Allogloom review

• Reviews by Serena Nelson
• Published:

Beautifully macabre point-and-click should cheer up any fan of surreal, Fran Boy-like adventures

As rational beings we are expected to see reality as it is, but for pure escapism, there’s nothing quite like embracing the strange and surreal. There’s plenty of that in Allogloom, an experience that ranges from merely curiously unusual to downright otherworldly and quite macabre. In this beautiful point-and-click adventure, nothing is as it seems. What starts out as a festival honoring the dearly departed devolves quickly into a search for lost family members taken by mysterious, unnerving creatures. By leaving behind your home and venturing into unknown territory, you’ll discover more about yourself and the world around you, though these answers come at a cost. Anyone who is a fan of the dark and mysterious should find something to like here, both for its effective use of body horror and its more introspective, psychological nature.

You play as a young girl named Nora as she’s getting ready for what her people call a Soul Passage, a funereal rite in her ominously named forest village of Gruesome Grove. During this ceremony, overseen by a religious figure known as the Moth Minder, mystical moths carry the bodies of the dead to their next resting place. In the world of Allogloom, the golden moth is revered and the penalty for harming or killing one is severe. What happens after they depart with a new human soul (or this world’s equivalent) is anyone’s guess. Not even the residents know for sure where they go.

In the first of eight chapters, it’s up to you to procure a dish to take to the ritual, which is easier said than done with a thieving pet bird flapping around. This introduces us to the core mechanics, which any veteran adventure game fan should find familiar. With single mouse clicks you’ll be picking stuff up, combining some of it, and then using said items in the environment to solve puzzles. You’ll do a lot of talking to other characters too, though none are Nora’s mother, who mysteriously disappeared on the same day last year, leaving her family to grapple with the tragedy of her loss while tending to their plant shop.

The story starts out innocently enough, but in subsequent chapters the tone becomes much darker and more surreal. Nora’s brother gets grabbed by a weird, fleshy mass of tentacles and mouths, so it’s up to you to rescue him. After following the monster farther into the village, you soon discover the full devastation wrought by these grotesque beings. Buildings are in shambles, blood is everywhere, and even body parts are strewn about (a couple of which you need to retrieve). Quite a few other villagers have been abducted too, for reasons known only to the horrific creatures that captured them. With everything in complete disarray, you are tasked with procuring a wheel that will open the door into the forbidden Bone Forest where these creatures came from.

Once you’ve made your way deeper into the forest, you discover a pool surrounded by strange stones. After helping the Moth Minder out of a jam, he gives you his staff, which acts as a conduit that powers the stone circle. These stones act as a gateway to other realms, some much more disturbing than the others. One world can best be described as post-apocalyptic, its landscape totally flooded with a sacred tree being blocked off by a force field. Another is more modern, the one from whence Nora’s mother came. This place has been overrun by some strange disease, and the remaining people there are suffering from weird mutations. A third is devoid of all human life save one person who has holed herself up inside a tree.

A good portion of Allogloom takes place in these varied locations as you nurture a strange golden larva-looking thing called a Shepherd Moth. Doing so requires visiting these disparate locations and urging the moths in those realms to give you part of their essence to feed it and help it grow into its final stage. Only then can you use its power and the magical staff to unlock the place where all of this wickedness started. To say that something weird is happening in these worlds is an understatement, and the final revelation of what exactly is going on is well worth the effort.

No matter where you go, the hand-drawn artwork is a tastefully macabre feast for the eyes. The cartoony look is reminiscent of Fran Bow, another creepy-cute point-and-click adventure game with dark and depressing tones. It’s like if Tim Burton were to create an interactive experience rather than just movies. There is plenty of death and decay to be found, as well as mutated creatures that would make David Cronenberg happy. The mutations themselves are rather disgusting, ranging from just a pile of feet fused together to a huge lump of flesh and multiple eyes, and even a face stuck to the wall that needs moisturizing to move. What these beasts actually are is eventually explained, which makes their fates all the more disturbing.

The people themselves look like they could have been in a Burton animated movie. Nora is wide-eyed and expressive, looking pretty in her skirt and hair wreath for the ceremony at first. Before long, though, her clothes become dirty and her face stained with what appear to be tears of blood once she reaches the Bone Forest. Aside from the young protagonist, few of the characters in Allogloom, whether human or otherwise, move much beyond a light swaying, though the kleptomaniac bird that hovers around the village does flit about as it finds something shiny to dive down and grab, hiding it from Nora. There aren’t many but some environmental animations, such as flowing water and the flickering of computer screens,  bring these disparate worlds to life.

Allogloom

Genre:	Fantasy, Mystery
Presentation:	2D or 2.5D, Side-scroller
Theme:	Monsters, Rescue, Missing persons
Perspective:	Third-Person
Graphic Style:	Illustrated realism
Gameplay:	Puzzle, Quest
Control:	Point-and-click
Game Length:	Short (1-5 hours)
Difficulty:	Low

The audio work is just as eerie. The music is beautifully composed, with creepy tones including cymbals, drums, and woodwinds occupying a place at the back of the mind, all making you feel uneasy throughout. Sound effects also add to the atmosphere with the occasional banging on walls, the creaking of trees and wood, and the unearthly howling of the tentacle monsters when you encounter them. Allogloom isn’t a horror game in the traditional sense, but it is most definitely a game you want to play in the dark for the full haunting experience. 

It’s unfortunate that there are no voice-overs, but you do get a sense of personality from all of the NPCs you talk to throughout. There is a sort of naivety and world wonder in Nora herself that really resonated with me. Everything she encountered was new to her, and it showed in her genuine awe and other honest reactions. Even while the story itself is dark and somewhat depressing, she took care to stop and take in her surroundings.

The controls for this game are pretty straightforward: click to move around the screen and interact with various hotspots. When you mouse over something that can be clicked on, the cursor changes to the appropriate icon: speech bubble to talk, hand icon to pick up, and an eye icon to look at things. You can see all available hotspots on the current screen by holding down the “Shift” key. There are manual save slots, but only three are available. While I would have loved to see a few more than that, at least it doesn’t force you to rely solely on an autosave, and more aren’t strictly needed as there are no deaths or fail states.

There are plenty of inventory-related puzzles to be solved, and what you are carrying can be seen by clicking the hidden backpack icon in the lower left corner of the screen. Here you can combine items together or select them for use in the environment. You’ll be doing a lot of this, but these are far from the only elements that will make you think. Also included are a few logic brainteasers, such as a rotating tile puzzle and a few levers and dials you need to move around to get power flowing to different locations. There are also various computer terminals you need to gain access to in order to get more information and open up other avenues of exploration. 

These puzzles are well-designed and are rather enjoyable to solve. Some of them can be tricky, but with a little thought, careful observation and a bit of experimentation they shouldn’t be too hard to grasp. In fact, a lot of the requirements to get past them are either spelled out for you, or there are obvious hints as to what needs to be done. A fair number of characters you encounter state outright what’s required of you, or at least push you in the right direction. From there, it’s just a matter of finding the items you need or a written clue to how to get past a puzzle. 

The first seven chapters of Allogloom are slow and leisurely. By contrast, the eighth and final chapter really ramps up and speeds things along. Without spoiling anything, I can say that the lengthy climax finally explains all the body horror you’ve encountered and just what the legendary Edith – a character revered by the people of Gruesome Grove and tied deeply to the golden moths – has to do with all of the terrible goings-on. It can feel slightly jarring having so much exposition dumped on you at the end, but upon learning the truth I can enthusiastically say that the destination was well worth the journey. 

The game is pretty short, lasting slightly over four hours for me, but the narrative kept me glued to the screen wanting to know more. Making my way through such distinctly different realms was a blast, as each has its own flavor tied to the overall plot. There is an additional sense of awe and discovery as Nora is forced to face more about herself in the process. I wouldn’t have minded a bit more backstory in the earlier chapters, but it makes sense to keep players in the dark as Nora slowly learns what is happening and her place in these connected worlds. The epilogue provides satisfying closure, while also leaving room for a sequel.

Final Verdict

Allogloom is a game that really messes with your head, as deeper and deeper you go down the rabbit hole, the stranger the experience becomes. This point-and-click adventure game is full of body horror and cartoon viscera, but don’t let these deter you from a worthy tale of other worlds and how one perceives reality. The search for loved ones taken by monsters ends up being a journey of discovery both internal and external through the strange lands you encounter. It’s as beautiful as it is macabre, with wonderfully strange landscapes and interesting characters to interact with. For fans of games like Fran Bow or anyone who enjoys dark and surreal stories, the tale of Nora and her magic moth comes highly recommended. 

Serena played Allogloom on PC using a review code provided by the game's publisher.

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