Draugen Reviews
Draugen tells a beautiful story that fans of the genre won’t want to miss. A runtime of only two or three hours, depending on how much extra exploring you do, should allow for the game to be completed in just a couple of sessions.
In some ways, those adjectives suit Draugen as a whole. Slightly dated game design and some poorly telegraphed narrative elements aside, the game makes for a wonderful four-hour adventure. The town of Graavik is a delight to look at, and the stories it hides drag players deep into the mystery. The design tropes of walking simulators are backed up with more logical cause than is often the case, while the story leaves just enough open to keep the player thinking after the credits have ceased to roll. Draugen seems unlikely to win any awards for originality, but it shows what mastery of the ‘walking simulator’ format looks like.
What starts as a mystery tale about the protagonist’s sister disappearance turns into a journey into obsession, what make us obsessed and how it can make us blind to the world around us. Extremely compelling and sometimes, even heartbreaking.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
From bothersome, stiff animations to stories that often stumble, failing to successfully transmit their gravity past the screen, unearthing Draugen’s excellent parts requires a fair bit of digging through its less impressive ones.
Many plot threads are resolved, and the observant will be able to narrow down the catalyst for the overarching mystery to two possibilities, but a number of details and ancillary mysteries are left unaddressed so as to impart to the ending the same feeling of creeping uncertainty that defines much of the preceding game.
Draugen can be a thrilling experience at times, but its unimaginative gameplay and weak finale knock it down a peg or two.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
There's Norway you won't be engrossed in this beautifully crafted and well written Scandinavian mystery.