The Stormlamp Rituals upends PostCurious' PuzzleTale Formula - TCbH Spoiler Free Review
Transcript
Over the years, Post Curious has had this household scrutinized dear moth-laden puzzle boxes and sort the various mysteries associated with lost socks, lighting candles, and journeys told through tarot cards. And to be honest, we've eaten it all up. New Post Curious projects are among the highlights of our coverage, in part because we just love doing them and in part because we've grown close to founder, owner, chief designer Rita Orlov as part of said coverage, but I can honestly say none of their games have thrown us for such a loop as Jack Fallows: The Storm Lamp Rituals. Let me explain. When you get enough puzzle tales under your belt, the sort of cryptic escape rooms in a box that Post Curious and some other notable companies trade in, you develop certain expectations. Sealed envelopes, cool devices, packages to unwrap. The Storm Lamp Rituals is distinctly, or at least in a literal sense, not that. This is a 305-page narrative telling the story of a young woman discovering and making sense of her dark past and the magic and meaning within. There are 18 chapters, each with the types of logic, word sequencing, and other puzzles you've come to expect from these types of games, beautifully illustrated by Fallows as well, that build upon one another to ultimately conclude in a pass phrase that marks the completion of the chapter, after which you move on and begin a fresh new onion to dig through, narratively connected but
puzzle-wise distinct from the last. Now, it shouldn't be surprising by the fact that it's a freaking book, but I was genuinely surprised and more than a little suspicious at how linear this is. And while some of Post Curious's prior games have had a sequence, a structure that's segmented, and then you go through in a narrative fashion. They're all together different beasts, more games than straight stories, and even the puzzles take on a different vibe. For instance, take this puzzle from chapter three. Anna barely has time to turn her head before the door becomes suddenly transfixed by what is happening in front of her. The same symbol from the junk shop doorway begins glowing on the surface of the bare wall. Note that this page has a satchel symbol at the top with the letter C, indicating that you're supposed to go to the back to the cleverly adorned satchel pocket with all sorts of loose paperwork and labeled pages that are meant to be traced, folded, cut up, written upon, and otherwise abused as part of solving puzzles, because of course you don't have to write on the pages themselves, and some of the materials are meant to be ancillary and replaceable. That could be reloaded, so you could give this game, this book onto someone else. And anyway, you have this image here, and you now have the materials, you start working on the puzzle, and then when you
think you're done, you continue on. As she reaches out to touch the glowing symbol, a doorway materializes. She passes through the veil once more. Did we finish the puzzle? Was that it? Did we actually get the solution that we were supposed to? I mean, we may have gotten something out of the puzzle, but there's no clear question that we are answering. Sure, you may have used the stuff to come up with some cryptic stuff, but was that the only stuff that was within it? And what I realized as I was playing this is that this game is much less interested in just asking you direct questions and then benchmarking your answers as you may be used to in these sorts of puzzle tales. Yes, the solution from each of the puzzles is likely going to be foundational information for the next puzzle that's going to come up in sequence, but it's not clear [clears throat] always that you have the right answer before you move on and the narrative itself isn't referencing the direct answer and the only time where you are gate kept from going on is the final solution for the chapter itself.
All of this would be a problem if it weren't for the fact that every chapter also has obscured clues that can help you along and check your understanding including ultimately spoiling the answer or at least in our case generally confirming we got it right. Admittedly, the structural difference was disorienting in how Mrs. TC H and I consume these type of games, but the result was the same. We were engrossed, challenged, able to follow the logic and eager to press on. In preparation for this review, we did several chapters though we didn't reach the end. Some of that was the tight turnaround and conflicting projects and obligations, but some of that is the structure itself. Unlike prior games where we could puzzle in parallel, fawn over competing quandaries that would coalesce into a completed whole, here we read to each other, took on one puzzle at a time, and were able to complete about a chapter an hour as we saw each through. There is a part of me that thinks the narrative and maybe even the gameplay itself may be best enjoyed as a solo experience. Playing through a new Box Curious title without my primary partner in crime would be unthinkable.
So, we did it as a duo. Playing through as a couple was a bit stiff, but not cumbersome. Fallacious outstanding artwork and the suitably witchy if also a bit wispy prose and as usual excellent puzzle craft put out by the studio makes it another worthy entry in their lineup. It's not as exploratory or as open-ended as some of my favorite titles by Post Curious, but I don't think that it's really setting out to be either. In a lot of ways, it actually reminds me more of some more modern point-and-click adventure type narrative video games than it does the Light in the Mist or The Emerald Flame. A narrative that you have a hand in folding, but ultimately you're bearing witness to rather than feeling like you are a true participant of. But, it also feels like one of the most cohesive and mature products the studio has made. One that I could see spawning a whole line.
Now, as I said, we didn't end up finishing this one, but it's certainly one that we intend to and we very much want to savor. Down the road, Christina and I will inevitably put out some sort of video that has our full spoiler thoughts in one way, shape, or form. And that way you'll have kind of the the conclusion to our own narrative as part of going through this hefty book full of mysteries. For now, I can say we're enjoying it and that if you like their other stuff or like cryptic mysteries and puzzles in general, then this is probably going to be right up your alley. So long as the priority on cohesion, storytelling, and narrative structure over an open-ended approach and the sort of dramatic theatricality of physical objects ain't a problem. For us, that's our bread and butter and what remains our favorite output by Post Curious, but The Storm Lamp Rituals is proving to be a fun and immersive time.
And that's our review. But, let me know what is your favorite puzzle tale of all time, Post Curious or otherwise. Put it in the comments below and as always, thanks for watching, thanks for supporting, thanks for being such a great community. You know, I've been Jack for The Cardboard Herald.