The Charnel House Trilogy

 PC
User Score
5.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 13 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 13
  3. Negative: 2 out of 13

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. J4MESOX4D
    Apr 17, 2015
    8
    The Charnel House Trilogy is an atmospheric and stylish point and click adventure set on a beautiful retro 2D backdrop. The simple mechanics and powerful narrative make this a truly enjoyable title with a very attractive price. It is also supported by a fantastic musical score and full character dialogue audio.

    In this 3 chapter game; you begin by playing the role of Alex Davenport - a    The Charnel House Trilogy is an atmospheric and stylish point and click adventure set on a beautiful retro 2D backdrop. The simple mechanics and powerful narrative make this a truly enjoyable title with a very attractive price. It is also supported by a fantastic musical score and full character dialogue audio.

    In this 3 chapter game; you begin by playing the role of Alex Davenport - a young woman who has to embark on a personal journey to Augur Peak by train after receiving some bad news. En route, you meet Dr. Harold Lang and this is where a routine train trip becomes an incredibly eerie experience. I wont elaborate on this because it will spoil the chilling and absorbing events that follow, but it will leave you deeeply engrossed throughout.

    The game mechanics are fairly basic which makes this a title that you can pick up and play straight away. Each chapter is fairly short though and solving the occasional 'puzzle' or what to do next to progress isn't all that challenging. These aren't criticisms though - the way the narrative champions itself outweighs any depth or difficulty concerns.

    The only real disappointment surrounding the game is the length - it will take you about two and a half to 3 hours to complete and the first two chapters are fairly limited although everything you accomplish has some bearing as the game flows nicely. You aren't walking around or searching aimlessly at any time so you feel you are always engaged in the product and everything has some merit. Despite the completion time; you will certainly get your money's worth for what is on offer and the intriguing writing.

    Overall, The Charnel House Triolgy is a terrific game that delivers a powerful and absorbing story supported with a truly unique art style. If you're a fan of the genre or are just looking for a great story; it's highly recommended.    … Expand
  2. PublicNuisance
    Feb 21, 2021
    8
    The Charnel House Trilogy is one of my favourite point and click games to date. It is not my preferred genre but this game did what I prefer which is have a strong narrative and not have convoluted puzzles. Not once did I feel like having to randomly combine items to progress. The story was creepy and full of lore and great characters. The voice acting was superb aside from the voices ofThe Charnel House Trilogy is one of my favourite point and click games to date. It is not my preferred genre but this game did what I prefer which is have a strong narrative and not have convoluted puzzles. Not once did I feel like having to randomly combine items to progress. The story was creepy and full of lore and great characters. The voice acting was superb aside from the voices of Carli and Sofia whose voices felt like they were not recorded properly. Everyone else was fantastic. There were a few points that lacked a detailed explanation but I have my own theories and sometimes that is just as good. The first episode was fairly good and served to set things up. The second episode felt a bit weak but wasn’t bad. It had a lot of backtracking and the less interesting of the stories. It was still better than some point and click games I have played. The third episode was the best and really ended on a high note with some big reveals.

    I played The Charnel House Trilogy on Linux using Valve’s Proton. It crashed if I used version 5.13-6 but when I switched to the experimental branch it worked. I did have to choose “Setup” and then “save and run” even with the experimental branch though. If I just chose to run it without setup it would never launch. There are three settings to tinker with. Overall it is pixel graphics so don’t expect to be amazed. You can manually save whenever you want. Alt-Tab works.

    Game Engine: Adventure Game Studio Version 3.3.3.0
    Disk Space Used: 587 MB

    Settings Used: Direct Draw 5; 8x Nearest Neighbour Filter; 100MB Sprite Cache
    GPU Usage: 1-18 %
    VRAM Usage: 434-550 MB
    CPU Usage: 27-36 %
    RAM Usage: 2.4-2.8 GB

    I got vibes of Event Horizon and Cthulhu from this game and I say that with a compliment. The story and voice acting make the game and the game play was an enjoyable experience that avoided common pitfalls of the genre. I paid $0.87 for this and Richard and Alice as a bundle so I guess you could say I paid $0.44 CAD for it. It is worth the full current price of $6.49 CAD in my eyes. I finished all three episodes in a total of two hours and forty minutes. It felt like a good length although a bit more time to add some detail in would have been nice as well.

    My Score: 8.5/10

    My System:

    AMD FX-6100 | 16GB DDR3-1600 CL9 | MSI RX 580 8GB Gaming X | Mesa 20.3.4 | Samsung 870 QVO 1TB | Manjaro 20.2.1 | Mate 1.24.1 | Kernel 5.10.15-1-MANJARO    … Expand

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
68

Mixed or average reviews - based on 17 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 17
  3. Negative: 2 out of 17
  1. RPG Fan
    Nov 1, 2015
    76
    If you like to ruminate and piece together the details of a story, this one's for you.
    Read full review
  2. Pelit (Finland)
    Sep 9, 2015
    85
    Charnel builds an intensive horror story about a single train trip. [Sept 2015]
  3. Game Rant
    May 28, 2015
    70
    For fans of horror, what you find in The Charnel House Trilogy may not be enough. It’s creepy and atmospheric, but the lack of answers may be frustrating—there’s no real conclusion, just a promise of more to come. That being said, this point and click game does instill a great sense of dread.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »