Isles of Umbra

Nightmares are usually forgotten a few minutes after the person in question wakes up, which is only natural, given the fact that everyone experiences them every once in awhile. However, there are also cases when the nightmares are recurring, which means that they happen on a regular basis. Obviously, these are much more stressful, and they can take their toll on a person’s sanity.

Isles of Umbra is a point & click adventure game in which you have to solve puzzles by interacting with the environment and speaking to other characters. The whole thing is based on recurring nightmares and insanity, so it might not make too much sense at first. On the other hand, most of the puzzles seem to be quite intuitive, at least if you are familiar with the genre.

The story puts you in the role of John Wilbur, an archaeologist who struggles to get over a series of unending nightmares. As it happens, he finds himself in some kind of spirit world every night, and he must both escape and prevent the spirits there from getting to the real world. In order to stop all of this, you have to perform a ritual called the Seal Ritual, which is powerful enough to imprison the spirits once and for all.

While it’s not weird in a bad way, the perspective can be a tad unnerving at first. Hence, it’s supposedly a first-person point of view, but the environment is sidescrolling like in a 2D game. Thus, you’re always somewhat expecting to see the character walking across the screen, and it also makes it pretty tough to immerse yourself in the atmosphere sometimes.

On the other hand, the occasional dialog and the level design should be enough to get you in the proper mood for a Lovecraftian tale. Everything is dark and very nicely drawn, which makes it easier to project yourself into the make-believe spirit world. The music and the sound effects help a lot as well, at least if you have a pair of headphones lying around.

In the end, Isles of Umbra has quite a few drawbacks, starting with the fact that the puzzles are not as engaging as they should be. However, the atmosphere picks up the reigns and keeps you playing despite the lack of a proper challenge.