The Lost Crown

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"The Lost Crown: A Ghost Hunting Adventure" is a horror-themed point-and-click game. Players assume the role of Nigel Danvers, an investigative journalist searching for a legendary crown with supernatural powers. The game features a dark, atmospheric setting with challenging puzzles and a focus on stealth and ghost-hunting tools. It also boasts a unique mechanic for capturing ghostly apparitions.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

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

Reviews

67%

Audience ScoreBased on 249 reviews

story82 positive mentions

grinding6 negative mentions

The atmosphere is spooky and immersive, making it a great experience for fans of ghost stories.
The story is intriguing and well-developed, with a compelling narrative that keeps players engaged.
The unique black-and-white art style with occasional color accents adds to the game's charm and aesthetic appeal.

The pacing is slow, with tedious backtracking and long walking animations that can frustrate players.
Some puzzles are poorly designed, requiring unclear activations and leading to confusion.
The voice acting is inconsistent, with some performances feeling awkward and detracting from the overall experience.

story
185 mentions
44 % positive mentions
53 % neutral mentions
3 % negative mentions
The story of "The Lost Crown" is widely praised for its intriguing and immersive narrative, blending elements of ghost hunting, treasure hunting, and rich mythology within a spooky atmosphere. While some players noted flaws such as slow pacing, unclear objectives, and uneven voice acting, many found the depth of the plot and character development compelling enough to keep them engaged throughout the game. Overall, the narrative is considered the game's strongest aspect, with a satisfying conclusion that ties up most story threads, leaving players eager for potential sequels.
- “The story is by far Boakes' best work, interweaving ghost-hunting, treasure hunting, and Celtic/Anglo-Saxon myth into one package, with its location being the perfect backdrop to the story.”
- “The story is immersive, and it makes the scary bits all the more effective.”
- “The story flows very well and the puzzles, although present, do not distract from the story.”
- “The main character's not particularly likeable, moving around is slow, story progress is sometimes tied to nonsensical things, a few puzzles seem to rely on you just stumbling upon the right thing, voice lines get reused to an excessive degree, despite the theme there's never any real tension, and while the story starts off as a decent mystery, half of the plot points seem to get forgotten and a couple of other things get resolved either anticlimactically or without you really doing anything at all.”
- “The story is not original and boring.”
- “I won't lie, as someone who voice acts and has voice acted in at least one game on Steam, the voices leave much to be desired, and sometimes you learn details that you shouldn't have learned until later, or you never figure out the story behind a certain character or plot point.”
atmosphere
88 mentions
56 % positive mentions
41 % neutral mentions
3 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its eerie, immersive quality, enhanced by a unique blend of black and white visuals with occasional color highlights, haunting sound design, and a slow-paced narrative that draws players into its spooky world. Many reviewers noted that the game's unsettling ambiance, characterized by a sense of creeping dread and rich lore, effectively captivates and maintains tension throughout, making it a standout experience for fans of atmospheric storytelling. Despite some criticisms regarding dated graphics and pacing, the overall consensus is that the game's atmosphere is its strongest asset, creating a compelling environment that invites exploration and engagement.
- “The game oozes atmosphere, from the slight creep of something wrong in the cottage to the tense night ghost hunt in a church.”
- “The eerie atmosphere is present even during the day when this sleepy town seems almost idyllic, but the vast windy landscapes under a stretched sky are beautiful and mysterious at the same time.”
- “The lost crown has a great, thick atmosphere where you can understand the appeal and the magic of those places, where you feel the warmth of the pubs and the coldness of the barely maintained old houses by the sea.”
- “I would have hoped that the game delivered a pressuring mystic atmosphere, but it never really reaches that, which is a shame because I believe that the developers, including Jonathan Boakes, have done a remarkable job with lore and every single aspect of ghost hunting is so well documented that immersion is very eerie and real at its best.”
- “That uneasy anticipation is especially heightened in Harbour Cottage, 'home sweet home', the place where you sleep which is supposed to be a safe haven, but is actually the creepiest, oozing with dark, heavy, oppressive atmosphere.”
- “The atmosphere is creepy, oppressive, and sticks with you even after you close the game.”
graphics
51 mentions
33 % positive mentions
61 % neutral mentions
6 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many praising its unique black-and-white art style complemented by occasional color accents, creating an atmospheric and immersive experience. However, some players note that the graphics feel dated, particularly the character models and animations, which detracts from the overall experience. Despite these criticisms, the combination of photography and 3D elements is often highlighted as a standout feature that enhances the game's intrigue and mood.
- “I really love the graphics; the photo-realistic black and white with small pops of color is really atmospheric.”
- “The combo of real-life photos and in-game models, the black and white art style with the occasional splash of color, and the excellent soundtrack create a very mysterious and intriguing atmosphere.”
- “On the plus side: graphically beautiful, with photo-real settings in monochrome with occasional bright dashes of color that really enunciate the scenes.”
- “The atmosphere is great and the game starts out strong, but the graphics and engine are very dated to the point where it throws the pacing off.”
- “The graphics are from 2008, and the character models are starting to look dated (this may be a reason the sequels are taking so very long in development hell, to update graphics made quite a bit ago).”
- “It's easy to criticize this game: dated graphics, repetitive dialogue, and some truly cringe-worthy voice acting, but it's difficult to defend it without spoiling plot or events.”
gameplay
38 mentions
16 % positive mentions
76 % neutral mentions
8 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized as a classic point-and-click adventure, featuring a slow pace and occasionally awkward mechanics that may frustrate some players. While the atmospheric storytelling and detailed environments are praised, many users noted the need for clearer objectives and the potential for confusion due to the game's design. Overall, it offers a lengthy experience with a mix of engaging narrative and traditional gameplay elements, though it may not appeal to those seeking faster-paced action.
- “The story is extremely well put together and it's a blast how it draws you in deeper and deeper by adding new game mechanics or just the ghost-hunting tools.”
- “Totally immersive gameplay, wonderful eerie sound effects, great story, take your time and enjoy every minute of it. 10/10”
- “The gameplay mechanics of using technologies and pseudo-sciences, old and new, to hunt down, record, or figure out how to repel ghosts is a fairly novel one.”
- “The gameplay is pretty much finding your way around, looking at stuff, picking up items, using them on stuff... typical adventure game fare, but there's a slowness to it all.”
- “The combination of difficulty and slow gameplay results in the need of consulting a walkthrough often.”
- “I guess I'm somewhere in between, and while I appreciate the great lengths the game has gone to evoke an interesting atmosphere and tell a quite possibly interesting yarn - unfortunately the glacial pacing and pedantic talk-to-everyone-and-examine-absolutely-everything gameplay left me a little uninspired.”
music
31 mentions
39 % positive mentions
52 % neutral mentions
10 % negative mentions
The music in the game is widely praised for its atmospheric and haunting qualities, effectively enhancing the eerie ambiance and complementing the visuals. While some players found certain music puzzles challenging, the overall soundtrack is described as brilliant, minimalistic, and well-integrated with sound effects, creating a rich and immersive experience. Despite a few mentions of repetitiveness, the music is considered a standout feature that significantly contributes to the game's intrigue and suspense.
- “The soundtrack, visuals, and general atmosphere are brilliant.”
- “Background music is minimalistic and ethereal, not in your face but seamlessly woven with ambient sound effects to create rich otherworldly sound collages.”
- “The music and haunting sound effects are top notch.”
- “There was also a puzzle that relied on knowing how to identify music notes by ear, which makes the puzzle impossible for non-musicians like me.”
- “The music is a bit repetitive.”
- “The animation is awkward, and the dialogue is lacking in some spots, but the atmosphere created by eerie music and sound effects is an amazing touch.”
grinding
6 mentions
0 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
100 % negative mentions
Players frequently describe the grinding aspect of the game as tedious and frustrating, particularly due to unclear puzzle activations and excessive backtracking. This leads to a sense of boredom and disengagement from the story, with many feeling that the experience is overly long and lacking in enjoyment.
- “It can be tedious to move about, and in some sections, it's easy to miss items or catch the prompts.”
- “It was tedious at best, and by the time I stopped playing, I could not be bothered to care about the story.”
- “I really wanted to like this, but it was just too long, boring, and tedious.”
humor
6 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is characterized by genuinely funny dialogue and believable acting, complemented by quirky character designs that add to the overall comedic effect. Players find the animations, particularly of the main character and the cat Mr. Tibbs, amusingly off-kilter, while interactions with eccentric characters, like the antique shop owner, enhance the game's humorous atmosphere. Overall, the humor is consistent and contributes positively to the game's charm.
- “A lot of the dialogue is genuinely funny and the acting is very believable.”
- “Overall very consistent with itself, and many funny and interesting characters to interact with.”
- “Oh and the nutter in the antique shop is bloody hilarious!”
stability
4 mentions
25 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
75 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's stability is mixed; while it generally runs well at full screen and maintains the desired aspect ratio, users have reported frustrating bugs with achievements and occasional graphical glitches during level loading.
- “I run it at 16:9 1920 x 1080, put a check in the box for maintain aspect, run it at full screen and it runs great.”
- “Achievements can be a little frustrating as they are buggy.”
- “Perhaps the tutorial is just buggy as hell?”
- “The game worked fairly well, except for some graphical glitches on the level load screen.”
emotional
2 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
Players report a profound emotional connection with the characters, particularly during a pivotal chapter that evokes feelings of kinship and inspiration. The experience is heightened by a memorable jump scare, contributing to a unique emotional journey that motivates players to explore real-life settings reminiscent of the game.
- “There was finally one jump scare that totally sent chills down my spine; that wasn't fun... but that chapter was the most emotional of all. I finally felt a sense of kinship with Nigel and some of the other characters he encountered.”
- “No other game has ever made me feel like this, and it inspires me to want to travel to Britain to experience this feeling in real life.”
optimization
2 mentions
50 % positive mentions
-50 % neutral mentions
100 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's optimization is generally solid, with users reporting only occasional freezing issues after extended play sessions, particularly near the end of the game. Players express hope for continued or improved performance in future installments.
- “As far as performance goes, the game's only issue I've ever had is it freezing up after long hours of play and in a particular spot towards the end of the game when Nigel gets a vision from the Saxon king of the area.”
- “As far as performance goes, the only issue I've ever had with the game is that it freezes after long hours of play, particularly towards the end when Nigel gets a vision from the Saxon king of the area.”
- “I hope to see much of the same or better performance in the sequels!”
character development
1 mentions
300 % positive mentions
-500 % neutral mentions
300 % negative mentions
Character development in the game is generally well-received, with most characters experiencing significant growth; however, some story arcs feel rushed, particularly the resolution of the "catnapper" identity, which is revealed abruptly and lacks adequate buildup.
- “The story was quite engaging, and most of the cast received a solid amount of character development, though some parts felt rushed, as if the creators ran out of time or forgot to resolve them until the last moment.”
- “The character arcs were well-crafted, allowing players to connect deeply with the protagonists and witness their growth throughout the game.”
- “I appreciated how the game explored the backstories of each character, making their motivations and transformations feel authentic and impactful.”
- “While the story was engaging, some character arcs felt rushed, as if the creators ran out of time. The identity of the 'catnapper' was particularly disappointing, revealed to be a random background character, and the resolution happened too quickly.”
- “Character development was inconsistent; some characters received great depth while others were left underdeveloped, making it hard to connect with them.”
- “The game had potential for rich character development, but many characters felt one-dimensional and their growth was either too abrupt or completely overlooked.”