bit too dark and gloomy for their own good. If you can get past these elements though, there's an enjoyable adventure here.
