The Crooked Man

The Crooked Man mixes that old-school adventure vibe with a spooky atmosphere, gripping storyline and plenty of seriously scary moments to fantastic effect, making it a treat for horror lovers everywhere.

Indie Horror

The Crooked Man is an indie horror game developed in Wolf RPG Editor that takes its inspiration from a classic English nursery rhyme and which proves to be just as creepy as its namesake. It mixes that old-school adventure vibe with a spooky atmosphere, gripping storyline and plenty of seriously scary moments to fantastic effect, making it a treat for horror lovers everywhere.

The Story

The story tells the tale of one David Hoover, a man going through a bit of rough patch in his life and who moves into a new apartment in an attempt to start things anew. In typical horror movie fashion, he experiences a few odd and rather unsettling events that he can’t quite explain, so he decides to seek out the apartment’s previous tenant, hoping he can shed some light on what’s going on and convince Hoover that he’s not going completely barking mad.

What follows is ...

What follows is a genuinely unsettling experience that features a superbly chilling antagonist that is destined to join the ranks of Pyramid Head, the Slender Man and the stars of Five Nights at Freddy’s in video gaming’s hall of fame for villains. It all starts out fairly harmless enough, with the player exploring their new apartment only to find weird notes stuffed under their bed, strange noises emanating from all around and random inexplicable events like the TV turning on by itself and bloody footprints appearing from nowhere. However, the tension soon cranks up quite severely and it’s not long before you’re exploring some freaky environments where the shocks come faster and harder as the Crooked Man himself shows up.

Storyline

To say much more of the game’s storyline would be to spoil the enjoyment which comes from playing it blind, but it’s enough to say that it keeps you hooked right to the end and displays a depth and range of emotion that is surprising. There are some genuinely touching moments which make you realise how affecting video games can be, even without flashy cutscenes, and although some of the dialogue is a little on-the-nose, this is a minor complaint.

The visuals

The visuals are pretty simple stuff, but have a charming retro, pixel-art feel to them and make excellent use of a subdued colour scheme to bring home the grim and gritty world of the Crooked Man, making things pleasingly atmospheric. The gameplay itself isn’t exactly complex and largely involves following the linear narrative and collecting the correct item at the right moment in order to trigger the next story event, but this simplicity contributes much to the game’s appeal. Exploring is rarely less than intriguing thanks to the clever design work on display here, while the timing of the key scares and dramatic moments is well handled, and you never have to go for long without something interesting happening.

Top notch stuff

As far as indie horror games go, this is top notch stuff. It’s got all the mood and shocks you could hope for and is backed up by a fascinating storyline that packs a lot of punch beyond the horror, and which features a charismatic, memorable and undeniably creepy villain. Even better, it’s completely free, so if you’re a horror fan, there really is no excuse not to check it out.

The Crooked Man | Part 1 | A NEW NIGHTMARE

Markiplier did 5 episodes and this is just the first part.