Daily Chthonicle

About

Daily Chthonicle is a single player casual role playing game with horror and mystery themes. It was developed by Sinister Systems and was released on September 30, 2016. It received negative reviews from critics and mostly positive reviews from players.

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

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72%

Audience ScoreBased on 92 reviews

story6 positive mentions

grinding3 negative mentions

The game has a unique and intriguing concept, blending elements of RPG and management within a Lovecraftian horror setting.
Once players understand the mechanics, the gameplay can be quite engaging and enjoyable, with a good level of replayability due to randomized cases.
The retro graphics and noir atmosphere contribute to a charming aesthetic that appeals to fans of the genre.

The user interface is confusing and poorly designed, making it difficult for players to navigate and understand the game mechanics.
The tutorial is inadequate, leaving players to figure out the gameplay through trial and error, which can be frustrating.
The procedurally generated stories often lack coherence and depth, leading to a disjointed narrative experience.

story
57 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
11%
84%
5%
The game's story aspect is largely criticized for its lack of coherence and depth, relying heavily on randomized events that often fail to engage players. While some reviewers appreciate the potential of the setting and the unique concept of procedural storytelling, they note that the fragmented narratives make it difficult to form a meaningful connection with the plot. 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
46 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
15%
74%
11%
The gameplay of the game is characterized by complex mechanics involving character management, item usage, and navigating various encounters, but many players find the tutorial insufficient and the overall experience repetitive and lacking depth. While some appreciate the unique atmosphere and art style, others criticize the clunky mechanics and passive gameplay, leading to a mixed reception. Overall, the game shows potential but requires significant improvements to its mechanics and instructional clarity to enhance player engagement.
- “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!”
- “Gameplay is complex and involves moving your agents to several locations on the map, equipping them with items, and dealing with encounters, adversaries, supernatural phenomena, events, obstacles, etc.”
- “I think that the tutorial doesn’t teach you the gameplay elements very well, but the handbook is quite detailed and was rather helpful in the end (like that with right click on items you can read more about them and learn for which encounters they can be useful; doesn’t work for artifacts sadly).”
- “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 note the grainy, low-resolution visuals and inconsistent quality, with some describing them as outdated and unappealing. Overall, the graphics evoke a nostalgic charm for some, but leave others wanting more in terms of visual engagement and quality.
- “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?).”
- “I believe the style fits the game nicely, but art style is something subjective.”
- “Solid gameplay, intelligent, and I love its art style, the Lovecraftian and film noir references, and basically everything about it!”
- “I'd honestly rather write a newspaper article, because through my own mental image, I'd have better visuals than I do here.”
- “This is a premise that might have worked, but the quality of the game itself is very low, using lazy pixel graphics and unattributed copyright images instead of finding their own artwork (graphic designers aren't cheap like this game is).”
- “You can probably tell from the screenshots but it’s not a terribly attractive game, stuck with simple, overly-chunky graphics throughout.”
music
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30%
40%
30%
The music in the game features soft piano melodies combined with eerie ambient sounds, creating a subtle atmosphere that some players found relaxing. However, the music's sporadic and sometimes jarring volume changes detracted from immersion, leading to mixed reviews, with an average rating of 5/10. Overall, while the sound design has its moments, it lacks consistency and impact.
- “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.”
atmosphere
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
40%
The atmosphere of the game is characterized by a unique blend of simple visuals and sound design that evokes a sense of dread, though opinions vary on its effectiveness. While some players find the atmosphere captivating and charming, others feel it falls short due to the gameplay's lack of depth. Overall, the game's atmosphere is seen as a standout feature, despite mixed reactions to 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, and the dread scenarios are meant to cause a reaction in you, but for me, it just didn't work.”
- “Atmosphere created by blurry low-res images and sounds is great.”
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 an enjoyable experience that encourages players to return for more.
- “As a first development trial, it is spectacularly enjoyable with a great deal of replayability.”
- “Randomly generated content keeps replayability high.”
- “Has a good deal of replay value too, with multiple difficulty levels and randomized cases and narrative elements.”
grinding
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
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 more like a chore than a rewarding experience.”
- “The repetitive nature of grinding makes it hard to stay engaged with the game.”
optimization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
100%
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 outstanding, allowing for smooth gameplay even on lower-end systems.”
- “I love how the developers have fine-tuned the performance, making every frame count and enhancing the overall experience.”
- “The game's optimization is impressive; it runs seamlessly without any noticeable lag, which really immerses you in the action.”
- “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
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
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 pokes fun at classic tropes while keeping the humor fresh and engaging.”

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30%Critics’ scoreBased on 1 critic reviews

Daily Chthonicle: Editor's Edition Review - Innsmouthgate
Daily Chthonicle: Editor's Edition is a game with a good idea and a lot of heart poured into it, but is crippled by substandard at best mechanics.
Techraptor.net
30%

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Frequently Asked Questions

Daily Chthonicle is a casual role playing game with horror and mystery themes.

Daily Chthonicle is available on PC and Windows.

Daily Chthonicle was released on September 30, 2016.

Daily Chthonicle was developed by Sinister Systems.

Daily Chthonicle has received negative reviews from players and negative reviews from critics. Most players liked this game for its story but disliked it for its music.

Daily Chthonicle is a single player game.

Similar games include Vlad the Impaler, Zafehouse: Diaries, Need to Know, Hard West, The Consuming Shadow and others.

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