I’m usually not that into puzzle focused games or “escape room” type titles. Adventure games for me has always been about interesting stories and characters first and puzzles… not even second, really. But there are some rare exceptions where something grabs me about the game even if it isn’t really “my thing”, and in the case of The Inheritance of Crimson Manor it was a promise of exploration. I love the idea of a “creepy mansion” done in the typical gothic horror fashion – with secret rooms, hidden switches and a horrible family secret behind it all. And this game does this pretty well.
I want to get it out of the way first The Inheritance of Crimson Manor is clearly a small team and low budget production, which is why I am impressed at how well the developers handled the task. It’s far from great, very far, with numerous little glitches and weird choices and lack of quality of life elements in many things. And a repetition of a trial and error approach to puzzles that almost gets annoying, before it finally stops popping up. Yet, I cannot help but be impressed with how good most of the game looks, how all of this data is managed seamlessly with no loading screens, how so many little things are interactive and how much variety there is in puzzles and problems you will be solving.
This mansion you will be exploring is interesting to walk around. You do have to always keep in mind that this is a puzzle-focused game, so “this doesn’t make sense” in some cases has to be ignored for the sake of puzzles, even if the game could’ve eased the players into this unrealistic reality better. But it’s really cool. And a lot of things in the game can be done in the order you choose, with only specific and rather well defined bottlenecks from time to time, just to help you manage all of the hints and puzzles. Even though, the game does get overwhelming by the end, as you’re trying to remember what random piece of a room was lacking something that you might be carrying now. Also, please note that the “horror” aspect of the game is in story theme only, as it’s not a title that tries to scare you in any way.
Overall, while I do hope that the game will get updates to polish lots of its rougher edges and improve some elements of controls, it is a fun little title if you’re in the mood for exploring a creepy mansion and solving puzzles. It was just the right amount of puzzling and exploration for me to enjoy it.