Witch's Hollow

Our visit to Witch’s Hollow was very last minute, but it was a worthy addition. Stained Hourglass is quickly becoming one of the best companies in mass, with both games excelling at tactile, epiphany-driven solves. Like The Boring Office before it, the puzzles in Witch’s Hollow are baked so deeply into the set and story, a perfect blend of puzzle solving and narrative-driven gameplay. While the world of the former was a little more unique, that isn’t to say this room was less spirited. The game is largely nonlinear and perfect for larger groups of inexperienced players (or small groups of more experienced players). My favorite interactions felt like being in a classic adventure game, with the set reacting in interesting and exciting ways. My only critiques are pretty minor. I would have loved some more small interactions to build up to some of the cooler interactions, just a little more linearity to create smaller progression as well. Another, which is also pretty minor, would be to funnel the solves into a some kind of meta puzzle, at least, something slightly more complicated than the finale (not that the final interaction wasn’t good, it could just be gated with a little more complexity). This critiques are analyzing the game from a more detailed perspective, and do not mar an otherwise shining example of immersive game design. I am dying to see what this company puts out next!