Among the Innocent: A Stricken Tale

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Among the Innocent: A Stricken Tale is a single player puzzle game with horror and mystery themes. It was developed by Zero Degrees Games and was released on February 14, 2017. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

"Among the Innocent: A Stricken Tale" is a narrative-driven game that follows the story of a writer, Peter York, who becomes trapped on a remote farmstead in South Africa. The game is the first in the "Stricken" series, which explores the stages of grief and loss through rich storytelling and challenging puzzles. Players can expect a blend of classic point-and-click gameplay and modern first-person exploration, set on 12 acres of hand-crafted locations, with an original soundtrack. Dark themes and mature storylines make this game a thought-provoking and immersive experience.

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Single-Player

Among the Innocent: A Stricken Tale screenshot

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78%

Audience ScoreBased on 102 reviews

story20 positive mentions

gameplay3 negative mentions

The game features a beautiful and immersive environment, capturing the essence of rural South Africa.
Puzzles are generally well-designed, requiring logic and creative thinking, with some being challenging yet enjoyable.
The story, while not fully resolved, is intriguing and leaves players wanting to explore more, especially with its unexpected ending.

Many players experienced bugs and glitches that hindered progression, leading to frustration.
The game lacks clear direction and hints, often leaving players wandering aimlessly without guidance.
The ending feels abrupt and unsatisfying, leaving numerous plot points unresolved and giving the impression of an incomplete story.

story
82 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
24%
72%
4%
The story is a mix of intriguing elements and unfinished threads, with players appreciating its subtlety and the way it unfolds through notes and exploration. While it offers an eerie atmosphere and interesting twists, many feel it lacks depth and resolution, leaving several plot points unexplored and the ending unsatisfying. Overall, the narrative has potential but feels incomplete, resembling a chapter in a larger story that never fully materializes.
- “The world is beautifully rendered, and the story is pleasantly told.”
- “The story is interesting, it's definitely got that eerie feeling of 'what the actual fuck happened here, I want to know more!' and as many others have said, these parts of the game are what really hold it up together with the interesting puzzles and locations in the limited but yet open area.”
- “Exploring and uncovering the mysterious story of the place while finding documents, notes with hints, and objects to use to progress was actually really fun.”
- “Earlier in the game there are hints at a bigger story behind the site - ancient writings and a mysterious stone dial - but the build-up of suspense is shattered when all you find is a mine.”
- “Among the Innocent is not totally complete - more like a chapter 1 to a longer story that never got finished.”
- “However, while it might have some nice ideas and twists, it feels like this was somebody's first attempt at writing a story where they wanted to put everything they could think of and mash it all together.”
graphics
22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
45%
41%
14%
The graphics in the game are generally described as decent and satisfactory, with some reviewers noting beautiful visuals and a consistent art style, despite not being of AAA quality. While they may not be groundbreaking, they effectively contribute to the game's atmosphere and enjoyment. Overall, the graphics are considered adequate for a low-budget title, enhancing the experience without overshadowing the story.
- “Good atmosphere, decent puzzles and nice visuals.”
- “The game has beautiful graphics but partial background music and voiceovers.”
- “Graphics are amazing and I love the level of interaction you could have with items.”
- “The graphics won't charm you, but the story might, at least to an extent.”
- “Graphics: not earth-shattering (indeed often merely adequate), but decent for a low budget game.”
- “While the graphics might not be AAA quality, the look and style is consistent, which I think is more important than the fidelity of assets.”
gameplay
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
11%
72%
17%
The gameplay is generally decent, featuring a mix of puzzle-solving and exploration typical of walking simulators, but it suffers from unintuitive mechanics and obscure objectives that can lead to frustrating roadblocks. Players often find themselves stuck due to a lack of clear instructions, particularly for essential actions like jumping, which detracts from the overall experience. While the game offers enjoyable moments, its reliance on opaque puzzles and unresolved mysteries leaves many questions unanswered.
- “Gameplay: generally decent and of the find key-open lock variety, as you simultaneously collect inventory items for puzzles, letters and notes to fill in the plot, and weird alphabet collectibles which have nothing to do with anything.”
- “Gameplay - I’ll let you know right from the gate, this is a walking simulator with notes to collect, puzzles to solve, and a mystery to unravel... although the game leaves more questions than answers in all honesty.”
- “Making my playthrough twice the length of what it should have been. I also got stuck in the first area because the game itself never tells you that you can jump. You were supposed to read instructions to figure that out, which was a weird choice as the game will explain a bunch of its mechanics, but not crucial stuff like that.”
- “Gameplay: while most of the gameplay is decent enough and even enjoyable, there were too many roadblocks in the form of unintuitive and/or completely opaque puzzles and objectives.”
- “Anyway, the fact that by the end I was tabbing out of the game every 10 or 15 minutes to figure out what the heck to do next is not just an indictment of my intelligence and problem-solving skill, but also an indictment of obtuse and arcane gameplay element/puzzle/plot progression arrangement.”
atmosphere
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
88%
12%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its immersive and well-crafted environment, combining beauty with a sense of decay and mystery that encourages exploration and curiosity. Players appreciate the thoughtful design and visuals, although some express frustration with a particularly confusing puzzle in the final act that disrupts the otherwise engaging experience. Overall, the atmosphere is considered a strong point, enhancing the game's narrative and emotional impact.
- “The atmosphere of the game was really well thought out.”
- “Loved the atmosphere and pretty surroundings!”
- “Fantastic atmosphere, a real sense of exploration and wonder, an excellent union of beauty with a sense of the decrepit, and an implied mystery left entirely to your own imagination -- you'll most likely start to ask yourself, 'what the hell happened here?' Answering that question is arguably the main plot, but is left entirely to the player.”
music
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
16%
17%
The music in the game is generally praised for its quality and suitability, enhancing the overall experience with good ambient sound. However, some players feel that the absence of voiced monologues for the main character detracts from the immersion, despite the strong visuals and soundtrack.
- “It has good visuals and the soundtrack is actually quite spot on.”
- “Good ambient sound/music.”
- “The game has beautiful graphics but partial background music and voiceovers.”
- “The game has beautiful graphics but lacks sufficient background music and voiceovers.”
grinding
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and frustrating, particularly due to a challenging nails puzzle that requires excessive trial and error without clear guidance. The lack of engaging tasks and exploration further contributes to a sense of monotony, leading some to seek external help to progress. Overall, the grinding experience is viewed as annoying and lacking meaningful purpose.
- “There isn't actually much to do and not many places to explore, and the tasks are tedious and annoying with no real point to any of it.”
- “The nail puzzle was so tedious I got bored and looked up an image online, as the 'clue' was so hard for me to decipher; it was just frustrating.”
- “But there is also a really tedious nails puzzle that I am not sure can be solved without using a lot of trials and errors, especially when having no idea what we are supposed to do.”
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
150%
The stability of the game has been widely criticized, with multiple users reporting it as a "buggy mess," indicating significant issues that detract from the overall experience.
- “The game is a buggy mess.”
- “The game is a buggy mess.”
- “The game is a buggy mess.”
emotional
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
"Among the Innocent" explores emotional themes through its protagonist, a hot-headed and emotionally immature character who seeks solitude after a conflict with his girlfriend. While the game lacks voice acting and relies on printed dialogue, it attempts to convey the character's internal struggles and growth within a puzzling environment. However, the execution of these emotional elements has been criticized for being poorly written and not fully engaging.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Among the Innocent: A Stricken Tale is a puzzle game with horror and mystery themes.

Among the Innocent: A Stricken Tale is available on PC and Windows.

Among the Innocent: A Stricken Tale was released on February 14, 2017.

Among the Innocent: A Stricken Tale was developed by Zero Degrees Games.

Among the Innocent: A Stricken Tale has received mostly positive reviews from players. Most players liked this game for its story but disliked it for its gameplay.

Among the Innocent: A Stricken Tale is a single player game.

Similar games include The Guest, Belladonna, Cradle, The Shore, The House of Da Vinci and others.

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