Review | Døm Rusalok

Døm Rusalok is a foray into Russia’s horrors, specifically the crumbling Soviet Empire of the 1990s. It is a point-and-click adventure game with a heavy emphasis on story, a complex adventure and rather disturbing psychological horror. It is a thriller similar to that of Remigiusz Michalski’s The Cat Lady.

The game begins with you as a child staying with our grandparents. You are told that you must play outside. The game instantly plays with creepy “too normal to be normal” storytelling. You spend the opening getting to know the characters of the game and exploring this town’s scenery. Eventually, though, these friends of yours and you discover an abandoned building, “The House of Mermaids,” (that is English for Døm Rusalok ). Which quickly turns out to be more like a house of horrors.

Any странные вещи fans here.
(Google Translate is your friend)

At this point, you learn about a missing child, only discover a videotape and photos depicting you and your friends alongside that missing child. That is just the beginning of the psychological trickery Døm Rusalok focuses on. As the game progresses, you will be introduced to monsters, visions, and at several points, your character will faint, only to wake up to more horrific urban legends of the Soviet-era.
While short, clocking in at only three or four hours long, the game has a good pace that kept me intrigued and wanting to know more. Fair warning, though, be ready for an unnerving feeling of dread throughout the game, only made more nerve-shredding by unexpected twists and being left with more questions than answers by the end. 

Døm Rusalok has quite an interesting style. While it is two dimensional throughout the game, there is a mix of 8-bit 16-bit art, and then the characters and background are sometimes a semi-realistic hand-drawn style. There appears to be no consistency which at times does take one out of the immersion. That being said, the art does fit the eerie theme of confusion and mystery and goes well with the early 90’s post-Soviet Russia setting. The slums feel dilapidated and dire. The rundown overbearing brutalist Soviet buildings overwhelming stagnant and the uncomfortably warm summer surrounding them makes it feel like you are being watched. Døm Rusalok even seems to somehow capture the realism and nature of how people acted during this time.

The sound in Døm Rusalok knows precisely how to keep you in a constant state of unease—it is the exact thing you could imagine playing during a long, dark, stormy night. The sort of music and sounds that would result in you getting no sleep. You will hear the crackling of broken speakers and the noise of nature around you as you have conversations outside. As things get stranger, the voices of omnipotence from the spectral realm and other sounds become darker in tone and more aggressive in their haunting nature.  

I’m going to guess that this isn’t one of those “friendly indoor fogs”.

Døm Rusalok is a point-and-click game. It’s pretty standard fare: you click to move around and interact with items. Then you find ways to use these items as you progress through the game. Despite its adult tone, the puzzles are incredibly straightforward. Even people who usually struggle with puzzle games may feel that they are too easy—never feeling any achievement when they progress. However, this may be a good thing, as it keeps the story moving.

While there is a Metroidvania aspect of backtracking, this is done in small bursts, and it is not like you will need to plot out a map. You will not need to traverse large areas to progress; nevertheless, each area you visit is linked to a deeper, darker past, intertwined with each other.

Conclusion

If you like to solve mysteries, enjoy a creepy story, plenty of lore, and psychological thrills, Døm Rusalok is the game for you. This is especially the case if you are a sucker for Soviet History, Early Post-Soviet Russia and Russian Folklore. Døm Rusalok is a game shrouded in mystery, enhanced by its sound design and its creepy take on the early post-Soviet atmosphere.

If you fancy your point-and-click games with a bit more puzzles, this might not be for you, though. However, I would still suggest that Døm Rusalok deserves to be checked out because it is a short game, and its open ending will leave you with a lot to think about.