Desert of Vice

About

Desert of Vice is a single player action game with horror and mystery themes. It was developed by karolisd and was released on April 13, 2018. It received positive reviews from players.

Solve your own murder in this horror text adventure with choice dependent endings. Explore an isolated desert town to figure out who murdered you - and why.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

89%

Audience ScoreBased on 18 reviews

story5 positive mentions

gameplay3 negative mentions

Engaging Lovecraftian/horror story with a mysterious and eerie atmosphere, enhanced by fitting music and art style.
Multiple unique endings encourage replayability and exploration of different story paths.
Simple, minimalist gameplay that is accessible and straightforward, with a helpful hint system to guide players.

Limited and inconsistent text parser requiring specific commands that can be hard to guess, often forcing frequent use of the hint command.
Somewhat restrictive gameplay with limited player choice, making it feel more like an interactive novel than a traditional text adventure.
Single save system without convenient multiple save slots can be frustrating for replaying and exploring endings.

story
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
60%
15%
The story is a classic Lovecraftian, text-based horror adventure with multiple endings and an intriguing, mysterious atmosphere. While praised for its compelling narrative and exploration elements, some find it overly linear and lacking player agency, making it feel more like a kinetic novel than an interactive game. Overall, it offers a decent, brief story-driven experience suitable for fans of narrative-focused games.
- “Brilliant text quest with intriguing plot, thrilling atmosphere, handy hint system and unlinear gameplay (with a bunch of endings).”
- “The game has an interesting storyline which doesn't tell you everything in the beginning, instead it lets you explore and find out things on your own.”
- “The story has a total of six unique endings, with major and minor decisions leading to different pathways and outcomes.”
- “A kinetic novel that drags its own story down given how there isn't a convenient way to save the game to get these slightly different endings.”
- “It's less a game and more a slightly interactive story, and unfortunately without choices it didn't hold my interest well enough.”
- “The mood and the preview make it seem like it should be really, really good, a clever little gem, but unfortunately as someone who's played old text games, I felt like I was getting railroaded into someone's story rather than playing my own.”
music
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
33%
The music in the game is widely praised for enhancing the atmosphere, complementing its supernatural noir and horror themes with a tense, mysterious, and fitting soundtrack. It effectively supports the storytelling and visual style, creating an immersive experience.
- “Despite these criticisms, Desert of Vice has an undeniable mystique about it with an art style and soundtrack that complement its supernatural noir themes.”
- “The music is quite nice; the tense and mysterious atmosphere of the game becomes palpable through the music.”
- “It can be described as a choose-your-adventure horror story, with nicely drawn artwork and befitting music.”
graphics
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
14%
43%
The graphics in the game are minimalist and simplistic, with a psychedelic and noir-inspired art style that effectively complements its supernatural themes. While the visuals may appear basic or rough, they contribute to the game's mysterious atmosphere and story. Overall, the aesthetic choices are praised for fitting well with the tone despite some calls for quality-of-life improvements.
- “Despite these criticisms, Desert of Vice has an undeniable mystique with an art style and soundtrack that complement its supernatural noir themes.”
- “I really like the story, the visuals, and music.”
- “It can be described as a choose-your-adventure horror story, with nicely drawn artwork and befitting music.”
- “The artwork is rather simplistic, giving the game the most basic of appearances.”
- “The artwork is rather psychedelic and simplified, giving the game the most basic of appearances and rough surface.”
- “Despite these criticisms, Desert of Vice has an undeniable mystique about it with an art style that complements its supernatural noir themes.”
atmosphere
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
71%
29%
The game excels in creating a tense, mysterious, and engaging atmosphere, greatly enhanced by its evocative music and sounds. This distinctive ambiance draws players in and complements the intriguing plot and nonlinear gameplay. However, some feel the game could be further developed to fully realize its potential.
- “It manages to conjure up an atmosphere very much its own and for that it deserves praise.”
- “The music is quite nice, the tense and mysterious atmosphere of the game becomes palpable through the music.”
- “Great atmosphere and music.”
gameplay
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
75%
The gameplay is primarily text-based, featuring nonlinear branching paths with multiple distinct endings. While the game offers visual and soundtrack elements, players must type responses, which can make repeated playthroughs feel repetitive. Overall, it provides a compelling and atmospheric text quest with an engaging plot and helpful hint system.
- “Brilliant text quest with intriguing plot, thrilling atmosphere, handy hint system, and nonlinear gameplay with a bunch of endings.”
- “Nonlinear gameplay with six different endings.”
- “While some of these endings can differ greatly from each other in terms of fleeing versus running away, the separate endings blur together given the mechanic of having to type all of the same text out each play-through.”
- “While the game is not completely text-based, as it has both visual design and soundtrack, the gameplay is pure text where the game responds to your input.”
- “Brilliant text quest with intriguing plot, thrilling atmosphere, handy hint system and nonlinear gameplay with a bunch of endings.”
replayability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game offers strong replayability thanks to multiple endings and a wide variety of gameplay options, encouraging players to explore different approaches in subsequent playthroughs.
- “There's also multiple endings which give the game some replayability, especially since you're offered a lot of variation in doing things.”