Draugen

(spoiler-free)
Draugen is a first person story-driven experience where you unravel the mystery of an abandoned Norwegian town named Graavik. It is a pretty short game, however, it’s going to bring a lot of different emotions in you and it’s going to make you crave for even more. It is a full ride. The game contains psychological as well as horror elements which only add up to the experience.
The thing that makes this game unique is the fact that we have a companion. We are accompanied by a young lady going by the name of Alice. She is a lot and literally all over the place. At the beginning I wasn’t very fond of her. She gave me a really bad impression. She was mean and pretty annoying with her comments. Over time she grew on me and I started to appreciate her presence. Those interactions became enjoyable. The town is spooky and will make players experience an eerie feeling. Having someone by your side whose location you can check by just shouting to them is interesting. It doesn’t make this place feel strange and scary anymore. It definitely wouldn’t be the same experience without her.
The visuals in this game are going to take your breath away. The town where the action takes place is located by the mountains and surrounded by the body of water. It is a bright and colourful place which leaves an enormous impression. It is an eye candy. This is a place very close to nature creating a very good and mysterious vibe. I also really loved the attention to detail. Everything just looks good. It makes you want to visit or even move to a place like this. A truly unforgettable setting.
The story is interesting and engaging but only in the first part of the game. The deeper we dive into the story, the less interesting it becomes in my opinion. I wasn't a big fan of what was happening later in the story. You will still experience plenty of different emotions while playing the game, however, it still feels like it is only a background to the characters and beautiful scenery of an abandoned town and the mystery surrounding it. You play this game for the experience, not the story.
In summary, the game turned out to be an interesting and enjoyable experience. I completed it in a single session. I honestly expected a bit of a different experience coming into this but I am not disappointed. I feel like my expectations were actually exceeded. I was having such a good time that I overstayed and listened to the sound of paddling and Alice's humming throughout the whole credits after the game. I am unable to say a negative thing about this game. It should speak for itself. It is definitely something I can recommend with a clear conscience.
You can find more detailed reviews on my curator page Malfour's Choice.

Draugen tell's a story of loss and acceptance all while ignoring the more interesting aspect of the mystery. It's a shame considering how beautiful and interesting the world is around you and I couldn't help but think of the wasted potential this game has the whole time I played. It's still an interesting experience albeit a tad shallow.

The one RTG I missed out on. Finally finished in 2024. Game is a scenic tourism of a village in Norway. Lovely characters on the journey though I feel the mystery is a tad underbaked. Worth a play especially after finishing a long ass rpg.

Needs a neutral option, but I'll pick the closer of the two and recommend it.
It's a beautiful game which allows for a nice bit of clashing against the rather grisly, macabre narrative that unfolds before you. I also enjoyed the Alice character in theory, especially the later developments of her.
But there's only so much you can get out of this game. It seems unwilling to really stretch with its ideas. You have an unreliable narrator at times, but it never digs deep there. You have detective machinations, but you're railroaded and just have to point Edward forward and hold W until you win. It's a walking sim but the developers call this a mystery. And yet you don't solve the mystery at all. You have no real agency as Edward.
It's not incorrect to lack agency in a walking sim. Edith Finch had more even so, but it wasn't swathes more. Instead, Edith succeeds better here through the strength of writing. Draugen isn't poorly written, but it doesn't have the same amount of meat to chew on here. It especially has some clumsy dialogues dotting its playtime, which makes me confused. If we're locked in, we need more. If we aren't locked in, we could go around a lot more with the clumsy hand.
It just feels like the developers shot down the middle instead of focusing on either side of that chasm.
It's not enough to sink the game. Frankly if the characters were better I'd still happily recommend this. But Edward in particular is probably the most annoying protagonist I've experienced this year. He's just so whiny and boring even when things shape into an interesting direction.
Alice after a while just yells at him for this, which is valid because she's entirely right. Get your head outta your ass, Teddy.
I'm happy to have beaten the game. However it feels like they set the stage quite well and just needed to finish it better, and thus didn't quite stick the landing.

Draugen is an enjoyable little game that can be completed in a few hours. I think it was well worth the time spent and if you can get it on sale, it is well worth the money spent. There aren't any puzzles in this game, and I'm okay with that. And there are no convoluted expectations. Well, except for one time, early in the game, when you go outside on a dark foggy night. You’re obviously searching for something, but it’s unclear what you’re trying to find or why you’re out there. I almost quit the game during that sequence because if there’s anything I hate in a walking sim, it’s wandering aimlessly in dark and/or foggy conditions where I can barely see where I’m headed and it feels like you’re going in circles. I was afraid this was going to be a regular thing in the game, but fortunately, that wasn’t the case. Eventually, I figured out where I was going and where I was supposed to be. I'm glad I kept going and didn't quit because the rest of the game was much clearer and easier to navigate. To be fair, that seemingly aimless wandering in the dark was the only real annoyance, for me anyway. For most of the game, you know what you have to do and why. The only uncertainty is where the story is going, but that's a good thing. You learn little details along the way and the story progresses to a decent ending.
The game is quite linear, and I like that. I like structure. It was an interesting little adventure with a good story and pretty scenery. It takes place in the early 20th century in a little seaside village in the Nordic countryside. You play as Edward, the main protagonist. However, Edward has a little sidekick named Alice, aka "Lissie." Lissie is a teenage girl, and I'm not sure if the story ever really explains the relationship between Lissie and Edward (she's neither family, nor his lover), but I've seen several reviews from people who found her character very annoying. I read someone describing her as the "worst sidekick in gaming history," lol. I didn't really feel that way. Yes, it’s true, the girl does have a sharp tongue. She's very critical and opinionated, and she can be downright abusive with her mouth, but she provided dialog that helped keep the pace of the story going and at times I even found the dialog amusing. The only thing that seemed a bit out of place for that period (1923 to be exact), however, is the way Lissie speaks and the language she uses. She's supposed to be a young woman (or older teenage girl) living in the early 20th century, but she sounds more like a smart-ass mean girl straight outta the 21st century.

A weak recommendation, 6.5 out of 10. It's a walking simulator and the story in the background isn't really a great one. Also, there are two very similar plot twists in the game (with the second one clearly visible almost from the very beggining). The first twist was a bit more surprising, but actually welcome, as it made the relation of the protagonists far less creepy for the modern audience (basically, with what we learned about Edward and Alice, the only relationship between them that seemed to make any sense was of an older, 40-ish man and his 17 YO wife, with the marriage having had to last for at least over a year. And the dialogue and the relationship between the characters did seem to sell it. Which would be period realistic, it's 1923, but quite creepy for the modern audience, so I did welcome the plot twist. (That being said I really enjoyed the banter between Edward and Alice and I cannot understand people claiming the dialogue is cringe or unrealistic, as in some comments. The dialogue was very good.)
Also, the game is very short, so I'd only consider buying it in a sale.

A short experience, Draugen shines in writing, voice acting, setting and atmosphere. I would characterize it as "psychological suspense mystery". It finds very subtle ways to use game play to make psychological points. I never found walking up an incline with a heavy suitcase as compelling as in this game and it's hard to put a finger on it, why exactly it works. The mystery slowly unfolds, containing multiple reveals that are impactful.
Ultimately it is a meditation on grief, death, loneliness, and philosophy of reality. And slots best into a kind of games as literature genre. Many will be turned off by it not being "game enough" but a better way to think about this genre is "did you think and feel enough", and I definitely got that from Draugen.