Gibbous: A Cthulhu Adventure Review

At a glance, Gibbous: A Cthulhu adventure may look like another mediocre Lovecraft inspired Steam game. However, I’m happy to say that there’s more than meets the eye with this charming little point-and-click adventure game.

Typically, I and I’m sure many other gamers are fans of the more action-packed titles that are commonplace in the games industry today. With titles like Bayonetta and Doom being among my favourites, I was sure a game where all you do is click on items would bore me to death. However, that wasn’t the case here as the Gibbous features a fun and enjoyable plot that will keep you hooked to the game for the duration of its 6-hour campaign.

In the story, you spend most of your time playing as the pusillanimous and relatable Buzz Kerwan, a librarian who has been dragged into a cult conspiracy through his unintentional possession of the highly sought after Necronomicon. A mysterious and magical book hunted by various cults within the game. After accidentally using the evil tome to grant his creatively named cat Kitteh the ability to speak, Buzz and Kitteh set off on a quest to reverse the spell.

When You’re not playing as Buzz and Kitteh, you control the humorously stereotypical detective Don R. Ketype who has been hired to find the mysterious Necronomicon. Don is a fun caricature of a typical detective who you’d find in noir movies of a bygone era. Time spent playing as Don is fun as his overly deep monologues and surface-level insights kept me laughing throughout the game.

The humour doesn’t stop there, though, since the game is Jam-packed with jokes and comedic tropes that keep you smiling throughout your adventure. The self-aware writing throughout the game helps make the fairly run of the mill narrative more enjoyable as it creates fun and silly a tone that shows that the developers aren’t taking themselves too seriously and realise you can have a bit of fun within dark gothic horror worlds.

This lighthearted attitude extends to the visuals as well. Characters and backgrounds are presented in a cartoony fashion which gives Gibbous the feeling of a children’s animated movie however this doesn’t stop the developers from mixing in darker elements that transform the visuals from something likening the Secret Life of Pets to a more mature and darker art style similar to those found in movies like Coraline or any of Tim Burton’s works. The similarities to animated movies don’t end there as the game features multiple amazingly animated cutscenes that would honestly feel at home on a cartoon network show.

As the Genre of the game may suggest, The main bulk of the gameplay in Gibbous is exploring areas by pointing and clicking on various different objects, areas and people in order to find more information or to solve a problem so you can progress in the story. Each Area in the game is filled with items so there’s plenty to inspect and learn more about the world or the plot.

Throughout the campaign, there were several sections were you are tasked with crafting a useful item using random stuff around you. This is probably the most challenging the game gets as it’s sometimes not clear what items are needed to craft an item. However, there is a mechanic that allows you to highlight items around you to make it easier to find what you’re looking for.

When Exploring the rich environments of the game you’re bound to run into an item or character which will start off one of the game’s side quests. These quests are usually simple fetch quests, however, the roster of intriguing characters in the game help entice you to complete all these quests in order to learn more about the world and story. These great sidequests also connect to the main plot so everything you do feels like it has a purpose.

In conclusion, I think Gibbous: A Cthulhu Adventure is a beautifully animated point and click adventure with a fun and humorous plot that kept me playing for its short but sweet runtime. The game doesn’t break any new ground in gameplay or storytelling but it does offer you a rich world to explore and is well worth a small bit of your time.