The Edgar Allan Poe Horror Game | The Dark Eye

Halloween's right around the corner and I  figured what better way to kick off this spooky season than to take a look at a game  inspired by one of the forefathers of Gothic horror Mr Edgar Allan Poe yep there's an Edgar  Allan Poe Adventure game unfortunately we won't be playing as The Eccentric author reenacting  his tumultuous life marrying our cousin and dying under mysterious circumstances as awesome  of an idea as that would be probably instead we'll be going through three of his more famo

us  works of prose from the perspective of both the victim and the victimizer neat concept so  let's take a look at the dark eye foreign the dark eye was developed by Inscape, who're  probably most well remembered for their very first game bad day on the Midway and we'll get to  that one someday the dark eye was released in 1995 to an overwhelming from critics and Gamers  although Entertainment Weekly that Paragon of gaming Savvy gave it an A so uh yeah there  you go in the dark eye you take the

role of an unnamed protagonist who's invited to the seaside  estate of his uncle an eccentric painter this is an original frame narrative that was created  for the game but it takes heavy inspiration from Poe's usual bag of fictional tricks upon  arriving at the house you're greeted by the oh my my God what's wrong with your face okay well  you've kind of forced my hand here so let's talk about the art style before we go into the story  it really is the thing that sets the game apart if you pla

yed the previously mentioned bad  day on the Midway then you'll already have an idea of this game's look these clay modeled  characters were a feature of that game as well though here they take on an even more uncanny  nature the clay puppet-like characters in the dark eye are very off-kilter and often disturbing  especially their little animations and sometimes they do more exaggerated things like I mean what  is this a dance party [Music] anyway we're let inside the house by this freak of natu

re who's  the Butler and we're free then to wander around the game is made up of static images and you  use this hand cursor to move about it has these different animations for turning or interacting  with objects which is a nice touch it can be a bit finicky though and you need to keep it slightly  away from the edge of the screen when trying to turn otherwise it won't register your click adding  further to the uncanniness and creepy Vibes of the game the house looks abandoned at first with  em

pty rooms floorboards and disrepair stains on the walls there's even room on the second floor  that has an entire wall missing and what's up with that unnaturally Blue Sky it's like a Windows 98  wallpaper you can't see any ground anywhere either even on the first floor making it feel like the  house is floating like you've clearly entered some other reality it's very effective at drawing you  into the world and atmosphere the house has three floors and a basement but the butler is down there  a

lways telling you to stay out of the cellar but you can go back there anyway there's nothing to do  here for now then there's this room okay there's no music while wandering the house you'll just  hear your own footsteps on the wooden floorboards though there are some musical tracks at certain  points mostly in dramatic moments they feature Bells violins pianos I feel like it creates an  atmosphere that aligns with the late Victorian Gothic time period of pose writing which is most  likely the t

ime period the frame narrative is supposed to be set in as well judging by the  character's clothing and the technology in the house you'll find Uncle Edwin in his Studio  near the entrance of the house painting I'm so glad you came I find that the pleasant  company of My Relations calms my nerves Uncle Edwin here is voiced by poet and author  William S Burroughs which is a strange get Burroughs is probably best known for his novel  Naked Lunch which was adapted into a 1991 film directed by Davi

d Cronenberg you know the dude  who did movies like video Drome and the Fly oh that's disgusting now Burrows was no stranger  to performances still voice acting a video game character would have probably seemed  a bit out of left field but it really works he gives Uncle Edwin the perfect tired old yet  eccentric quality that he needs to really come alive as a character there are also some out  of the way areas you can explore in the game to find bonus cutscenes with Burrows reading  the Poe shor

t story The Mask of the Red Death and the poem Annabelle Lee accompanied by some  excellent visual design from the inscape team anyway I keep getting sidetracked by all this  cool [ __ ] after saying hi to Uncle Edwin you can head upstairs to find your brother Henry and  your cousin Elise Edwin's daughter cousin you oh we're so we're silly your brother delighted  to see you please join us Elise expresses concern about Uncle Edwin being consumed by his paintings  then you go play piano [Music] [A

pplause] who the [ __ ] is clapping back downstairs you  sniff some of Uncle Edwin's paint thinner because hell weekend with the family you're gonna need to  have some chemicals to get through this careful I use a special thinner the fuel is gonna do all  sort of damage to you a better I knew barely went mad from it poor soul he scratched out his own  eyes in a fit of frenzy his own eyes you don't say just watch as you keep the windows open you don't  say after that you'll fall unconscious and b

e in a nightmare version of the house I mean the place  already kind of looked like a nightmare but now it's completely empty the sky outside is orange  and there's a Sinister Whispering as you explore finally we're at the point where Poe's stories  come in as you wander The Nightmare House there are three rooms that will take you to a specific  Poe story Edwin's study is Berenice the upstairs room where Henry and Elise were is The Cask of  Amontillado and the Fish Room is The Telltale Heart eac

h room has two interactive items and  the items represent both the victim and the murderer of the story so you play through these  stories from both perspectives which is kind of neat since the Original Stories only showed  the narrative Through The murderer's Eyes you can interact with these items in whatever  order you want to so there's a degree of freedom in how you experience the game and that's  basically it for gameplay choosing which items to interact with and moving around the house are

  really the only elements here so yeah this is a narrative and Atmospheric experience more  than anything so spoilers from here on out if you've never read any of these Edgar Allan Poe  stories I guess or if you don't want the central narrative spoiled the game has been largely  forgotten and isn't available to purchase but it's playable on Modern systems by downloading  it from the collection chamber as always their saviors when it comes to these old PC games link  in the description if you wa

nt to try it yourself also in the description you'll find a link to  my Patreon you can donate and join these other dungeon dwellers in supporting this channel you  get to watch videos early and get your name in these credits so become a dungeon dweller join us  anyway in my playthrough I stumbled into Edwin's study first and inspected The Birdcage  which leads us into the story of Berenice The Birdcage puts us in the role of the  victim of this story Berenice herself ugh I'm never gonna get use

d to that inside the  vanity Berenice finds a crumpled up note to Eeeeegaeuuuuuss and a letter on the desk addressed  to someone named Emily cousin Eeeeegaeuuuuuss is mentioned here too it's kind of hard to  make out this chicken scratch especially at this resolution inspecting the medicine on the  desk will trigger a doctor's voice explaining that Berenice has some kind of Affliction that  requires bed rest so she takes a big old slurp of medicine and is on her way also on the desk  is this cre

epy ass photo and a book that's got a Bonus Edgar Allan Poe poem inside to Helen me when  baroness gets in bed Catherine the maid comes in to check on her good morning Miss I thought I'd  look in to see if you're feeling something better yes yes thank you Catherine yes Miss and  now we can leave the room downstairs in the only other accessible room we meet cousin in  his study and out of the clear blue Berenice will you marry me Egaeus... oh Egaeus okay well  don't I feel like a piece of [ __ ]

oh I will.. I I know fetch the doctor find her medicine so after a few days of rest Berenice is up and  about writing another letter to Emily and starts to doubt Egaeus' proposal after that Catherine  busts in and shows off her moves no enough that then Berenice goes to visit Egeaus again and  then he starts in with the dancing [Music] darling oh you're occupied yeah that's what that  is when Berenice leaves Egaeus' room her vision gets fuzzy I don't know maybe she got the vapors  from his sick

moves but she fumbles the medicine my medicine oh Bernice then wakes up in a coffin  with the only option being to bang on the lid [Music] we come to back in Uncle Edwin's study and find  that the painting on the floor is changed Edwin explains it's a portrait of his mother this  portrait will change every time we come back from a Poe short story upstairs we find Henry  in his room who tells us he wants to marry Elise really bro from the note that Henry leaves we find  that Elise is flattered bu

t also a bit unsure so she's spending time alone Edwin isn't too happy  when Henry tries to ask permission to marry her I won't hear it I simply won't hear of it Edwin  please see reason she's far too young for you for any man are you insane she's your cousin for  God's sake yeah dude seriously after the scene we're transported to the Nightmare House again so  let's head to Edwin study and this time inspect the knife on the desk to get a Egaeus' side of the  story this is the perspective that th

e post story baroness takes so we get a lot of excerpts  taken from the narrative itself and Egaeus was attracted to Berenice when she was young  and beautiful but then she became ill and now disgusts him and he begins to think that he  never really loved her at all Egaeus also has a few screws loose he spends all day in his  family Library being distracted by random objects and Shadows on the walls and Floors sometimes  for the entire day Berenice comes in just like in her side of the story and

asks suggest to  take a stroll with her here we get a close-up of Berenice's face with strange images in her  eyes I actually missed this bit in Berenice's scenario because I didn't click on Egeaus  when this little bell chiming jingle started this is a timed thing and if you click on the  other character's eyes you'll then be transported into their scenario now this is kind of neat  because you have a chance to play different parts of the scenarios at different times every  story has a moment

like this where you'll be allowed to jump into the other character's  perspective it also lines up pretty well with the pose Source material if you've ever read any  of the short stories or poetry you'll know that he often focuses in on his character's eyes to  hint their mental state and the game zeroes in on this during these moments however it's not  so great when you've already completed that character side of the story because then you have  to play through it again and wait until you get t

o the point in the story when you can jump back  or finish it also this is a good time to mention that when you open the menu you have this head map  thing the eye represents the player character in the uncle Edwin story and then there are images  that relate to each character's scenario in the pose stories however clicking on an already  completed scenario will send you into that scenario and there's no way to open up the map and  jump back to the scenario you came from until you finish the sce

nario you've jumped into I hope  that makes sense it's a bit confusing but it's something I found out the hard way because I had  to play through Berenice's scenario three times and no nothing changes on repeat playthroughs so  don't click the character's eyes and don't mess with the head map anyway Egaeus asks Berenice  to marry him and it doesn't make a whole lot of sense and the game doesn't provide context but if  you've read the short story you find out that he does it really just to [ __ ]

with her from the  original story now I shuddered in her presence and grew pale at her approach yet bitterly  lamenting her fallen in desolate condition I called to mind that she had loved me long and in  an evil moment I spoke to her of marriage we also understand a bit more of what was going on when  she came in and he just started gyrating he gets distracted by her sickly face and specifically  her teeth she leaves and Egeaus starts losing it eventually you'll start hearing the word  teeth a

nd start seeing teeth teeth teeth teeth the portrait of Egeaus' father will change  so will the bust in the corner of the room finally Egeaus finds out Berenice  has died [Music] she is no more we don't get to see what happens next  then we're back in a Egeaus' study oh the Lord our grave Disturbed sir her enshrouded  body bloody yet still breathing oh yes alive And Egeaus has bloody hands along with  a dirty shovel near the fireplace and the strange box on the desk we couldn't  investigate earl

ier filled with teeth [Applause] back at Uncle Edwin's he's fiddling with a lamp  you're not putting pain thinner in that lamp are you Uncle your brother has just uttered your  name seducing his cousin still in her minority once the dread Mark is made it cannot be struck  out we avoid complete disgrace only by taking immediate action immediate action yeah that's  not suspicious at all we find Elise up in the piano room and she's pretty upset about not being  able to talk to Henry so she asks us

to pass him a note and yeah screw that old fart I'll do it  but first why don't I play some piano [Music] blood that's probably not good and  now we're back in the nightmare house so let's take a look at this  wine bottle over here on the table here we take the role of Montresore who wants  revenge on his once friend Fortinado so we get to wander around this Italian city at night during  a masquerade which is a cool setting the best thing about the dark eyes retelling of The Cask of  Amontillado

is that we get more of an idea of what it is Fortunato has done that makes Montresore  want to kill him in the original story it's left up to the imagination but in the game Montresore  hints that Fortunado slept with his wife anyway Montresor lures Fortunato away from the revelry on  the streets with the promise of a very expensive wine the Amontillado but I have my doubts but I  have my doubts lucasi has a Discerning palette perhaps he could take a sip look Casey can't tell  amontillado from

gutter water so Montrose leads Fortunato back to his Villa and they head to the  catacombs underneath the house where Montrose has stored the amantillado all the while feigning  concern over Fortunado's Health knowing that it will only spur fortinado onward and damn Fortunado  yeah this looks like a place I'd want to be alone with the guy whose wife I slept with anyway  Montresore gets Fortunado Tipsy on some other wine and leads him further into the catacombs to  a small alcove where he promise

s the Amontillado is kept then he chains him to the wall and starts  breaking him in there so as Montresore were forced to build up the Wall Brick by Brick row by row  as Fortunado Cries Out helplessly oh my God yes for the love of God then we just believe him  there and exit the catacombs peace out Fortunato back at Uncle Edwin's we take Elise's  note to Henry which sets him on a path to running away with Elise we must  take Elise from this dark place you my brother you must help me all right y

ou just  back up a piece I am the mistress Elise is no more she is dead yeah we got it the first time thanks  investigating elise's room we find Edwin putting on his best grief-stricken performance Edwin does  a solid and lets Henry sit with Elise for the night but he tells us to grab the lantern that he  was fiddling with earlier to give him some light while he's spending his vigil Oh you mean that  one that you didn't fill with paint thinner right so we get the lamp and bring it back then foll

ow  Edwin out of the room time for another nightmare trip let's see how things go from fortunado's  point of view in The Cask of Amontillado things start pretty similarly as we go with Montresor  back to the catacombs and follow the path through the fortunado's dumb ass wanders into the Alcove  and we get to watch as Montessori breaks us in excellent we'll have many laughs about it yeah [Music] we see this time that there's also  a skeleton down here and this triggers a memory of a woman whom we

can only assume is  Montresore's wife this is another touch that isn't in the original story and so yeah  fortunado's bricked in his wife and child Flash before his eyes and that's it the  screen Fades and he's left there to die once again back at Edwin's they've sealed up  elise's coffin and are putting her in the cellar vault because as Edwin says the ground outside is  too marshy for a burial come now peace be with her I can't bear to leave her here all alone in  the dark dear brother do lea

ve the lantern leave her a small source of light we'll go back  in the darkness so we leave the Lantern and head out which once again drops us into the nightmare  house if we turn around and head into the Vault we find a large Throne Room the going closer to  the throne kicks off one of the bonus stories which is a retelling of the Masque of the Red  Death it's the entire story too read by William S Burroughs and has some pretty cool visuals to  back it up also while in The Nightmare House if yo

u head up to the second floor where the room  with no wall is and you look out into the sky you'll get a reading of the poem Annabel  Lee but anyway in The Nightmare House we can head upstairs and check out that fish table to  experience the last post story The Telltale Heart the fisheye puts us in the role of the  old man of the story We wander around the apartment thinking about how strange the  young man who lives with us is on the kitchen table you can find a newspaper article  that gives yo

u a summary of another post story The premature burial which also may be  a callback to the Berenice story and possibly some foreshadowing there's not a whole lot  to the old man's side of the story we eat some soup hum to ourselves look at all the  crap we've collected over the years you know old man [ __ ] eventually the young man will  come home we sit down and eat some more soup then head to bed after this weird  sequence with some images floating in front of us which is probably meant to  r

epresent a dream we wake up to see someone approach us in our room with a lantern  who's there what could it be someone and that's a wrap for the old man meanwhile  back at Uncle Edwin's we find Henry in the sky room hanging out he believes Elise is still  alive Edwin tells us Henry has lost his mind he also knows we took notes between Elise and Henry  so he tells us to take one that he's written he believes it leaves to be alive let him receive  a letter from her deliver him this message they d

idn't believe it to be from Elise let him read  by her own hand that she is no more so we take the letter to Henry who reads that Elise will meet  him on the cliff outside so we run after him and get this pretty amazing shot of what this area  surrounding the house looks like Anyway Henry's Gone full on madman shouting from The Cliff when  a huge wave crashes against it and somehow Henry survived that but he ain't going to survive  getting thrown off the cliff by the butler when we turn back to

the house we find Edwin  who tells us that Henry was driven mad by the paint thinner fumes in the lantern I [ __ ]  knew it however Edwin turns his wrath against us now and we get sent back to the Nightmare  House again let's check on that butcher's knife this puts us in the role of the young man in The  Telltale Heart story as we wander the apartment this time we get the thoughts of the young man  and his desire to kill the old man who lives with him After exiting our own room we find the old m

an  sitting at the kitchen table and he doesn't really do anything except to offer some soup what is it  is it about him that makes mine my blood run cold eventually the old man goes to bed so we have to  check the clock until midnight then we head down the hall and grab the lamp and enter the old man's  room and the first night is pretty innocent just watching an old man sleep you know how be things  escalate the second night though who's there oh his heart will burst surely it will burst there

no more well better grab that  saw I worked hastily silence I dismembered the corpse and don't  forget to hide all the pieces under the floorboards later on the police arrive  the young man invites them in and even takes them to the old man's bedroom he gloats in  his own head about the fact that the police don't suspect anything has them sit down  and chat but as they Converse the young man begins to hear the heartbeat of the old  man until he can't stand it anymore [Music] confess tear up the

planks here here [Music]  it is the beating of his Hideous Heart this time we come to in the throne room and  as we try to exit we end up wandering through scenes from all of the stories that we've  experienced until we find ourselves walled up like Fortunato luckily someone has left us  a pickaxe we break down the wall and end up in the vault Elise is in fact still alive and  has broken out of her coffin though she's also clawed her own eyes out in the process the  madness-inducing fumes Henry

's premonitions all these came clear to me at once and I  could feel and hear a great rending as of a mirror-breaking roll throughout the house  growing in volume and strength and even as I looked odd the house around us the fault the  lantern Elise her bloody eyes all chattered shattered into a hundred thousand shards shattered  as did the dark depths of my very soul [Music] and that's the dark eye not much in the gameplay  department but in terms of art Direction Story and atmosphere it's a sw

eet little gem of a lost  horror game I think the way they reinterpreted the Berenice story was the best of the three  there were different environments there and you got to see a lot more of berenice's thoughts  and feelings in this story the other two while it was interesting to see the other characters  perspective they all followed the same general format and were in the same environments but  still it's an interesting effort and definitely a classic spooky experience anyway that's it for  t

his video once again check the description for a link to the collection chamber where you can  download this game for yourself if you want to there's also a link to my Twitter and Patreon if  you like what I do here please consider supporting the channel like these dungeon architects  benefit 94 Caleb and Izzy Lexus as well as these dungeon connoisseurs crippler Jones Joshua  Weber Mr independent old dead lemons true Axiom Warrior song and where am I help thanks for  the support and thank you fo

r watching more horror games are coming so until next time the  dark eye check it out dungeon chill out [Music]