Draugen

I always wanted to visit Norway. Well, maybe not always, but for a long time, and Draugen finally allowed me to do just that. Kinda.
NOTE: I deliberately avoided ALL imaginable *SPOILERS* about the story, characters and title origins - so enjoy your bulletproof ride through this hand-crafted insanity.
Yes, the Norwegian setting, and 'Fjord Noir mystery' fancy description quickly picked up and sparked my curiosity and I closely followed this game to launch and played it shortly after the release date. Over a year later I've revisited it and played one more time - to complete my achievements' hunt and to add my 2 cents to the review score.
In short: Draugen properly and most likely comfortably sits somewhere in between a genius narrative tale and crazy-odd plot, which some people, without a doubt, would find boring and dull. And while story quality is always a subjective matter of opinion, visually this title looks stunning, charming, gorgeous even (make sure you have a decent GPU for that) - and while I've never been to Scandinavia myself, I *felt* the spirit of this land, and the undeniable passion and desire (from a creator point of view) to bring that level of immersion to our gaming senses. Red Thread, the developing studio, are Norwegians so all of that makes sense and adds some bonus points to the final score.
Detailed feedback: Draugen is all-around simple, raw, intuitive, narrative-bound walking simulator. Let's get it out of the way: don't be confused by all the definitive tags as 'mystery adventure first-person puzzle' game. Those are empty fancy words and if you're looking for anything but walking around and craving some *real* action - this game may not be for you. Also, there are no puzzles - not even sure why it's among the tags.
For me, personally, this type of games became the interactive movies (although no quick-time events like Heavy Rain or Detroit: Become Human) where you simply navigate your journey at your preferable pace. Length-wise, playing through Draugen will depend on your style and whether you would wish to explore every nook and corner of the environment or just rush through the dialogue system, jamming the 'run' button 24/7. My first playthrough lasted about 8 hours (I took my time) and the second was about 3.5 hours: I didn't do any 'side missions' (which in this case are drawing spots - to enjoy some additional animated scenes) and wasn't in the mood of exhausting all possible dialogue options. So you can tell the approximate time. The story is linear, however, there's a subtle opportunity to change its meaning, by navigating through dynamic narration choices, including the use of your imagination. Translation: visually the last scenes, the ending and the consequences are always the same, but using different dialogue choices/answers you can apply a different meaning to the story and it will vary from 'noir mystery' to psychological thriller, to almost a horror story (not *that* scary), or to a silly superstitious tale about rural village in the middle on nowhere. And the game openly invites you to think what actually happened, leaving you a big room for any available interpretations. But pay your mind to details and be *very* attentive during the first part of the game. Despite the slow pace (controllable) you can easily lose tracks of the script, while drifting around pretty landscapes, just to find yourself later on, at the end of the game, thinking: what in the world you just played? Take your time, read notes, listen carefully and play a little detective. You will be rewarded for that.
To give you more specific insight: there's a similar system of 'choices' in Firewatch. It isn't transparent and very obvious, and doesn't affect the gameplay, but the perception of your character's actions here and there affects your view of the story. If you played and ENJOYED Firewatch - you might understand what I'm talking about. If not - feel free to ask me in the comment section and I'll explain.
Despite everything written above I was tempted to give Draugen a negative review and here's why:
-- there's a Prequel Comic Book, addition to the main story, which was in the making for ~ 2 years. It was delayed (and still is) because of some 'technical difficulties' from the beginning, and all is good, I can understand that - however, after soon to-be 2 years there is a dead silence from the developers about it. No explanation, zero comments, and complete indifference regarding any questions from the gaming community. And hey, it isn't the end of the world, and I would let it go, but there's one more thing.
-- Promised "The Fjord Edition" during one year anniversary (May 2020), and there's a big post about it - 'new edition of the game with a bunch of wonderful extras' which was never released. Again, super fine, stuff happens, developers are humans and can mess up - and we aren't entitled to it, but.. just as with the comic book case: *white noise*. Not a single response despite many people asking about it on Steam forums. Full disregard and lack of communication. Purposeful ignoring of all the people who bought the game. Why? You better tell me. And it looks like developers are well and alive: they are working on a new title now (not related to this one), partnered with Quantic Dream (Detroit: Become Human, Fahrenheit, Heavy Rain), and posting updates on social media (and again, ignoring questions about Draugen). Not cool.
But giving a game thumb down just because of that would be a jerk move. After all, it's a very well made, picturesque-looking, excellently written scenario (yeah, I am among those thinking it's a genius plot. Well, close to.) and generally a really quality title. So here's a solid thumb UP from me. And after getting back to the characters and experiencing the story again I've found some closure, or maybe a little peace with myself. It's nothing related to the game, but this little adventure to Norway made me think deep and ponder about the meaning of life. And hey, the story ends in cliffhanger and there's a promise that the main characters will return, so I am excited! I want to know more. I want the next chapter. I have faith.
Fun facts:
-- there's a black&white mode in-game to experience Draugen as a 1920-s movie
-- Gravvik (it pronounced as Graavik in game though), place where the story unfolds, is the actual real village in Trøndelag county, Norway
-- The game was made with a support by Norwegian Film Institute (which is pretty cool)
-- Draugen was made by creators of The Dreamfall Chapters and written by Ragnar Tørnquist, author of The Longest Journey, Dreamfall, Dreamfall Chapters games
-- I bought a new video card (GPU) specifically to play this game. No jokes.
PS: If you are in doubt, but still curious and attracted to the visual style, wait for a good sale. The story is relatively short and most likely you will play through the big part of the game or even the entire title (if you're a Sonic-style player) when you will hit the refund point and will have an idea whether you want to keep it or not.
PPS: If you've made it this far - I LOVE you! ~ Thank you for reading, enjoy your life, be healthy and stay hard!

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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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!

I’m rather torn about this game. I really wanted to like it, and at the end of the day, I more did so than not, but it’s quite a mixed bag. Both eerie and enchanting, thoughtful, clearly made with a lot of love and skill on the part of the whole team, yet at the same time, somewhat unfulfilling and disappointing, probably rushed, which is not exactly a good thing for a purely story-based game. I agree with many of the already existing reviews and the mixed review rate.
Gameplaywise, “Draugen” is nothing like the previous titles by Mr. Tørnquist apart from being heavily narrative-driven. It’s a completely linear, short (3-4 hours based on how you play) walking sim with a small world, limited freedom of exploration, cosmetic to none variety, and no puzzles. There are also a few collectibles (Edward's drawings) which don’t affect anything, just adding a nice touch to the main character (and probably pleasing achievement hunters; however, I suspect the respective achievement is broken for me, this being the only bug I’ve encountered). The game feels more like an interactive movie, which is fine in its own right.
I don’t usually care about relating to the protagonist in any possible way, but I found this Edward to be one of the most likeable characters in recent story-rich games. I wish his personality and background were explored in even more detail and depth. His young companion, on the contrary, appears to be rather annoying (not as much as a character, but had she been a living person), but this is perfectly rooted in the narrative and very well psychologically motivated. Sadly, the same thing can’t be said about the use made of the overall potential of the main twist, both in terms of real life psychology and the game world. (For instance, in another game, the magnificent "Hellblade", a similar issue is addressed and resolved in a much more convincing way.) The ending feels somewhat forced, unnatural, and lacking something crucial, leaving the player a bit disappointed over what this game could have been. I also got the impression that during some of the later production phases, certain parts of the initially planned story got edited away for some reason, probably because of deadlines. However, this is partly redeemed by the amazing beauty of the highly authentic scenery, the general atmosphere, the decent writing, and the superb voice acting. I also appreciated the presence of Norwegian subs, which somehow reconciled me with the heroes being foreigners and therefore only speaking English.
Speaking of Norway, the choice of precisely this country and this particular place seems to be rather random, motivated by nothing but the fact that the developers are Norwegian themselves. (In fact, there is an in-game explanation, but I just didn’t find it convincing enough.) I don’t mind this choice in the slightest, for me it’s a huge pro, but it could have been also rooted in the story, e.g. by making the American protagonist of (partly) Nordic descent (just like Edith Finch, albeit her family story–which I've seen "Draugen" compared to–is set in America). He would still be a complete stranger to Graavik for story purposes, but at least some connection would have been established. Also, the general premise (a troubled stranger arriving at a small coastal place in Norway and unearthing its dark secrets while also battling his own demons) vaguely reminded me of Hamsun’s brilliant novel “Mysteries”, even though it’s a very far-fetched association based on no other similarities (maybe except for the deliberately left loose ends, but then again, it's rather far-fetched).
I’m still giving “Draugen” a positive review since I did enjoy the few hours (especially the first part, the twist included) spent on the fjord shore in rural Norway during this holiday time. Just don’t expect this game to be more than it is. Cautiously recommended for fans of “Red Thread Games”, walking sims, psychological mysteries exploring the human nature, and Nordic settings, as well as to those who are both eager for a generally good and compelling story set in a wonderful small-scale world and willing to forgive some narrative flaws and stretches.

First and foremost, only buy it on sale. I took my sweet time playing this game, and a single playthrough took <4 hours. Some of that may have been time when the game was paused, too.
This game is definitely for fans of Firewatch or What Remains of Edith Finch, but if given the choice, play those first. Draugen is a short, gorgeous psychological mystery about an American man who brings his teenage ward to Norway to search for his missing sister. The setup is intriguing, the scenery is amazing, and the character design is really good.
However, I found the story to be a little predictable, and the gameplay is rather linear. That's not a dealbreaker if I get really immersed (again, see Edith Finch--incredible!), but a little more flexibility or a more developed story would have gone a long way.
I do like how the characters allude to their past over time rather than getting a huge exposition dump. But my major complaint is: Alice, Edward's ward, is so irritating . Although the VA was great, she had to deal with such stiff-sounding dialogue lines that really took me out of the game. Her frequent referral to Edward as "Old Bean" or "Teddy Bear" was so awkward. As a character, her moods were all over the place. You eventually see why, but listening to her take on things can really grate on you after a while.
For the mystery (mysteries, actually!) itself, I thought they were okay. The mystery of Edward's missing sister resolved the way I expected it to, but the mystery in the Norwegian village kept me interested. I don't think the writing was quite there, though: the stories don't quite feel cohesive or well-developed enough for my taste.
That said, this was a fun, moody, psychologically immersive game to experience, and between the intriguing storyline and the stunning environments, it's worth playing. On sale. Did I mention to get it on sale?

Recommended if you enjoy a decent story with some intrigue, told through a fairly linear walking simulator. The conversations are charming and the main draw of the game along with the beautiful visuals of the village.
Unfortunately the game is only about 3 hours long even if you take your time.

Got it on a sale, and that is why I recommend it. It has an interesting story, but it leaves you unfulfilled. There is a lot of great potential, a beautiful scenery, good dialogue with fun and interesting characters. It just feels like it is leading somewhere, and suddenly just kind of ends.