Gamebook Edgar A. Poe: The Oval Portrait

About

Game + Audiobook = Gamebook Play a book! Digital Gamebook is an audiobook with unprecedented possibilities in the world of audiobooks. Gamebooks focus on what is most important in books: stimulating your imagination and experiencing the story. You can listen to the story like a classic audiobook and also take on the role of the story’s hero. During a dangerous journey, the main characte…

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Gamebook Edgar A. Poe: The Oval Portrait screenshot

66%

Audience ScoreBased on 29 reviews

story7 positive mentions

grinding1 negative mentions

The game offers an interesting concept with immersive sound design and a unique way to experience Edgar A. Poe's story.
It's free to play, making it accessible for anyone interested in a different kind of storytelling experience.
The exploration mode enhances immersion, allowing players to engage with the story through sound and atmosphere.

The writing quality is poor, resembling fan-fiction rather than a professionally crafted narrative.
Gameplay can be tedious, requiring excessive clicking to progress the story, which detracts from the overall experience.
Technical issues and confusing navigation can lead to frustration, making it difficult for players to enjoy the intended experience.

story
23 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30%
57%
13%
The game's story is described as a beautiful yet somewhat confusing short narrative, enhanced by good music and art direction. Players can choose between a more immersive story mode and an exploration mode, though some find the controls challenging and the interactive elements can detract from the storytelling experience. Overall, while the story has its merits, it may require patience and a willingness to engage with its unique format.
- “It's a beautiful short story that can be a bit hard to follow.”
- “It's like an audiobook in many ways, but since you can move the speaking character, it feels more like it's your story.”
- “The game is a brilliant storytelling experience with great music and environmental sounds.”
- “This audio active gamebook does nothing to really help enhance or clarify the story.”
- “If anything, the gamebook leads to further confusion due to switched wording, needless tapping on the screen in order to progress the story, and overall lackluster art and voice narration.”
- “The only problem I have is that I don't always know when to press space to move on in story mode.”
music
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
71%
29%
The music in the game is generally praised for its quality, with many users noting its pleasant and eerie atmosphere that enhances the storytelling and art direction. While some players experienced issues with sound dynamics, the overall consensus highlights the music as a strong aspect that contributes positively to the gaming experience.
- “Decent short story with good music and art direction.”
- “Nice picture in the beginning and the music is lovely with an eerie feel to it.”
- “Pleasant sounds and music.”
- “I was leaning on Pedro trying to get somewhere following the music, but it kept ramming me into a wall.”
- “I tried walking away and back; it just made the music muffled until I went back to ramming myself into the wall.”
gameplay
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The gameplay in this visual/interactive novel is largely criticized for its lack of depth, with many finding the dialogue poorly written and unengaging. However, some users appreciate the basic gameplay as a fun interlude to the story, with the story mode being favored for a more immersive experience.
- “It's way more immersive and has more gameplay.”
- “Gameplay is basic but a fun interlude to the story.”
- “As a visual/interactive novel, this doesn't feature any notable gameplay; it's just a lot of clicking through badly written dialogue that would never have been accepted or published in print. This poses the question, 'How did something this badly written end up on Steam?'”
- “Out of the two modes of gameplay, I found the story mode to be more fitting for the type of experience I wanted to have.”
grinding
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users find the grinding aspect of visual novels and e-books tedious, likening the experience to a frustratingly slow reading process where each sentence requires a click to advance, detracting from the enjoyment of the narrative.
- “Visual novels/e-books are tedious at best. Imagine the best novel you ever read, whether it's 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy', '2001: A Space Odyssey', or even 'Twilight' (if you have terrible taste in literature), but then translate that to a format where the words dribble out and you have to click your mouse every time you want to read the next sentence, instead of just turning the pages.”
humor
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is characterized by sharp wit and clever observations, as exemplified by a remark about the minimal demand for a book, highlighting the absurdity of certain situations. Overall, players appreciate the game's ability to deliver humor that is both insightful and entertaining.
- “The funny thing is, if you wanted to print this book, you'd only need to print 5 copies to satisfy the entire world's demand for it.”