This is absolutely one of the best HOPAs out there. The game takes some inspiration from Oscar Wilde and Dorian Gray, where a serial killer named Oscar is obsessed with youth and immortality. He traps you in his mansion where you try to rescue your girlfriend- slowly making your way through his grotesque exhibit, solving puzzles and piecing together his backstory.

This game basically checks every box for me - a large interconnected mansion with plenty of backtracking, unique and challenging puzzles, beautiful hand-painted art style, expert voice acting, and a somber and dark atmosphere.

There are a few list-based hidden object scenes, but they are so few and far between that it didn't bother me at all (which never happens). It plays much more like a standard point and click game, but with an emphasis on gameplay over narrative.

Unfortunately, the developer MagicIndie Softworks only made a couple more games - one in the same series (The Lonely Hearts Murders) and three others - only one of which looks up my alley. But the best developers in the genre seem to not last too long, they have too much integrity and standards to keep up with the sloppy mass-produced pacing that the industry seems to rely on. But this game was absolutely killer and hopefully the sequel or their final game Nearwood lives up to the same standards this one set.

8.1/10