I had been eagerly awaiting the release of The Cabinets of Doctor Arcana, a puzzle game by Joseph Vargo. Just think! A puzzle game by Joseph Vargo! After having solved six of the puzzles hidden in Nox Arcana CD cases, of course I was going to download an entire point-and-click game of similar puzzles with a Nox Arcana soundtrack! I like playing spooky point-and-click games anyway. I play a lot of "escape the room"-style games on my desktop, and tend to go for Halloween-themed ones, because atmosphere. Atmosphere is a thing this game does well, between the music and the visuals. My first playthrough of this game took nine hours, but now it takes about four hours.
The story is pretty simple. You enter the abandoned manor of the vanished magician Doctor Arcana, are presented with a challenge by his ghost (or disembodied voice, at least), and have to solve all of his puzzles and uncover his secrets, or die trying. The puzzles themselves range from pleasantly fun to excruciatingly difficult. (I can't look at a scarab beetle without getting anxious.) They get easier on repeated playthroughs, but some are still challenging even then. Some of them involve encrypted languages, like the ones in the albums. The game expands on Theater of Illusion's lore... a bit... but doesn't actually use any tracks from the album. (I'm kind of mad that "Mysterium" wasn't used.) Most of the tracks are new, with two from Legion of Shadows. I wish there were more of them, because listening to the same loop for hours gets a bit old after a while, and Nox Arcana has such as huge selection! Vargo's paintings appear throughout the game as decorations on the walls and sources of clues, with the player character's hilarious commentary in their journal. There are a few things that only Nox Arcana fans will pick up on! Altogether, it was worth waiting for. I'm not sure if this game would appeal to everyone who isn't a diehard Nox Arcana fan, but I do recommend it to anyone who likes puzzles and has a dark aesthetic.
Here are some visuals:
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