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0 Strange Antiquities is the latest game from developer Bad Viking and published by Iceberg Interactive. It is their follow-up to the very successful Strange Horticulture, taking place in the same town/universe. And it is shaping up to be just as well-received. The game is a shopkeeper sim with a twist, much like its predecessor. You play as the nameless assistant thaumaturgist who is left in charge of the titular store as bizarre events occur. Set in town during an alternate version of Victorian Era England, where the supernatural is commonplace. Each day, you’ll do your best to help the townsfolk as something evil stirs within Undermere, and hopefully, your knowledge will solve it in time.
Strange Antiquities is available now on PC via Steam and Nintendo Switch. Alright, let’s get to the review. The antiques won’t sell themselves.
The Strange Antiquities business is booming
I mentioned it above, but the unnamed protagonist is thrown in the deep end, manning the store as business doesn’t slow. It speeds up, if anything, as you do your best to help customers from the comfort of the shop counter. Some visit for help, ranging from mundane tasks like acquiring a charm of levitation to help him clean the roof, all the way to aiding with some evil stirring in town. Each day, you have a few visitors, with each encounter increasing your knowledge or stock of antiques. A lot of work went into the details of items and information to identify them, such as the affiliations the jewels have with pseudosciences like astrology. Small touches or references, like the levitation charm being named after Daedalus, added to my enjoyment of the game.
Strange Antiquities takes place over 27 days (perhaps less) and starts relatively normally, and like the unnamed protagonist, you, the player, are thrown into the deep end. Having to find and search through the owner’s books, as well as finding and solving the store’s secrets. Thankfully, Jupiter the cat is there to keep you company. The steady flow of customers and visitors gradually paints the picture and delivers the rich lore of Undermere. You’ll also notice the game is set at a similar time as Strange Horticulture when you see a couple of familiar faces!
The setting felt a little disappointing with the characters you meet, except for the friendly postman. I would have liked to see more variety of NPCs, as the majority were upper-class and often snobbish. Presently, there are also bizarre and possibly evil events occurring with ravens attacking, which leaves victims catatonic and with blackened eyes. Piecing together what is perhaps happening from NPC conversations was great as the game’s mystery escalates.
Gameplay
The core mechanic of Strange Antiquities is identifying the antique that will suit each customer, such as warding off bad dreams or entrapping a jewellery thief, with the resources at your disposal. Initially, I found this a bit frustrating, but I came to understand the detail and design and grew to appreciate it. That, and the hint tool alleviated any frustration. I enjoyed the variety of customer scenarios you encounter and the overarching story; both were solid sources of world-building.
Strange Antiquities does well in maintaining the challenge by combining resources such as cross-referencing books, already identified antiques and more. Even simply touching or sensing the antiques provides the key detail for identification. Then, of course, not all the antiques will come to you, but you, the player, have to go to them. This also helps the game feel fresh, as it expands to new areas outside the shop. Invitations to cryptic riddles take you across Undermere, a local castle, and even the catacombs, pursuing more knowledge and antiques, of course. Strange Antiquities takes what the team learnt from Strange Horticulture and improves upon its formula. One of my few criticisms of the previous game was how stationary it felt.
With much of the gameplay boiling down to you giving customers antiques they need, you could brute force it. The developers likely saw this a mile away and gave a deviously clever mechanic to stop players from doing so. Making the wrong choice 3 times in a day throws you into a Yahtzee-inspired mini-game, where you need to get certain combinations. I’ve been lucky so far not to fail this, but if you do, seemingly you ‘die’ or go insane. I appreciated this as not only are there stakes, but narratively, dealing with supernatural items makes sense.
Graphics and Audio
Strange Antiquities is set mostly from behind the store counter, and seeing from the junior thaumaturgist’s point of view was important. The developers designed it well, with a great level of detail and satisfying interaction with items. One antique even follows you if the cursor gets close to it. Jupiter the cat is a menace at times, not afraid to swat items off the counter if placed in front of him. I would have liked to have seen more locations beyond looking at maps for our protagonist. The setting feels like an English autumn or winter, with brown and dark colours. Some antiques give a pleasant balance to this, and I enjoyed sorting them, similar to the Resident Evil 4 briefcase (IYKYK).
Strange Antiquities’ audio is maybe the weakest part of the game for me. The dialogue is delivered in text with NPCs mouthing along, and for me, this made it repetitive and most had little personality. I realise it’s not as easy as it sounds from a design perspective, but giving the characters voices would have strengthened the small town setting. However, the music and score were spot on, feeling melodic yet slightly unsettling, matching the aesthetic of the game. The music easily blends into the background while still aiding the game’s eerie tone. As well as going hand in hand with environmental sounds like rain outside, and interacting with items in the store.
Longevity
I have only played through the game once, but I sense there are multiple endings, which I am interested in seeing. Strange Antiquities has encounters where, on paper, there is a good or evil choice, but they have unexpected consequences. I enjoyed this as the seemingly linear game has more variety in shaping side stories. After several hours, I found myself more invested, and I’m excited to see how this run ends.
I see a lot of replayability with alternate choices, including experiencing the plot and tidbits of story I missed initially. The game is easy to leave and pick up, which I found useful with especially tricky puzzles. Strange Antiquities has 22 Steam achievements for trophy/achievement hunters, including one for petting Jupiter the cat 30 times. Each playthrough is approximately 12 hours, depending on how good you are at puzzles.
Final thoughts
I had a great time with Strange Antiquities, as it delivers an engaging and detailed story. Definitely more than I expected for a casual shop sim game. The plot was easy to invest in as Jupiter and I solved the puzzles and identified the numerous antiques. The puzzles are fun to solve once the game clicks, and they add layers to maintain the challenge level. It keeps the game from feeling repetitive and makes it so you can’t brute force or cheese your way through.
I really enjoyed the detailed visual design, which somewhat alleviates that seeing the same perspective could get old quickly. However, the audio design was a little disappointing, with no audible character voices. The music and environmental sounds worked well, especially together. The replayability benefits from alternate endings and going back to see what you may have missed the first time around, and also having almost 2 dozen achievements to unlock.
I am giving Strange Antiquities the Thumb Culture Gold Award and look forward to seeing what Bad Viking bring us next.
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
Check out the recent review for Dicealot, or my review of another surreal sim game, While Waiting.
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