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6.6

Mixed or average reviews- based on 55 Ratings

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  • Summary: How long has it been? A man sits in a distant getaway cabin waiting for his wife Serena. Where is she? Things in the cabin evoke memories, and the husband comes to a disturbing realization... This short point-and-click adventure is the result of a massive collaborative effort between dozensHow long has it been? A man sits in a distant getaway cabin waiting for his wife Serena. Where is she? Things in the cabin evoke memories, and the husband comes to a disturbing realization... This short point-and-click adventure is the result of a massive collaborative effort between dozens of fans and designers of adventure games. Expand
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  1. Positive: 0 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 1 out of 1
  1. Feb 12, 2014
    40
    The beginning is interesting, the storytelling experiment works well. But technical and design flaws make this tale terrifying for the wrong reasons.
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 21
  2. Negative: 5 out of 21
  1. May 24, 2014
    10
    Serena, по сути, не игра - это коротенькая интерактивная история. Здесь нет ни паззлов, ни выбора реплик - геймплейно это такая кастрированнаяSerena, по сути, не игра - это коротенькая интерактивная история. Здесь нет ни паззлов, ни выбора реплик - геймплейно это такая кастрированная поинт-энд-клик адвенчура с неспешным кликаньем на все предметы по многу раз. Единственное что от вас требуется - быть достаточно внимательным, чтобы собрать отдельные кусочки мазайки в единую картину.
    Однако, что касается сюжета, тут нет никаких нареканий. История вышла вполне интересной и атмосферной, а неожиданная концовка лишь добавляет проекту шарма. Благодаря короткой продолжительности (прохождение займет у вас около получаса) однообразный игровой процесс не успевает надоесть, а бесплатность и низкие требования позволяют порекомендовать ее к прохождению любому владельцу ПК.
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  2. Oct 27, 2015
    8
    Serena is a game about love, hate, obsession and the thin line between those. This game deals with this question with a simple mechanic:Serena is a game about love, hate, obsession and the thin line between those. This game deals with this question with a simple mechanic: changing object descriptions while the character’s reaction changes by the act of examining and remembering. All you do in the game is to examine objects. There are no puzzles, except for a very simple one. The changes in the descriptions represent the passage through different psychological levels. Nothing around you really changes, but the comfortable cabin turns into an oppressive and scary limbo, because your mind changes. That’s the point the game is trying to convey.

    Games are the perfect platform to create this dramatic effect. In a movie, it is possible to show exactly the same scene and make it look completely different by using a different soundtrack, for example. But in a game you can do it much better, because the player feel attached to the character’s reactions, taking them as their own.

    Serena also plays with the idea of slowly sliding into insanity. Games are also very good at this, because players can experience this transition on their own pace.
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  3. Feb 1, 2014
    8
    Let me sum up this game:

    You walk around in a wooden cabin, examining stuff. Reading letters. Opening drawers. Not solving any puzzles.
    Let me sum up this game:

    You walk around in a wooden cabin, examining stuff.
    Reading letters.
    Opening drawers.
    Not solving any puzzles.
    Hearing the comments of the main characters with a good voice acting.
    Unfolding the story, which gets creepier and creepier.

    I bet this sounds familiar to some of you...

    Anyway, graphics are very good, length is about 45min/1 hour if you listen to everything, but never gets boring and it's pretty interesting how the mood (and thus the comments of the character and the graphical appearance of the cabin) changes during the course of the game and gets, like I said above, more and more creepier and darker.

    But the best thing about this is, you haven't paid 20$ for it.
    Or anything, since it's FREE.
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  4. Jun 24, 2015
    6
    A very nice little short point-and-click adventure game, very nice story, very nice plot twist, good voice acting and nice graphics. IA very nice little short point-and-click adventure game, very nice story, very nice plot twist, good voice acting and nice graphics. I recommend people who like a good story or point-and-click games should get this game, and best of all it's free! Expand
  5. Jul 18, 2022
    5
    I really liked the story to Serena and thought it had some good twists but I really disliked the game play. It all takes place in one room andI really liked the story to Serena and thought it had some good twists but I really disliked the game play. It all takes place in one room and you basically find items you can click on that will reveal story details and allow you to click on other items. My issue is that after you are done all of them there will be subsequent details available from some of the other items but you never know which one so you have to go clicking on them all to see what has new info. There are no clues given nor is there any real logical reason that these items now have new info as they aren’t referenced by any of the preceding dialogue. Once you have clicked on enough of them enough times the game allows you to open certain things like an armoire and a chest. One again there is no reason why you couldn’t open them before as none of the dialogue explains why you can suddenly do these things. There are no puzzles or conversation choices or anything else at all to do except click on random items and try to progress the story. I think the game would have worked out better as a kinetic visual novel than what we got. The voice acting is alright but nothing special. The graphics are much the same. I wouldn’t call them bad but they didn’t wow me at all even taking into account the release date of the game.

    I played Serena on Linux. It never crashed and I didn’t notice any bugs or glitches. I was really disappointed in the game when it came to the nitty gritty. There are no options at all, not for sound or graphics or controls or anything else. In fact unlike most games where pressing the “Esc” key brings up a menu screen where you can choose various options, in Serena pressing “Esc” closes the game. This is an even bigger issue when you realize there is no save option. This is a short game but the fact that pressing a key that in any other game would be normal will now exit your game without any option to save is just plain stupid design. Alt-Tab works. Performance was fantastic but given the visual quality I wasn’t shocked. The game has built in V-sync as it respected my 144 Hz monitor.

    Graphics Engine: Dagon Engine
    Graphics API: OpenGL
    Disk Space Used: 367 MB

    GPU Usage: 0-77 %
    VRAM Usage: 679-846 MB
    CPU Usage: 7-18 %
    RAM Usage: 2.6-2.8 GB
    Frame Rate: 143-144 FPS

    The great story and free price tag didn’t make up for the annoying game play or the terrible design choices. Overall there are much better out there even for free games. I finished Serena in forty three minutes.

    My score: 5.5/10

    My System:

    AMD FX-9590 | 16GB DDR3-2133 | MSI RX 580 8GB Gaming X | Mesa 22.1.3 | Manjaro 21.3.4 | Mate 1.26.0 | Kernel 5.18.12-3-MANJARO | AOC G2460P 1920*1080 @ 144hz
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  6. Aug 20, 2018
    5
    While the story was moderately interesting it wasn't worth listening to the protagonist incessantly complain to experience it. All progress isWhile the story was moderately interesting it wasn't worth listening to the protagonist incessantly complain to experience it. All progress is found by randomly spam clicking objects and exhausting every complaint the protagonist had about every object in the room, one interesting discovery (which I won't mention as it's a spoiler) is the only moment I thought things were starting to happen, but alas 5 minutes later after more complaining the game ended. The ending twist was decent, and the idea of Serena in whole was alright, but the gameplay is atrocious, and the narration is annoying at best, which is the only stimulus you receive.

    Unfortunately I can't recommend this even if it's free, because it just plainly offers nothing interesting as an experience. This could've been made into an actual experience with a bit more effort and interaction, and this is coming from someone that really doesn't mind "artsy walking simulators"; this one just happened to be increasingly dull in the short 30 minutes it took.
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  7. Mar 4, 2020
    0
    This was terrible...
    H.P Lovecraft's story may have been great but this game just sucks. Good thing it's free but still a shame of the time
    This was terrible...
    H.P Lovecraft's story may have been great but this game just sucks. Good thing it's free but still a shame of the time I'll never get back.
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See all 21 User Reviews