I have been a Harvester Games fan since The Cat Lady and Downfall many years ago. With the last entry in the trilogy, Lorelai, I was very underwhelmed, so I went into this one pretty skeptical. Happy to say- Burnhouse Lane totally blew me away and greatly surpassed my initial obsession with The Cat Lady.
This game is masterful on many levels. First, the artwork is incredible. The use of lighting and color, texture, mixed media, and great animations
are unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Gorgeous, rich, wildly creative and brutally horrific. It mixes surrealism, psychedelia, and horror with a kind of painterly collage style that is just mesmerizing to look at.
The story is very emotional, dealing with extremely heavy themes - su*cide, cancer, s3xual assault, serial killers, and many other dark aspects of being human. But beneath it all is this very grounded story of a woman facing her own impending doom, making moral decision, trying to hold on to hope, and dealing with sudden loss. The game presents it all without flinching, and it is quite a ride.
The puzzles and gameplay are simple, creative, and just enough challenge to keep the flow of the game moving along while being engaging. More than any other Harvester Games game, they added new mechanics to sometimes make it feel more like a survival horror game as much as it is a point and click.
My only critique - there were 1 small event and 1 piece of art that I won’t name specifically, but they kinda disrupted my experience. These revealed a kind of niche political and moral bias, which sorta came off as preachy and polarizing. These would be my ONLY real complaint, because otherwise this game is a masterpiece.
If you’ve ever enjoyed a point and click style game, surreal horror games, or brutally honest and fearless dramas - this is an easy recommendation. The atmosphere, story, characters, gameplay and beautiful music will keep you entranced. It’s an experience that hit me very deep.
