Strange Fellow
Peculiar
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2018
- Messages
- 4,015
Scratches is the first game by indie studio Nucleosys, released in 2006. According to Wikipedia, it is the first commercial adventure game ever to be made in Argentina, with Nucleosys’ follow-up project Perfil de Riesgo: Casos Federales (Risk Profile: Federal Cases) presumably the second and last one. It is also, according to some source or other I’ve forgotten, quite spooky. The question is, can Scratches surpass such feats as producing Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi, as well as harboring Nazi fugitives in the aftermath of WWII, and claim the title of Argentina’s greatest accomplishment?
The answer, of course, is no.
Anyway, let’s get to it.
The camera pans over a dirty bathroom in which a series of photographs are hung on a wire to dry. Narration kicks in:
I arrived at Blackwood Manor one cold Saturday morning, amidst a thick veil of fog.
The weather didn’t look good and there was an unnatural calm surrounding the area, yet I soon became entangled with the place.
Saturday, October 12th.
The cloudy sky above me seemed rather unsettling and almost made me lose my balance. I felt a curious urge to run for shelter, and my new home in the distance seemed very inviting.
The gates creak ominously open, and we’re given control. Wait, do we even know why we’re here? No, we do not, but don’t worry, all will be revealed in due time.
The gameplay is simple enough: The world is presented through a first-person perspective, and you can look around with the mouse and left-click on objects of interest to grab, look at and/or manipulate them. Standard Myst-like stuff.
First item on the agenda: we do a 180 and try to drive off again, like any sane person would.
We grab the keys from the glove compartment, put them in the ignition, and…
Wouldn’t want to leave while we still can, now would we? Instead, we approach the manor.
There are a couple of side paths we could take at this point, leading to a garage and a greenhouse, but they’re both locked for the time being. I’m sure we’ll be back.
We arrive at the front door. You’ll observe that the door handle is on the right-hand side (and quite badly aligned with the keyhole). The interactable prompt, however, is situated on the left-hand side, where there is no door handle. Spooky.
We get the house key from our inventory and enter the manor.
We’re greeted by a musty entrance hall, some stairs to the left, a lounge to the right, the ticking of a clock, and after a few seconds, the ringing of a phone. Now that’s what I call good timing! We locate the phone and pick up the receiver.
Hello?
The voice acting is quite poor.
Jerry is apparently a friend of ours.
I see that piece of junk you got there is working.
My thoughts exactly! I was afraid it’d fall apart as soon as I laid my fingers on it.
So how did you find everything? Do you like the place?
It’s… hard to tell yet. I’m very impressed, that’s for sure!
You sound odd… is everything OK?
Yes yes yes, it’s perfectly fine, it’s just that I’m in awe. I mean pleasantly surprised. This house is like a dream come true.
…Really?
So you do like it! You got me worried there for one second.
I’m telling you, I’m going to turn this place into a factory of horror stories!
Good, you ought to finish that book. I’m rooting for you, mate. You sure everything is in order?
Well I just got here, let me have a look around and I’ll get back to you if I find anything strange.
Excellent! I’ll talk to you later. *click*
Well, that helps clear things up. From this lore dump, we learn that our character’s name is Michael, and that he is a writer of horror stories, come to this remote abandoned house in search of inspiration. I wonder what the average life expectancy of adventurous horror writers is.
We can get close-ups of all the paintings, of which there are a ton, but there’s nothing interesting about them. We try the light switch.
Well, that’s as ominous as it is unexpected.
In lieu of opening some windows and airing out the cobwebs and general feeling of creeping dread, we decide to go exploring. Mysteries await.
The answer, of course, is no.
Anyway, let’s get to it.
The camera pans over a dirty bathroom in which a series of photographs are hung on a wire to dry. Narration kicks in:
I arrived at Blackwood Manor one cold Saturday morning, amidst a thick veil of fog.
The weather didn’t look good and there was an unnatural calm surrounding the area, yet I soon became entangled with the place.
Saturday, October 12th.
The cloudy sky above me seemed rather unsettling and almost made me lose my balance. I felt a curious urge to run for shelter, and my new home in the distance seemed very inviting.
The gates creak ominously open, and we’re given control. Wait, do we even know why we’re here? No, we do not, but don’t worry, all will be revealed in due time.
The gameplay is simple enough: The world is presented through a first-person perspective, and you can look around with the mouse and left-click on objects of interest to grab, look at and/or manipulate them. Standard Myst-like stuff.
First item on the agenda: we do a 180 and try to drive off again, like any sane person would.
We grab the keys from the glove compartment, put them in the ignition, and…
Wouldn’t want to leave while we still can, now would we? Instead, we approach the manor.
There are a couple of side paths we could take at this point, leading to a garage and a greenhouse, but they’re both locked for the time being. I’m sure we’ll be back.
We arrive at the front door. You’ll observe that the door handle is on the right-hand side (and quite badly aligned with the keyhole). The interactable prompt, however, is situated on the left-hand side, where there is no door handle. Spooky.
We get the house key from our inventory and enter the manor.
We’re greeted by a musty entrance hall, some stairs to the left, a lounge to the right, the ticking of a clock, and after a few seconds, the ringing of a phone. Now that’s what I call good timing! We locate the phone and pick up the receiver.
Hello?
The voice acting is quite poor.
Jerry is apparently a friend of ours.
My thoughts exactly! I was afraid it’d fall apart as soon as I laid my fingers on it.
It’s… hard to tell yet. I’m very impressed, that’s for sure!
Yes yes yes, it’s perfectly fine, it’s just that I’m in awe. I mean pleasantly surprised. This house is like a dream come true.
…Really?
I’m telling you, I’m going to turn this place into a factory of horror stories!
Well I just got here, let me have a look around and I’ll get back to you if I find anything strange.
Well, that helps clear things up. From this lore dump, we learn that our character’s name is Michael, and that he is a writer of horror stories, come to this remote abandoned house in search of inspiration. I wonder what the average life expectancy of adventurous horror writers is.
We can get close-ups of all the paintings, of which there are a ton, but there’s nothing interesting about them. We try the light switch.
Well, that’s as ominous as it is unexpected.
In lieu of opening some windows and airing out the cobwebs and general feeling of creeping dread, we decide to go exploring. Mysteries await.
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