Goetia

Oakmarsh feels less like a haunted house and more like a memory rotting from the inside. Goetia is a hand-drawn 2D adventure steeped in Victorian occultism, following Abigail Blackwood, a young woman who wakes as a ghost four decades after her death. Her family’s estate has collapsed into ruin, its surrounding village lies deserted, and every dusty corridor suggests that the Blackwoods’ experiments went far beyond eccentric spiritualism. The mood is mournful and unsettling rather than reliant on cheap shocks, with an atmospheric progressive-rock and ambient score giving the mystery an unusually dreamlike edge.

Abigail cannot fight, but she has far more interesting tools than a weapon. As a spirit, she slips through certain walls, inhabits objects, moves furniture, stacks crates, activates mechanisms, and carries items through the manor’s sprawling network of rooms. Progress revolves around observation and experimentation: a blocked path may require an improvised platform, a possessed lever, a hidden passage, or an entirely different route through the estate. The world is open enough to let players leave a stubborn puzzle behind and investigate the woods, caves, ruined village, or another wing of Blackwood Manor instead. New spectral abilities and secrets gradually expand where Abigail can travel, making backtracking feel purposeful rather than like busywork.

What distinguishes Goetia from traditional point-and-click adventures is how naturally its ghost premise shapes every puzzle. Instead of simply collecting inventory items and trying them on everything, players manipulate the environment with a physical, poltergeist-like logic that often supports multiple solutions. More than ninety interconnected rooms reward careful note-taking, attention to visual clues, and a willingness to test unusual ideas, while the story unfolds through the traces left by a family consumed by obsession. Fans of atmospheric puzzle adventures such as The Room, Machinarium, or classic Myst-style exploration should find plenty to enjoy. It suits patient newcomers, though seasoned adventure players who appreciate non-linear maps and demanding environmental puzzles get the most from its haunted estate.