Pure English Schizophrenia. Servant of the Lake Review

Servant of the Lake is a classic point-and-click adventure game. Here you need to collect items and use them to solve puzzles. But to solve them, you'll have to understand the game's insane logic: every item can have an unexpected use.

Roots of Madness

Point-and-click adventure games are proud representatives of their time. In them, you have to walk around locations, collect everything that's not nailed down, and find the most unexpected uses for items. Domestic examples like "Petka and Vasily Ivanovich" or "Pilot Brothers" come to mind. Or German quests from Daedalic.

The Rusty Lake series of games is full of mysteries, intrigues, family feuds, and witchcraft. In them, you have to perform incomprehensible and often cruel actions that are natural for the main characters. One rule remains constant: "You can never escape the influence of the Rusty Lake." Servant of the Lake is a prequel, where the madness of the series' games is just beginning.

Like its predecessors, the game stands out with simple graphics, suitable for enthusiast works from the Newgrounds website. At the same time, detailed elements, such as character portraits, look organic in it. The sounds and music in the game are also of high quality, making you tense up and relax at the right moments. It is also worth noting the good translation into Russian, which preserves the nuances in the text necessary for solving puzzles.

A Family of Underachievers

The main character has an unenviable fate: he will have to work for three days and three nights as a servant in the mysterious Vanderboom mansion. He has to work in a remote place with a bad reputation. Around the mansion is only wild nature; the coachman who brings guests is the only representative of external civilization.

Along with the maid, all the work in the mansion was entrusted to the hero. He must clean the rooms, wash clothes, cook, serve food, and attend to the Vanderboom family – the owners of the mansion.

The Vanderbooms are typical English lords. They are prim, calm, and measured. In the mansion, they lead a boring lifestyle, and "behind the scenes" they weave sinister intrigues. Their "sweet" revelries end in the destruction of furniture and lives. And the same servants have to clean up after them.

Each of the three family members is not accustomed to performing daily tasks. They need to be woken up, dressed, bathed. Their excellencies literally need to be spoon-fed. If a toast needs to be made, the servant will have to find a spoon and tap it on the glass – Vanderboom himself will not stoop to that. The game's action takes place in 1839, but the local gentlemen are helpless even by the standards of that time.

The Secret of Rusty Lake

Each day in the game is divided into convenient segments. In each segment, you need to complete certain tasks: wash laundry, clean up, prepare a bath. This is a convenient system where space and objects are limited – you can even get through it by "trial and error." One segment resembles the mechanics of The Exit 8, where you have to wander through the mansion and look for anomalies.

Nothing is simple in the game. You'll have to solve puzzles to pay the coachman, light candles, and get candles. The mistress needs her hair combed, but there's no comb? Well, there's a rat nearby that's perfect for the job!

The difficulty of the puzzles increases as you progress. At the beginning, it's enough to pay attention to the marks on objects to arrange them correctly, and the use of items is logical and clear.

Difficulties begin with the witchcraft. You need to pay attention to changing paintings and observe the mansion from the window. The Vanderbooms are fascinated by esotericism and the secret of the "elixir of life and death." And, of course, you'll have to understand alchemy to prepare it.

Verdict

Servant of the Lake is the first game in the universe I've had the pleasure of experiencing. It's unusual and captivating. After witnessing the intrigues, I want to play the sequels to find out what happened in the mansion.

The project is a strong representative of its genre. The segmentation allows you not to keep dozens of items in mind and think about their use. It took me 5 hours to complete and find the secrets. The puzzles were interesting, moderately difficult, and rarely repetitive, making Servant of the Lake excellent entertainment for a couple of evenings.