The Shore

The design and many details are a treat for Lovecraft fans. Unfortunately, the gameplay is awful.

The "puzzles" consist of either menial chores or finding very tiny objects in the landscape. Some clickable items require you to be in a very specific position and angle. There is nothing thoughtful about these puzzles, nothing for you to figure out. And you'll be scrambling back and forth and back and forth a lot to "solve" them.

The other kinds of challenges involve chases. Something is running after you and you have to not let it catch you. They are annoying rather than horrific.

And the game's whole structure is very lopsided. The first third of the game is far more interesting, with notes to read and objects to examine, an actual story. But then it just plummets into a series of disjointed scenes that seem more like individual demos than components of a game.

If this had been a linear "walking simulator" it would have been an easy thumbs up. Instead, the attempt to turn it into a puzzle game has produced a frustrating experience.