I'm a bit of a fan of "room escape" puzzles. There are no shortage of browser versions of these, usually set in a single room, but occasionally more sprawling. These are typically 2D, allowing relatively low processing requirements. Though they're not quite pure examples, you might want to take a quick look at Monkey Go Happy to give you brief taste. These have also been slowly creeping out into the real world, and I've had a fair bit of fun playing them in real life.
Anyway, The Initiate is a 3D version. You have been kidnapped and dropped into what looks like a normal suburban house (excluding unnecessarily creepy basement). A member of the kidnapping cult explains your predicament through wall-mounted speakers (while watching your every move through the omnipresent cameras). You must follow the trail of clues spread throughout the house, solving puzzles, and if you survive, you'll get to join the cult. Fail, and who knows?
The first puzzle is a common "find the numbers" task, and does teach you very quickly that you need to examine everything. There are a lot of objects in this house, and a clue or fraction of a solution could be stashed on any of them. This can get a bit repetitive at times (so many vases!) but the large 3D nature of the world means that the set dressing is necessary. If they'd used the "only include what is necessary" system, the house would have been very minimalist.
One of the first things you'll find is a torch, and a UV function for it, which allows you to see invisible writing and symbols (and really quite a lot of not entirely cleaned up blood). This is a major part of the game, which can get a bit annoying, as you'll find it's probably easier just to wander around with it constantly switched on, rather than flick between the two.
Gameplay is pretty fun, with enough variety in the puzzles and environments to stop it ever becoming boring. Frustration is always a risk if you find yourself stuck however. It is pleasingly novel (at least for me) to have much more freedom than usual when investigating the puzzles, in terms of looking around.
The atmosphere is fairly creepy, with a nice selection of sounds designed to unnerve you. Ominous music, frantic heart beats, weird scratching, it's got the lot. The game is free of jump scares, but you will likely find yourself expecting them now and again.
I did find a few performance issues, in terms of very long loading times, and a bit of stutter very occasionally, but there has been a degree of patching since I played, so that may have sorted it. It does look very polished when it finally appears though.
One for fans of escape rooms and flower arranging.
Recommended.
Tagged: Game Puzzle First person Easy difficulty PC