Draugen

Taking place in the early '20s Draugen puts us in the shoes of Edward, a traveller and scholar who comes to the coastal community of Graavik in search of her sister. We are accompanied by Alice, Edward's close friend, an ever absent-minded girl. Soon we'll realise that the family expecting us is not at home, in fact, the entire town seems to be abandoned. But why?
This is a walking sim alright. With Edward we can (and must) interact with Alice regularly to make the story progress. We gradually explore more and more of Graavik and we find clues of Betty's whereabouts. It is an interesting story that unfolds in a couple of hours but (disappointly, in my opinion) leaves some questions unanswered. Or you can also say these are open for interpretation.
Graavik looks astonishingly beautiful! Your rig might get a hit due to this, though, as Draugen seems to be very demanding. It has an exceptionally good soundtrack, too, and those of you thinking that there is always winter in Norway we'll be pleasantly surprised. I loved the setting - with every piece of clothing and furniture Draugen looks even more realistic. We can turn on a 1920s filter (mode) in the menu but it bothered me a couple of minutes later.
I liked the game but I expected a regular detective story not something that turns into a bit supernatural. You can sense something's not right a couple of days into the journey (overall Edward spends 6 days in Graavik). But don't fret! This is still interesting and, after all, the Norwegian setting makes it a must to have folkore included. Recommended for walking sim fans and I can also give you one piece of advice: remain till the end after the credits!

How to learn Norwegian in few hours
Draugen is a walking sim, in other words a narrative game with lots of walking around and exploring the beautiful surroundings while trying to uncover the secrets.
I enjoyed the story, I loved the fact it's kind of based on Norwegian folklore.
You arrive at a small village to look for your sister. The town seems completely empty and you along with your friend Lissie start looking around for people and clues where the people are gone. Can't say more because it's hard without spoilers.
Unfortunately I learned the truth probably before halfway through the game. It seemed so obvious. Nevertheless the story was really interesting. It's a mystery game with some creepy sections, it's not horror of course but sometimes it felt a bit scary. Atmosphere sometimes is tense and there are some unfortunate discoveries. The game is pretty sad and there are some philosophical thoughts. I wish it would be longer so we could learn more about the character's mental state.
You basically walk around the village which is quite big and there's beautiful scenery around, fjords, mountains, water, trees, the place looks fantastic. You and Lissie constantly talk so extremely slow pace of the game isn't annoying unlike in Paradise Lost where barely anything happens while you explore. Besides in this game you can run.
There are no real puzzles or choices. There are some hidden stuff you can find for achievements. But that's it. The whole game is exploring the surroundings and talking with Lissie. She's a very charming character and fun to talk to.
Graphically the game looks very pretty although graphics aren't revolutionary. I'm a bit tired of UE games already. While the area isn't small, it isn't extremely large either. There are a lot paths but the game is linear. And you only see Lissie, no other characters, vegetation is dead and doesn't react to you. I know it's a very minor thing but I expected more considering the performance which isn't great. Game ran on 45-65fps for me which is much worse than Forza Horizon 4 on max settings for example.
There's only character to animate but animations are terrible. Well, facial animations to be more precise. Movement animations are not bad but not perfect either. Like when Lissie walks on train tracks you can see her feet are clipping through. But facial animations are the worst. Barely any face movement or expressions. I mean it's not a 100h rpg with 100 characters. You only had one character to animate for a 3-5h game. I know i'm being extremely picky here but as I said when there's only talking and only one character I think it should be flawless.
I've played on 5800x, 2070s, 32gb @3440x1440, had to lower one setting, everything else on max, scaling on 100%. Since it's a slow game I have no big complaints about performance.
Now another thing which pissed me off. No ultrawide support. Why developers are so lazy and ignore it? They strive for cinematic experience but refuse to add ultrawide support which provides that cinematic feeling. Makes no sense. But what really got me was developer's response on Steam that they're not planning to add ultrawide because it's not possible due to technical issues. Well, I played the whole game in ultrawide and there were no issues. So next time just say you're lazy. Truth is better than lies. And yes I understand that higher resolution equals lower performance, duh! And i'm ok with it. Just give people a choice. Ultrawide support is easy in such game.
The voice acting is impressive. Lissie's character is voiced amazingly well, I loved every word and phrase coming out of her mouth. Main character also has a very good voice acting although after seeing his face for the first time I don't think his voice matches his looks. He sounds more like a Vampyr protagonist or some other bearded strong man, not a nerdy, weak one.
Music is great too, especially the theme folklor'ish song. Music throughout the game is very nice too. I have no complaints about the soundtrack. It really strengthens the amazing atmosphere this game has.
But the sound in general seemed a bit too silent, again no biggie.
Overall a very interesting and immersive game where you become one with the main character and feel connection to Lissie. Nice mystery story, great voice acting and beautiful scenery. It's very short and might be predictable but nevertheless I suggest playing this if you're a fan of narrative games and don't mind slow, calm pacing. Just get it on sale, full price is way too much.
Pros
The village is beautiful
Lissie is a very charming character
Great voice acting
Good atmosphere
Good soundtrack
Interesting story
Norwegian folklore
Cons
No ultrawide support
Poor facial animations
The game is too predictable
I wanted more psychological/philosophical stuff
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OK, first thing first
1. I'm Scandinavian
2. I love walking simulators
3. I love open terrains and nature and old houses
This is a perfect game for me. The characters are great, there's a mystery, isolation... what's not to love?
Great walking sims are few and far in between. This is one of them! If you're a fan of walking sims, get this game!
EDIT: reading some low score reviews on Metacritic has got me stumped. I have now finished this game and I friggin love it! For me this is a walking simulator taking its place among the greats like What Remains of Edith Finch and Firewatch. The twists and character development left me awestruck.
Some people apparently missunderstood what type game this is (it is a walking simulator, make no mistake) and I can understand if they were let down in that case. For a walking simulator fan like me, this is fantastic!

I discovered this game quit some time ago and watched a whole play through on YouTube by Gronkh.
Now the game was on discount and it wasn’t the first time I bought a game which I not really intend on playing because I saw a playthrough, I just want to support the team.
Same goes for “The Suicide of Rachel Foster” I bought both games and just wanted to play a little with TSoRF its gone its usual way and after some time I was bored and played other games (ofc I don’t regret buying it though). So today I thought same counts for Draugen but even though I knew all plot twists and the whole story the game still managed to put me in its wrath, but how comes so?
Its easy said, first the game looks beautiful and still is optimised to near perfection. Red Threat Games who by no means are a big player managed this so well that I was really surprised and second the NPC Lissie is not only written so well (same goes for the brilliant story and the main character) but she seems really to be alive, by what she does, how she behaves or her facial expressions. Its truly magical.
I don’t want this to be a huge review like I did before this just on a short term tell you that Draugen actually is worth the money and the time to play it.
If you like story driven narrative games, this one certainly is one for you!
~SVPPweeB

Mostly you're not playing the GAME,
Game plays with YOU.
It has very short playtime but graphics, atmosphere, music far beyond good.
If you see this title on a sale like %70 OFF don't miss it, just buy and play it at nights with high volume...

Not what I expected.
It´s a walking simulator with a confusing story.
I can recommend it to screenshot lover and achievement hunter.
Nothing special but not bad either

Betty is away in Europe, already some time has passed since her last message and hints about her whereabouts point towards small secluded Norway village. Our hero Edward Charles Harden, greatly worried about her, sets on an adventure to find her. He is not alone on this quest, a young woman, Lissie, is accompanying him. She is energetic, spontaneous and full of advice and comments no one asked for. ;) In short, she is Edwards opposite.
As they arrive at the village, they are welcomed by empty houses and incoming storm. Even though Edward is invited to stay with one local family, he is rather reluctant to enter their house. Falling darkness, starting rain and pushy Lissie force him inside though. There he finds what he's looking for, proof of Bettys presence! Now he needs to wait until the morning to properly search for her...
But the new day brings just more questions and no answers. What happened in the village? Where is everyone? Was Betty even here? Following days will uncover secrets not just about the small village, but even about us.
Draugen is a mysterious narrative walking simulator. Graphics are strange, a little blurry, suggesting an artistic piece. Walking around and sightseeing is very pretty, reminding me of Someday you'll return. Soundtrack is beautiful, calm and sets a great atmosphere. Voice acting is excellent and I loved to listen to our main duo. Game is set into early 1920s and it suits it nicely, I have enjoyed this aspect. Story is… well, linear. You can walk around, take a rest and draw pictures of your surroundings. Certain places trigger conversations, which can shed some light on events that happened in the village, but they are not mandatory for finishing the story.
I liked Draugen, there was this eerie feeling, uncertainty of what's really going on there. If you have some experience with similar stories you can predict the outcome a little, which wasn't a letdown as it was implemented nicely and still offered some surprises. What was somewhat disappointing is that you are left in the darkness in the end. You know nothing, John Snow… Gah, I just want to know more of what happened, to the villagers, to Edward, to Lissie… everything is just hinted at, you are given a hypothesis and that's it. The end. For me sadly, unsatisfying.
The end promises that Edward and Lissie will be back and I would love to see that as I have rather enjoyed it, but I am skeptical towards it. It would be shame really as the story has a great potential for a longer series. Also, there is a prequel comic on Steam coming soon, for two years already. Apparently it was available on the consoles, but not on the PC.