Abscission is a game I should like more than I do. I have a soft spot for horror-themed point and click games, some of my favorites being Excavation of Hobs Burrow, Nightmare Frames, Cat Lady, Fran Bow and An English Haunting. I think largely because I hate the goofy humor ”classics” of the genre, but the more somber grotesque theming mixed with relaxing puzzle solving just scratches a cozy part of my brain.

Abscission should fit the bill as well - it has some great body horror art and an interesting enough storyline. But I think the gameplay really knocks it down a few pegs.

There is not actually much puzzle solving, as most of the time is spent navigating dialogue trees with only one or two items in each scene actually having an interaction coded in. The few puzzles included ARE fun, but there’s just way too few, which really slows the pacing.

Also, it’s pretty buggy. Randomly after certain interactions, my character wouldn’t walk to wherever I clicked. So I would have to exit to the map and come back to keep exploring. Also some doors and items would get frozen in place, not responding to interactions.

If you are more of a visual novel type gamer, then sure the game is decent. It doesn’t have OUTSTANDING writing like Nightmare Frames or An English Haunting, but it’s decent enough. But if you need a bit more gameplay than the visual novel genre, I can’t really recommend this one.