Normally, I’m not into point-and-click games at all, simply because I don’t have the patience for them. I already have a hard time resisting the urge to skip cutscenes when I’m comfortably slouched back playing through a campaign. I still remember struggling with this when I tried playing the Yakuza series. Still, I wanted to give Allogloom a chance. After all, it’s the first game from developer Galactic Ghosty. For transparency, I wrote this review while I was interning at Iceberg Interactive, the publisher of Allogloom.
Hand-drawn
What I really like about Allogloom is that it’s not your typical point-and-click game. The game features puzzle elements, and on top of that, Allogloom is a hand-drawn point-and-click adventure. And you can immediately see that in the game’s art style. Just good old-fashioned hand-drawn art, without any AI nonsense. And that’s something I really miss these days. Everywhere you go, whether online or offline, you run into ugly AI nonsense. And that’s exactly why I think games that don’t use AI really deserve a spotlight. The world of Allogloom (Gruesome Grove) feels much more detailed as a result. It’s drawn in a lush Art Nouveau style. And the combination of that cozy, mysterious, and spooky atmosphere with a bit of dark humor makes this point-and-click game so much fun to look at and play.
Story
In Allogloom, you play as Nora, who goes on an adventure with her big, goofy parrot friend Hopper. And you immediately notice that they both have their own personalities, which makes them feel like real characters and adds some humor to the game. For example, Nora sometimes reacts to situations very differently than I would. And I quickly became a big fan of Hopper, simply because of how funny he can be in certain situations. While playing, you search for and collect items to solve puzzles. At first, I was really worried I would get stuck because this happens to me quite often in games where I must explore things on my own. But whenever I couldn’t figure out what to do next, it was usually because I had simply forgotten something or hadn’t even checked a certain spot yet.
Along the way, you talk to strange characters and monsters. And whenever I saw monsters that looked gross or were eating disgusting things, I sometimes really thought: “Ewww, gross!” But luckily, it’s not so bad that you suddenly lose your appetite for dinner. While exploring Gruesome Grove, it’s up to you to find out what’s really going on and eventually save the people living there. Something is kidnapping the residents of this town. And all you have is one clue: a note that leads you to a forbidden place. Besides those weird monsters, you also come across the moths you once looked up to, but eventually these moths seem almost greedy and hungry for more. But the further you get into the story, the more you start to wonder if Nora will even make it back home to the people she loves.
Conclusion
I really enjoyed this point-and-click game, and honestly, I didn’t expect that. The artwork looks great and the characters feel very real, which keeps the game from getting boring too quickly. I can understand why some people might get stuck in the game, even though that didn’t happen to me. But I think you can easily get through it with a little help from the internet or a simple walkthrough. I think it’s impressive that the game managed to keep my attention and that I had fun playing it the whole time. And when it comes to the price and playtime, I think the game does a pretty good job. It has eight chapters and costs around 15 euros, which I think is a good balance.
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