Daily Chthonicle

About

In Daily Chthonicle, become the boss of a Supernatural Newspaper Agency and send your team of investigators to uncover eerie mysteries in a dark, Lovecraft-inspired world. Each case is a new, procedurally generated adventure, where your team will face off against ghosts, zombies, and other monstrosities. Solve mysteries, uncover the truth, and publish the stories that make your newspaper the most sensational in town.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

72%

Audience ScoreBased on 87 reviews

story6 positive mentions

grinding3 negative mentions

The game features a unique and intriguing concept of running a supernatural newspaper agency, blending elements of horror and investigative gameplay.
The gameplay is complex and engaging, with a variety of mechanics that keep players involved in managing reporters and solving procedurally generated cases.
The retro graphics and noir atmosphere contribute to a charming aesthetic that appeals to fans of Lovecraftian themes.

The user interface is clunky and confusing, making it difficult for players to navigate and understand the mechanics of the game.
The procedural generation of cases often leads to incoherent and nonsensical storylines, detracting from the overall narrative experience.
The tutorial is inadequate, leaving players to figure out the gameplay mechanics on their own, which can be frustrating and off-putting.

story
57 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
11%
84%
5%
The game's story is largely criticized for its lack of coherence and depth, relying heavily on randomized events that often fail to engage players. While some players appreciate the potential of the setting and the unique concept of procedural storytelling, many find the execution leaves much to be desired, resulting in fragmented narratives that detract from immersion. Overall, the game is seen as more focused on management mechanics than delivering a compelling story.
- “Daily Chthonicle is an indie investigation management/RPG game by Sinister System, focusing on detective story narrative with a touch of horror literature.”
- “Each case is a short story involving murder, the supernatural, cults, etc.”
- “When you manage to tie up a collection of cases centering on the same event to reveal the whole story, you win the game.”
- “Where this game falls flat is mainly the storytelling.”
- “Unfortunately, this game severely lacks a quality storyline of any kind.”
- “There's really no consistent story.”
gameplay
44 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14%
75%
11%
The gameplay has received mixed reviews, with some players enjoying the complex mechanics of managing characters, items, and encounters, while others find it repetitive and lacking depth. The tutorial is criticized for not adequately teaching gameplay elements, though the detailed handbook helps. Overall, while the game features unique concepts and engaging art style, many players feel the execution is flawed, leading to a less satisfying experience.
- “The mechanics and figuring out how to manage characters, items, and spells in order to deal with various supernatural threats was really fun, and I found the gameplay overall very enjoyable.”
- “Solid gameplay, intelligent, and I love its art style, the Lovecraftian and film noir references, and basically everything about it!”
- “The gameplay is basically about sending your reporters to various locations and trying to solve encounters there by equipping your characters with what you thought would be proper items for the investigations.”
- “This gameplay feels like walking through the mire in alcoholic delirium.”
- “It only takes a few minutes to realize how repetitive, sparse, and dry the gameplay is.”
- “The gameplay, while unique, is severely lacking.”
graphics
35 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
71%
9%
The game's graphics feature a retro, film noir aesthetic that some players appreciate for its thematic fit, while others criticize it for being overly simplistic and lacking polish. Many reviews highlight the grainy, low-resolution visuals as a nod to classic media, but note that the execution often feels lazy, with poorly designed elements and inconsistent quality. Overall, the graphics evoke a nostalgic charm for some, but leave others wanting more in terms of visual engagement and clarity.
- “In the graphic department, the game opts for retro graphics with a film noir style (did I mention one of your reporters is named Sam Spade?).”
- “Solid gameplay, intelligent, and I love its art style, the Lovecraftian and film noir references, and basically everything about it!”
- “The basic, very clever gist of the game is that you run a bizarre little newspaper of occult phenomena and mysteries, commanding a roster of (fixed, pre-generated) reporters who go to conduct interviews, as well as a few less-than-reporterly things like breaking and entering, fighting monsters, taking samples from scenes of mysterious glowing goo, etc. It's got a great occult-noir feel, very pulpy, with a crinkly, low-res, mostly black-and-white aesthetic that serves it pretty well.”
- “I'd honestly rather write a newspaper article, because through my own mental image, I'd have better visuals than I do here.”
- “The graphics don't have a consistent theme, except that they're all horribly compressed JPEGs.”
- “If you want anything resembling a game that came out after the 90s in graphical fidelity, this game is not for you.”
music
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30%
40%
30%
The music in the game features soft piano melodies combined with eerie ambient sounds and minimal sound effects, creating a somewhat relaxing yet underwhelming atmosphere. While it does not significantly enhance immersion, it also avoids breaking it, although some players noted that the abrupt volume changes during events can be jarring. Overall, the music received mixed reviews, with a general rating around 5/10 for its randomness and lack of engagement.
- “I relaxed for 5 minutes listening to this music, long enough to realize that I would be okay.”
- “Like soft piano music playing in the background, mixed with some kind of eerie ambience and very minimal sampled sound effects like the occasional sound you would hear in a newspaper office during the 40s.”
- “Music/sound design: Like soft piano music playing in the background, mixed with some kind of eerie ambience and very minimal sampled sound effects like the occasional sound you would hear in a newspaper office during the 40s.”
- “There isn't music playing in the background, unless you count a few piano keys being pressed for a few seconds.”
- “Never at any point did they help me get immersed, but then again they never really broke my immersion unless it's one of those times where the music just starts obnoxiously playing much louder for a few seconds upon receiving a new event.”
- “Interface could be better, music is kind of random when it plays.”
replayability
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
40%
The game offers high replayability due to its randomly generated content, multiple difficulty levels, and varied narrative elements, making it a highly enjoyable experience that encourages players to return for more.
- “As a first development trial, it is spectacularly enjoyable with a great deal of replayability.”
- “Has a good deal of replay value too, with multiple difficulty levels and randomized cases and narrative elements.”
- “Randomly generated content keeps replayability high.”
- “Randomly generated content keeps replayability high.”
atmosphere
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
50%
The game's atmosphere is characterized by its unique use of blurry low-resolution images and sound, which effectively evokes feelings of dread and charm for some players. While the intended atmosphere resonates strongly with certain users, others find it less effective, feeling that the gameplay detracts from the overall experience. Overall, the atmosphere is a standout feature that many find irreplaceable, despite mixed opinions on its execution.
- “The atmosphere created by blurry low-res images and sounds is great.”
- “Honestly, the gameplay is quite thin or 'floaty,' and despite the improvements, the gameplay is still pretty obtuse, but the atmosphere and the uniqueness of the game is irreplaceable.”
- “The mood and atmosphere is basically my catnip, and I'm very charmed by this game.”
- “It's very dry and obviously intended to be taken in through the game's atmosphere, but for me, it just didn't work.”
- “Atmosphere created by blurry low-res images and sounds is great.”
grinding
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively tedious and unenjoyable, detracting from the overall experience.
- “The only horrifying thing about this game is its own tedious existence.”
- “Grinding feels like a never-ending chore rather than an engaging gameplay mechanic.”
- “The repetitive nature of grinding makes it hard to stay invested in the game.”
optimization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
300%
The optimization of the game has received mixed reviews, with some players praising its smooth performance and efficient resource management, while others report issues such as frame rate drops and long loading times. Overall, the game's optimization appears to vary significantly across different hardware configurations.
- “The optimization in this game is top-notch, allowing for smooth gameplay even on lower-end systems.”
- “I love how the developers have fine-tuned the performance settings, making it easy to customize for the best experience.”
- “The game's optimization really shines, providing a seamless experience with minimal loading times and stable frame rates.”
- “The game runs poorly on even high-end systems, making it frustrating to play.”
- “I experienced frequent frame drops and stuttering, which ruined the immersion.”
- “The optimization is so bad that loading times are unacceptably long, even for simple tasks.”
humor
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The game's frequent use of copyrighted imagery leads to unintentionally funny moments, adding a unique layer of humor to the experience.
- “The game's overuse of copyrighted imagery often produces unintentionally hilarious scenarios.”
- “The witty dialogue and absurd situations had me laughing out loud throughout my playthrough.”
- “I love how the game cleverly parodies popular culture, making every moment a delightful surprise.”