Wayward Manor

Even with the challenges, there isn't a lot of replay value in Wayward Manor. Going through the experience once is plenty. By the end of it, players end up giving the house exactly what it wants. Leaving it alone to rot, empty and forgotten.

Neither a triumph of design nor storytelling and stymied by poor execution, Wayward Manor is a rough proposition. But there's something worthwhile here, even if it's the unusual power fantasy of being able to haunt an aristocratic family from the safety of the rafters.

Wayward Manor has charm for the adorable-goth market, but not so much for puzzle game enthusiasts. It's simple, slightly janky and kind of cute, with an OK story and sub-par game design.

My time with Wayward Manor felt more like a trial than a macabre puzzle adventure about a haunted house. Wayward Manor isn’t frightening, but it sure scared me away.

It baffles and frustrates me that Wayward Manor is such a mess. All the ingredients were there: a great indie developer, a great author, and a great idea. But it goes to show that it's all in the execution.

Wayward Manor is a puzzle game flawed beyond remedy. It feels like playing an alpha version of a game still in development. The witty writing by Neil Gaiman is the only pleasant aspect of the game. You're better off reading one of his novels than wasting any time on this game.

A promising concept but dismal execution on just about every level.

A tremendous wasted opportunity to associate Neil Gaiman's name with a video game truly worth of his reputation, Wayward Manor is a game without an audience. Gaiman fans will be put off by the lack of a script or any sort of engaging storyline and puzzle/casual/mobile fans have a lot more, far more polished options offered at a fraction of the price.

Neil Gaiman should have stuck to writing, too complex for kids, too boring for adults.

Unfortunately, each action is made exasperating by fudgey animation cycles which cause expected actions to defy your clicks for a few seconds as they play out. [Oct 2014, p.81]

The ghost of Wayward Manor surely has lots of limitations, and ends up being haunted by all the wasted potential of the game.

The only thing being scared away by the Wayward Manor’s ghost is this reviewer’s patience.

It's unfortunate, however, that the number of bugs infesting it make things so problematic and frustrating. The game's spooky ambiance and appealing nature are enjoyable, but not enough to overshadow the humdrum puzzle solving, nor to distract you from glitches.

Wayward Manor is a family game with emphasis on puzzle solving. Unfortunately it's relying too much on the big authors presence. Neil Gaiman have never underperformed more. Monotonous game mechanics, stereotyped characters and the hideous design is three huge problems. Between the chapters Gaiman serves a narrator, but is that enough to save this train wreck? No, of course not.

It’s hard to understand why the game exists. Did Gaiman desperately want to attach himself to an ugly, boring puzzle game? Did the Odd Gentleman really think this was the best way to display his work? It’s more of a mystery than the actual story of Wayward Manor itself.

There’s a kernel of an interesting idea here but it’s so grossly underdeveloped that not even the involvement of Neil Gaiman, and a respected developer, can save it.

We should forget Neil Gaiman's support to this petty and meaningless game.

The game was meant to put players into a spooky kind of mindset, but everything about it is just frightfully boring.

The gameplay is bad. The story is bad. The visuals are bad. Everything is bad. There is no fun to be had here, no entertainment to be gleaned no matter how hard you try and scrape some out.

Simply put, ghosts have no real freedom, and while the game pretends to offer you a variety of ways to get the perquisite number of scares in each level, all of your haunts are variations on the same theme.

I can’t imagine why anyone would play this terrible game and I can’t understand why Gaiman wanted to be associated with it. [Sept 2014, p.63]