Game Review: A Night at the Watermill
A Short Playthrough of Neon Tales Very First Game Release
Rating: ★★★★☆
Status: completed (uploaded 2024), pay to play
Genre: point-and-click, horror, visual novel, escape, puzzle
Gameplay: single-player
Playtime: 45 minutes - 1 hour
Replay Value: medium, 3 possible endings
Difficulty Level: beginner
Gameplay and Mechanics: 4.5/5
Graphics and Art Style: 5/5
Story and Theme: 4/5
***minor spoilers alert*** ***graphic content alert***
Ultimate Assessment:
Deeply mystifying and slightly disturbing, A Night at the Watermill cultivates a thrilling horror chase where your worst enemy may be yourself.
I was deeply enchanted with the comic art style and the flow of the visual novel. The developers brilliantly incorporate paranoia into the storyline and I enjoyed the surprise two-character gameplay. The game could have benefitted with some more polished resolution of the 3 different game endings. Consequences don’t feel necessary to the game design, but having more context of our main protagonist would have been deeply satisfying. Overall, easily enjoyable with moderately challenging puzzles.
A Night at the Watermill offers a fantastic gamer introduction into playable graphic novel horror games. If you are looking to dip your toes into the mysteriously enchanting world of horror, this game truly creates a beginner space for getting started. Developed by two indie game developers from Cologne Germany, Thekla Barck, (story, game design and graphics) and Thomas Klein (programming and audio), A.N.W. is truly a hand drawn work of art.
I am not new to the horror realm; I watch horror films, go to indie horror film festivals, read horror literature… you could say I am quite a fan. There’s this fantastic quote on the human fascination or horror stories that I have carried with me over the years, but to paraphrase, “human beings love horror stories because it calls out to our primal ancestral urge to fear the unknown.” This really speaks to the human existence behind storytelling; a warning, a fable, a myth to ward off dangers. But unlike or ancestors, I find horror culture deeply intriguing and thrilling.
What is lacks in terror cultivation, A.N.W. makes up for it in enchanting art style and puzzle gameplay. In Neon Tales’ very first game, they gave us a fantastic visual novel that brings us along a frightening adventure where we wake up bleeding, soaking wet, and with no memory of who we are.
This point-and-click gameplay prompts you to use your surroundings to escape the watermill you woke up in. But be warned, there may be a dead body (or two) lying in your wake for you to piece together your own involvement. A fair warning to my sensitive gamers there is blood, bruising, death, PTSD and trauma. Also an epilepsy trigger warning with flashing lights from lightening and dramatic scenes.
What impressed me most about the game wasn’t the playable experience or even the storyline, it was actually the brilliant sound design. I was blown away by the incorporation of item sound effects, chilling background music, rainstorm windowpane patters and symbolic state of mind auditory representation. With no voice acting, this set design is all about your environment. (I especially enjoyed the pitching frequencies to emulate ears ringing from headaches and disorientation.)
What I find to be particularly drawl about typical graphic novel gameplay is the limited interactivity. Additionally, the flow of the story forces you to submit to the pace of the voice acting (which is incredibly difficult for a fast reader like me.) But A.N.W. did not subject me to the same torture. I was thrilled by the escape-room gameplay paired with the music score of something like Blade Runner meets Cabin in the Woods. This game bares a striking resemblance to Unboxing a Cryptic Killer and Unsolved Case - another comic book art style and escape room puzzle game series.
I found the puzzles approachable, but stimulating, and the storyline intriguing without revealing too much backstory. Personally, I would have loved to see some more backstory revealed at the resolution of the ending (specifically catered to which ending you chose). As this game was made with Ren’Py, a visual novel game engine, I am not knowledgeable on the intricacies of the design allowance, nor the demand on just two people designing this game — but maybe they could have included more actionable consequences for your choices in game. Overall, the gameplay was very smooth and the storyline was solid. I definitely recommend A Night at the Watermill for gamers looking to get started in horror.
It was fairly difficult to find any history or information on our developers, but if you want to enjoy more content from the game yourself, you can purchase their artbook and music score along with the game. Just make sure to buy everything you want with your first purchase as you can’t procure the book and music by themselves. Also check out their website to stay up to date and follow along their journey!