The Horror at Highrook

About

The Horror at Highrook is a single player casual role playing game with horror, fantasy, mystery and dark fantasy themes. It was developed by Nullpointer Games and was released on May 1, 2025. It received very positive reviews from players.

Explore an atmospheric setting on the edge of nightmare Guide a team of occult investigators to investigate the disappearance of a noble family. Keep your team well equipped and safe from hunger, injury, madness and disease. Each member of this motley crew offers their own unique skills to aid with your quest. But they also harbour their own secret ambitions... Master the dark arts Combine cha…

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90%Audience ScoreBased on 412 reviews

story125 positive mentions

replayability12 negative mentions

Engaging Lovecraftian narrative with well-developed characters and intriguing story.
Accessible and polished gameplay combining card and board game mechanics, less punishing and more straightforward than similar games.
Strong atmosphere created by excellent art design, music, sound effects, and thematic presentation.

Linear and short gameplay with limited replayability; experience often completed in under 10 hours.
Gameplay can become repetitive and grindy, with some frustration caused by resource management and occasional softlocks or bugs.
Writing quality inconsistent, sometimes clichéd or awkward, and lacks deep player choice or challenge, reducing immersion and tension.

story
291 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
55%
2%
The story is a well-crafted, Lovecraftian cosmic horror narrative that many found engaging, immersive, and atmospheric, with a balanced length around 7–10 hours. While its linear structure and predictable tropes drew some criticism, the writing, world-building, and character side quests generally kept players invested, though character development was viewed as somewhat shallow. Replayability is limited due to a mostly fixed storyline, but the story-driven gameplay and pacing were praised for effectively maintaining interest without overstaying its welcome.
- “A well-written, spooky mystery that borrows mechanics from Cultist Simulator while being more grounded in its storytelling and characterization.”
- “It's a well told story of cosmic horror mixed with a board game aesthetic that enthralled me from beginning to end.”
- “Great execution of occult investigators fighting back against eldritch threats without the trope of 'we said the name of that one Lovecraft monster you like.' It makes it feel like a story that stands on its own two feet with a cast of characters you want to learn more about.”
- “Instead, the game holds your hand the entire time, telling you exactly where you need to go and what you need to do, which doesn't fit the mystery of the story at all.”
- “The story has no mystery or intrigue, no character development.”
- “The overall story was solid but the character writing was extremely flat, likely since the only way to expand on the characters was to do their side quests and read their notes.”
gameplay
218 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
64%
7%
The gameplay is a streamlined, card- and resource-management puzzle experience that is accessible and engaging, especially for fans of cultist simulator, though generally simpler and less challenging. While praised for its intuitive mechanics, smooth pacing, and integration with story and atmosphere, it can become repetitive and somewhat linear, with survival mechanics feeling minimal and some mechanics becoming tedious late-game. Overall, it offers a satisfying but modestly complex gameplay loop that complements the narrative without overwhelming the player.
- “Great and relatively quick mystery, I really like the worldbuilding and the mechanics are straightforward enough to allow the real meat of the game to be figuring out how to solve the puzzles and not wrangle with the game itself.”
- “The deceptively simple time-management gameplay loop of moving characters from task to task while gathering and spending items immediately hooked me, and it only became more engaging as the game added new mechanics and tricks to pass the ever-increasing skill checks with each passing chapter.”
- “The gameplay loop is decent, albeit really repetitive towards the later acts.”
- “The survival mechanics feel like an afterthought, offering no particular challenge.”
- “Downsides is the game is like, obscenely a cakewalk to the point that every "obstacle" or bar of survival stats are just a fart in the wind, a slight detour or inconvenience that purely slows playtime rather than something to truly interact with, alongside a lot of the items, past 15 minutes the gameplay loop becomes a very linear spoonfed thing of "oh here's the card, do this same action x amount of times to get all the pieces!" some may like that, but in these kinds of card/board games it seems either there's no guidance, or too much guidance, this being the latter.”
- “The biggest issue with the gameplay is that there is basically no depth to it beyond what I've already described.”
graphics
65 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
45%
50%
5%
The game’s graphics receive widespread praise for their evocative, atmospheric art style that blends gothic, steampunk, and cosmic horror influences, reminiscent of titles like Darkest Dungeon and Cultist Simulator. The artwork, character designs, and board game-inspired visuals are consistently described as polished, immersive, and integral to the game's mood, though some feel the style lacks the charm or depth of its inspirations. Overall, the graphics strongly contribute to an engaging aesthetic experience, praised alongside sound and music for creating a compelling cosmic horror atmosphere.
- “The art style is evocative, managing to come off as 'atmospheric' without sacrificing readability.”
- “It does a great job of melding the eldritch horror and the card game art style together to make an atmosphere I really enjoyed.”
- “The artwork is superb, the music is entrancing and always on point.”
- “I didn't like the art style too much, since I think it was too close to Darkest Dungeon, with none of its charm, and at some points the game was too direct, making the experience have less ambient and mysticism than Cultist Simulator.”
- “Pilfered aesthetics and mechanics (from Darkest Dungeon and Cultist Simulator), characters that declare proudly how shoddy the writing will be going forward from minute one, and pointless padding to push the playtime past the point of no refund.”
- “While the art is charming and the overall aesthetic evokes a suitably spooky vibe, this game was ultimately a letdown because while it has all the pieces it needs, it doesn't take any of them far enough, and the result is more of a proof of concept than an engaging game.”
atmosphere
47 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
68%
26%
6%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its evocative art style, immersive storytelling, and richly developed characters, creating a compelling and eerie cosmic horror experience. Reviewers consistently highlight the music, visuals, and writing as key elements that craft a haunting and engaging mood, making atmosphere the standout aspect despite some comments on simple or repetitive gameplay. Overall, the atmosphere is considered the core strength and primary draw of the game.
- “Really enjoyed, creepy almost cozy game dripping with atmosphere and delicious flavor text, very easy to lose yourself in and generally haunting, great representation of Lovecraftian mythos for a modern audience.”
- “The real star of the game is its atmosphere, be its sound, its art or its story.”
- “Beautiful atmosphere, excellent writing, the characters are richly painted and develop beautifully.”
- “The concept of the game, the atmosphere and everything seem fine.”
- “Atmosphere alone makes it a recommendation, but I'd wait for a sale price given the limited hours of engagement.”
- “If you want some of the tighter juggling and tension of Cultist Simulator, I don't think you'll have that, but most people play these games for the lore and atmosphere rather than the technical challenge.”
replayability
44 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
11%
62%
27%
The game is widely noted for having little to no replayability, with most players viewing it as a one-time narrative experience due to its linear progression and minimal variation in outcomes. While there are a few alternative endings and optional side quests that might encourage a second playthrough, the overall content and lack of randomness limit the game's appeal for multiple replays. However, its tightly crafted story and reasonable length make it a satisfying single-play experience.
- “There is minimal replayability as there are just slight variants in the ending slides depending on some choices and finishing of optional objectives.”
- “It also has some replayability in the form of choices and secondary quests, so it will probably give you more than the almost 8 hours I got from it.”
- “If you want your games to have endless replayability (there are some alternate endings, so if you want to see those you can replay the game a couple of times), but at some point the new story content you can get by replaying and making different choices will run out.”
- “This is essentially a walking simulator in a card form: short, overpriced, and entirely without any replay value.”
- “You play this mostly for the story, then you will never touch it again, because it has almost zero replay value besides some added difficulty, which almost never comes into play since you can manage your meters quite easily, all things considered.”
- “As it stands, this is roughly a 6 hour game with zero replayability beyond 2 possible choices.”
grinding
28 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Grinding in the game is generally seen as repetitive and tedious, with many tasks involving repeating similar card-based actions or resource management that can become monotonous over time. While some find the grind manageable and paced well enough to maintain engagement—especially due to the story—others feel it lacks depth or meaningful challenge, making progression feel like autopilot or a simple memory task. Overall, grinding is a mixed aspect: tolerable for those who enjoy the gameplay style but potentially off-putting for players seeking more variety or complexity.
- “Speaking of grinding, there's a huge amount of repeating actions over and over and over until you get everything you need.”
- “Card crafting (the core concept of the genre) is merely tedious, because every item (with the exception of just two) has exactly one room to be used in, which is transparent from the get-go by matching the tags between the items and rooms.”
- “What starts as a fun way to progress the story, starts to become a tedious memory game of remembering where you need to locate each combination of cards multiple times to conquer an encounter.”
music
27 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
70%
19%
11%
The music is widely praised for its ambiance, fitting the game's creepy, cosmic horror aesthetic and effectively enhancing the atmosphere alongside the art and sound effects. While generally described as relaxing and entrancing, it complements the story and gameplay well, contributing significantly to the overall immersive experience.
- “The artwork is superb, the music is entrancing and always on point.”
- “Loved the lore and world building, loved the characters (even the ones I disliked if that makes sense lol), the music was amazing, the overall atmosphere just everything made for a very cool cosmic horror story, would love to see more set in this world going forward.”
- “The music, art, and story-telling were top-notch with a great, creepy vibe.”
- “The sound is okay, but there was only one track of spooky background music playing in a loop throughout the gameplay, which got repetitive.”
- “The music is more of ambient melodies and lacks variation, making the overall auditory experience quite dull.”
- “There are no jump scares, just creepy music, art, and writing, which might not be enough to create a truly engaging atmosphere.”
character development
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
11%
22%
Character development receives mixed feedback, with some noting a lack of depth or intrigue in the story, while others praise the well-crafted, multidimensional character designs that add life and atmosphere to the game. Overall, character design is consistently highlighted as a strong point, even if narrative development is viewed as limited.
- “The character design is fantastic — both the protagonists and side characters feel fully fleshed out and multidimensional.”
- “Gameplay aside, the atmosphere, writing, and character design are all excellent - especially the latter.”
- “Good visuals though, and decent character development.”
- “The story has no mystery or intrigue, no character development.”
- “However, if you're looking for a tight story-driven game with a fair amount of character development, this is not it.”
emotional
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of the game is generally weak, as players often feel little attachment to the characters despite completing sidequests. While the story is wholesome, it lacks the depth needed to evoke strong feelings.
- “I completed all of the characters' sidequests (because it was easy, you'd have to go out of your way to avoid doing it otherwise) and the endcards (the only outcome from the sidequests) really didn't make me feel anything at all, because I had no emotional attachments to the characters.”
- “A wholesome story that gives you some cards to fiddle with.”
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is compromised by buggy cutscenes and unintuitive inventory management, indicating that it was not fully polished and contains noticeable glitches.
- “Buggy cutscenes and unintuitive inventory management”
- “Shows that execution wasn't done to 90%, so it works with some glitches, but it was somewhat cared for”
humor
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor is subtle but highly effective, becoming very funny upon reflection. It offers clever and thoughtful comedic moments that resonate well with players.

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10h Median play time

9h Average play time

8-11h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 5 analyzed playthroughs

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The Horror at Highrook is a casual role playing game with horror, fantasy, mystery and dark fantasy themes.

The Horror at Highrook is available on PC and Windows.

On average players spend around 9 hours playing The Horror at Highrook.

The Horror at Highrook was released on May 1, 2025.

The Horror at Highrook was developed by Nullpointer Games.

The Horror at Highrook has received very positive reviews from players. Most players liked The Horror at Highrook for its story but disliked it for its replayability.

The Horror at Highrook is a single player game.

Similar games include Starcom: Unknown Space, DREDGE, BOOK OF HOURS, The Séance of Blake Manor, The Pale Beyond and others.

The Horror at Highrook

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story

gameplay

graphics

atmosphere

replayability

grinding

music

character development

emotional

stability

humor

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