The Tragedy at Deer Creek captured my attention last year at AdventureX. Its appealing visuals drew me in, and what seemed to be gentle point-and-click puzzles entertained me enough to want more once the demo was finished. And while the full game has retained much of the charm I experienced, the puzzle side is much more obtuse than I originally thought.
You play as Charlotte Grey, an amateur investigator who’s leaving home to explore Deer Creek for her latest assignment. Through the game’s first cut scene, we find Charlotte packing while talking to a loved one on the phone. Plane ticket in hand to the snowy lands of Alaska, Charlotte jumps in a taxi, and the next time we meet up with her, we are deep in the snowy wilderness, ready to find out what exactly happened to the people that once lived here.
We start by needing to capture a Polaroid of each building in the camp, but of course this isn’t as easy as it sounds. Problems and obstacles get in the way of Charlotte’s investigation, and these can only be cleared by solving the many obtuse point-and-click puzzles. These are the bedrock of the game, and to find the solutions, one will need a well-trained adventure game brain, as they can be quite tricky to figure out. You need a key that’s in a locked drawer, but to open it requires another four or five steps to reach the goal, all with their own puzzles that need solving. If your brain isn’t wired to this type of puzzling, it can lead to some frustration and aimless exploration while you hope to accidentally stumble across a solution.
One game mechanic that can help is Charlotte’s journal, which notes all your important information. This can be used to help with figuring out what to do next with listed objectives, photos taken and found documents and pictures. This is all presented in a careful and thoughtful way, helping to immerse yourself in figuring out what actually happened to the residents and to hopefully find something to give you a nudge to the solution of a puzzle you may be stuck on.
What the game does really well is the eerie atmosphere it creates, which I felt the entire time playing. The isolation that Charlotte feels being alone in the woods oozes out of the screen thanks to its quality visuals that harken back to the games of the 90s. Its sound design and moody music really help to heighten this feeling. It really elevated my time with the game and propelled my wanting to find out more about the inhabitants, Deer Creek’s history and Charlotte’s journey.
The game controls as a point and click should. You use a pointer to choose which building to enter, change rooms, interact with objects and choose which direction to move in. I played on Steam Deck, and although it needed a Proton GE compatibility layer added to make the visuals show, it played well, with the trackpad and shoulder buttons being a competent replacement for a mouse.
As first impressions go, The Tragedy at Deer Creek did a fine job. It performs well with no issues with bugs or framerate. Its eerie, mysterious and isolated ambience really shines through, making it one that etches into your mind in the time between playthroughs. It’s not going to be for everyone, but for those that thrive on obtuse puzzling that’s wrapped around a compelling mystery, then you’ll be in your element.
Look out for a full review of The Tragedy of Deer Creek in the very near future.
