Riddlewood Manor was a game I only recently discovered, but I was instantly so excited to play. Typically if a game involves A) a mansion/manor and B) puzzles - I am instantly sold. Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, The Tartarus Key, Resident Evil, and Escape from Mystwood Mansion are some of my favorite games. Riddlewood Manor definitely scratched that itch, but it also has some fairly moon logic puzzles, as well as some almost roguelite mechanics that kept it from being an all time favorite.

I will say, the art style is AMAZING. The entire game can be played with a mouse, and is similar to the Rusty Lake games as you are always in a first person view in the middle of a room and can rotate to view the 4 different walls. What makes it extra specia: the game is 3D, but with a really nice 2D shader effect (and tons of hand-drawn 2D effects). The environments have a nice parallax effect, and the game is just gorgeous to look at.

But the gameplay is a bit odd. When its great is when it plays like a normal escape room - you unlock a new area, solve a ton of puzzles, and get either a heart piece, diamond piece, or one of the endings. But the game is also nonlinear - but not in an enjoyable way. It will link a random item from one room to a puzzle in another in a very not obvious way, so often you will bang your head against a wall until you look up the answer. You also get locked in to certain paths (so it's not truly nonlinear) and the only way to leave it is by dying or winning. So you have a kind of roguelite / Outer Wilds type reset mechanic, hopefully taking new knowledge with you.

I am not a fan of time loops in games, but it would have been alright if the puzzles were a bit more obvious. 75% of the time, the puzzles are perfectly challenging, but the rest... complete moon logic. So the combination of time loop and moon logic puzzles really soured what could have been a 10/10 game for me. But still, overall I enjoyed it and love the art direction especially - check it out!