Drowned God: Conspiracy of the Ages is a 1996 science fiction adventure game developed by Epic Multimedia Group and published by Inscape. The game propounds the conspiracy theory that all of human history is a lie and that the human race's development and evolution were aided by extraterrestrials. The player attempts to uncover the truth through the course of the game by traveling to a variety of different worlds, interacting with historical and fictional characters, and solving puzzles.
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I can’t tell if this is a meta joke about conspiracy theories or a genuine schizo thread from soyjacks.party turned into a video game.
i rank this, along with drakengard i, in games i love that are an amazing experience but not great, or even good, games... but jeez if you really want a rabbit hole, watch a playthrough of this and look into harry horse's life (the creator).
Hope y'all been reading your David Icke n Bob Frissell, you're gonna need it
It might just be the retro 3D graphics, mixed with the soundtrack and sound design, but something about this game spooks me, while still keeping the pace thrilling and the world understandable. I love it, and it's a shame the story will never be completed.
I hate to say it but honestly this is one of the rare games where you're just better off watching it than playing it. I bricked my save twice in a row and just honestly do not feel like starting the game a 3rd time. The game is infamous for being extremely buggy and not running properly. For example the game apparently needs a 4th patch which I'm not even sure I've found online, otherwise it tries going from world 2 to world 4 and just crashes? Not to mention I tried saving during the chalice minigame only to find out I triggered a glitch where my character could no longer place the chalice to advance the quest.
Also even with DgVoodoo, DxWnd, the modern installer, editing the batch file, etc I also couldn't force the game to run above 640x480 either which tremendously hurts the game given how atmospheric it is meant to be.
I am giving this game a 2/5, but I will say it is my favourite 2/5 game I've played funnily enough. If one watches the game instead of playing it, there is plenty to appreciate. The ambient sounds are genuinely terrifying and otherworldly. It feels like anybody could invade the world at any minute. Yet when one finds the body of another, they are simply laying in the background, be it a templar drunk at a bar or a head floating in a box. It's a feeling unlike basically anything I've experienced in a game.
I must give special shoutout to the cutscenes as well. They are like a trainwreck one cannot look away from in the best way possible. The mist area integrated cutscenes about the King Arthur legend in such a way I was compelled to keep watching them even though I was frightened like a small child pondering the bogey man's existence under my bed. I didn't want to keep walking through the mist and seeing the cutscenes, but clearly the game did something right because I couldn't stop myself from advancing, just wanting to be out of the area as soon as possible.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/826960021274492948/1030979943494078464/Drowned_God_2022-10-15_18-44-07.mp4
And while it may be silly to put this in a review of the game itself, I have to give a special shoutout to the artwork included in the manual. I wish I could have uncovered all of the creatures in my own playthrough because what I did encounter creeped me out something fierce; something about early 3D models is just inherently spooky to me for how lifeless they seem, I suppose https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/826960021274492948/1030980266178641950/Drowned-God-Conspiracy-of-the-Ages_Manual_Win_EN.pdf
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/826960021274492948/1030974803810717706/unknown.png
If you're familiar with old legends and conspiracy theories, there may be plenty to enjoy from a presentation angle alone but for this spooky month I would heavily rec other horror point-and-clicks which are far more worth your time such as Clock Tower or Cosmology of Kyoto. I may write a review about the former soon so stay tuned!
Also even with DgVoodoo, DxWnd, the modern installer, editing the batch file, etc I also couldn't force the game to run above 640x480 either which tremendously hurts the game given how atmospheric it is meant to be.
I am giving this game a 2/5, but I will say it is my favourite 2/5 game I've played funnily enough. If one watches the game instead of playing it, there is plenty to appreciate. The ambient sounds are genuinely terrifying and otherworldly. It feels like anybody could invade the world at any minute. Yet when one finds the body of another, they are simply laying in the background, be it a templar drunk at a bar or a head floating in a box. It's a feeling unlike basically anything I've experienced in a game.
I must give special shoutout to the cutscenes as well. They are like a trainwreck one cannot look away from in the best way possible. The mist area integrated cutscenes about the King Arthur legend in such a way I was compelled to keep watching them even though I was frightened like a small child pondering the bogey man's existence under my bed. I didn't want to keep walking through the mist and seeing the cutscenes, but clearly the game did something right because I couldn't stop myself from advancing, just wanting to be out of the area as soon as possible.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/826960021274492948/1030979943494078464/Drowned_God_2022-10-15_18-44-07.mp4
And while it may be silly to put this in a review of the game itself, I have to give a special shoutout to the artwork included in the manual. I wish I could have uncovered all of the creatures in my own playthrough because what I did encounter creeped me out something fierce; something about early 3D models is just inherently spooky to me for how lifeless they seem, I suppose https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/826960021274492948/1030980266178641950/Drowned-God-Conspiracy-of-the-Ages_Manual_Win_EN.pdf
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/826960021274492948/1030974803810717706/unknown.png
If you're familiar with old legends and conspiracy theories, there may be plenty to enjoy from a presentation angle alone but for this spooky month I would heavily rec other horror point-and-clicks which are far more worth your time such as Clock Tower or Cosmology of Kyoto. I may write a review about the former soon so stay tuned!
A very Myst influenced game, where you seek 4 artifacts through different eras that two different rival teams are looking for and you can either side with one of the two or betray both(sounds familiar?). Honestly I don't think they achieved their goal feel of "uncovering the hidden truth" and whatnot with the story, the plot needed more development, its like they were too afraid of trying anything that the original Myst hadn't done, so you don't get a lot of narrative. And it doesn't help that is very hard to understand what the characters are saying (and like most games of this era there are no subtitles).
Where the game truly excels at is in its set pieces, they are beautiful and haunting environments, plus there are some amazing designs for the alien creatures. The puzzles work for the most part, some are very fun and imaginative challenges, others can be a bit too cryptic or confusing, its certainly nowhere near the perfect balance the original Myst had.
Where the game truly excels at is in its set pieces, they are beautiful and haunting environments, plus there are some amazing designs for the alien creatures. The puzzles work for the most part, some are very fun and imaginative challenges, others can be a bit too cryptic or confusing, its certainly nowhere near the perfect balance the original Myst had.