When Resident Evil meets Cthulhu – “Classified Stories: The Tome of Myrkah” review

Competition for Columbo

The game Classified Stories: The Tome of Myrkah takes us to Boston, to the year 1979. You play as a private detective in the Jim Morrison. A letter from an old friend has just landed on our desk, informing us that a series of mysterious disappearances has taken place in his village recently. The matter is urgent, so without wasting time, we go to the farm to discover that our friend also disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Traveling through his estate, we quickly come to the conclusion that the whole thing is not a mysterious kidnapper, but something much worse and not from our world.

Walking fun

As I mentioned, Classified Stories is the responsibility of RVL Games, a studio that previously released such titles as Jane Croft , Railroads of America or Crystals of Time . The games did not become hits, and the premiere of the last one took place in 2013. As you can see, the creators rested for a few years, or perhaps they were preparing the series in question.

The Tome of Myrkah is an adventure in which we will primarily solve all kinds of puzzles and explore our friend’s house. It takes a lot of walking, looking for different items, putting them in the right place to unlock the next room and … more walking and searching. From time to time, a creature from the Cthulhu mythology will jump at us, and we will get rid of it with a few gun shots. Provided, of course, he doesn’t kill us first. Monsters are not the only reference to the works of Lovecraft. Over time, we will also move to another, strange reality, and discover unknown life forms resembling tangled tentacles on the walls. We will also find a book dedicated to the ancient gods, thanks to which we will reach the final boss.

Only no zombies

After the first few minutes of playing The Tome of Myrkah , you ‘ll discover that we probably played something similar in the past. Our association will be the most correct. The creators themselves admitted that they were inspired by such titles as Amnesia , Outlast and Resident Evil . And it is the last of these productions that the first part of Classified Stories most closely refers to . If you’ve played the initial installments of a game released by Capcom, you’ll start remembering them right away. Except at the Residencethere were more opponents. Here, in turn, the focus was more on puzzles that – to be honest – do not captivate. We will be forced to thoroughly search every drawer, cupboard and other nook and cranny in order to find a key or a piece of a puzzle that will allow us to open another door and continue searching. Soon we will know the layout of the house by heart, and the initial tension will turn into frustration when we move around the room for the second time, looking under the tables to see if something is hidden there. Attacks aimed at us will happen sporadically, but it must be admitted that many players will be scared. They are unexpected and often occur when the exploration of the house begins to take a long time.

Climate? Is!

From the graphic point of view, the game cannot be faulted. At first, a bit annoying is the fact that the developers suggest a slightly open world, while limiting it for us. After reaching the place of disappearance, we find ourselves on a street that is difficult to walk on. We bounce off the invisible wall and, whether we like it or not, we have to go to our friend’s house. It’s much better inside. The mansion is huge and the designers made it look realistic. Each room is furnished in a different way, and household appliances or posters on the walls reflect the spirit of the 70s. It is a pity that for so many things, only a few can be moved. The “other world” also looks very interesting, in which the sky with unknown planets looks beautiful, in turn, the levitating chairs pulled from our reality here add an appropriate level of abstraction. The main boss is a slightly smaller Cthulhu, also quite decent. The creatures that attack us resemble transformed demogorgons zeStranger Things and it should be noted that they are very suitable for this climatic horror movie. In addition, between subsequent chapters, the creators treat us with pictures straight from a good comic, showing the events taking place in the meantime.

What about the musical setting? This is practically not in the game. Most of the time, we will only hear the sound of our own footsteps or the creaking of doors and drawers being opened. In some rooms we will also find turntables and thanks to them we will be able to play a vinyl record with romantic music. However, the songs end quickly and we won’t hear them in other rooms. The alien world serves us some psychedelic noises, but they are not too intrusive and we don’t pay much attention to them. There are, however, strong blows of sound, and this is when we are attacked by a monster. This is a typical jump scare , definitely heightening the feeling of fear.

Maybe it will be better

Classified Stories: The Tome of Myrkah is a somewhat boring horror movie. Wandering around a house that we know as our own after a while and looking for hidden objects will eventually get tired of everyone. When we manage to solve all the puzzles and would like to return to the title, we will be able to complete it in three quarters of an hour. So is it worth investing in? Well, it has potential. There is an appropriate atmosphere, an interesting plot, nice graphics, and the game can scare us at times. If there were more of these moments, however, and the puzzles themselves were about something other than just putting items in the right places, it would certainly be better. However, this is only the first installment of the series, so the developers can still correct the bugs and give us a title that we will be happy with.