The Lost Crown: A Ghost-Hunting Adventure review (PC)

Where to start with The Lost Crown: A Ghost-Hunting Adventure (TLC) is really the question foremost in my mind right now.

An adventure that has clearly had a lot of thought put into it, yet falls of short of greatness for a number of reasons, mostly due to what I can only imagine was a very low production budget.

It is a shame that one of the development team had to provide the voice for the main character.

He does his best, I imagine, but with a game that is relying so heavily on creating an immersive atmosphere, it is vital the voice acting does not make you want to flay your skin off in anguish.

It is difficult to ignore the stilted and ‘difficult’ delivery of the vast majority of the dialogue, as some of it can really jar.

But you should try your best to do so, as the game behind it, while ponderously paced, is pretty compelling.

You might be wincing with pain every time someone speaks, but then you realise you’ve been playing for an hour. It must be doing something right.

Let us focus on the positives then. The first thing you’ll notice (ok, other than the quirky menu system involving tarot cards) is the art style. You’ll instantly think of Spielberg’s Schindler’s List, as the game is ‘shot’ in the black and white, except for sprinkles of colour used for dramatic effect.

Your character, Nigel Danvers, has pilfered a bit of ‘top secret’ information regarding paranormal research from his employers. Before they can get to him, he has it away on his toes and ends up in the sleepy coastal village of Saxton.

People already know his name, as if he has been expected, and the dark undertone of the game is evident from the very start. The black and white visuals give the surroundings an oppressive feel, as does the minimalist, sombre soundtrack.

As the plot progresses, which I don’t want to reveal too much of, Nigel delves into the local treasure hunting legend and starts to investigate the numerous paranormal events he witnesses and ‘senses’, aided after a little while by a selection of gadgets used to detect the presence of spirits and so on.

These particular sections, where you are using cameras, voice recorders and other such devices, remind us of the forensic equipment bits in Condemned: Criminal Origins.

In TLC they don’t seem to be an irrelevancy tacked on to help boost the ‘story’. Once you get your hands on them, you’ll be using these gadgets a lot, instead of once in a blue moon.

Anyway, what Jonathan Boakes (the guy who devised and wrote the game’s plot) has done very well is interweaving numerous non-essential plot strands, giving each character you meet a back story that makes you think of them as more than just random people.

Essentially, they aren’t just there to provide an unsubtle ‘I have object, you need object’ obstacle for the player to overcome, feeling connected to the story in a more permanent way than most non-player characters in games.

The game also reminds me of the ancient Shadow of the Comet and the more recent Cthulhu-inspired Dark Corners of the Earth. Both feature a slow, steady start in a creepy, isolated village.

TLC doesn’t go as far as Dark Corners, as it doesn’t feature any daring sprints from misshapen locals intent on violence. At no point does TLC feature that sort of visceral action, it is more concerned with a sedate experience, like playing a book.

Which is why the voice acting annoys so much – it is like William Shatner reading one of HP Lovecraft’s short stories.

The puzzles and plot development are done in such a seamless way that you get lost in the game’s story; until a ghastly voiceover tries to drag you back out. At least there aren’t any ‘comedy’ accents hidden away.

Another little niggle is the sloppiness of the some of the character animation. Danvers ‘glides’ across the floor, which is disconcerting, and the character models are a bit poor on top of the detailed backgrounds.

Those are just cosmetic concerns really and don’t impact on the actual game much at all, unlike the voiceovers.

The Lost Crown is definitely one for the more cerebral of gamers, one who doesn’t want a run-and-gun headshot-blast-o-rama. Spooky, oppressive and with a complex, interlocking plot, TLC will intrigue adventurers, as long as they can get over the voiceovers.

7/10

David Brown

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If you are stuck, you could do worse than refer to this walkthrough, provided by our good friends at gameboomers.com: