Varney Lake review
There’s a moment in Varney Lake where you meet the vampire.
They come across a shack and wander in.
And there they meet the vampire.
It’s a fascinating moment, and one I shouldn’t spoil.
I’m mesmerised by all the surprising, delicate choices that have been made in the staging.
The vampire is frightening, but the scene is not purely frightening.
And there’s that brilliant juxtaposition, the dark of the shack, the bright summer sun outside.
It is lit by the bright, sometimes blinding sun of memory.
Like Mothmen 1966 Varney Lake comes across as a haunted CGA game from the early 1990s PC gaming scene.
Everything feels claustrophobic and slick with rain.
Partly I’m trying to see different outcomes and unlock different hidden scenes.
Partly I am trying to understand the true spine of the narrative that runs through the game.
There’s a sense of Peanuts to proceedings, weirdly enough.
You might choose that.
Or you might choose to go fishing.
You might have a go at make a but of money.
Pick something to do each day.
And then, only then, once night falls, will you return to the vampire.
All of these things are puzzles to work through, but they don’t always feel like it.
Sometimes, they simply feel like things to do over the summer.
It’s completely fascinating.
- it’s leaving me to the memories of what I have created in co-authorship with the game itself.
This is how it strikes me, anyway.
To say more would be spoiling things, I think.
