Strange Antiquities Preview

We were invited to an exclusive preview of the upcoming sequel to Bad Viking and Iceberg Interactive's Strange Horticulture, named Strange Antiquities. While I haven't gotten to fully play and finish the original entry, I have a few hours on it, and I thought it was phenomenal; it's safe to say, then, that I couldn't wait to play the new one. As the name suggests, this time we won't be labelling and discovering new plants; instead, we'll be handling occult artefacts and curious trinkets.

I sat down to play the preview with my wife by my side and a nice home-made cup of iced coffee, my hopes high. It didn't take long for us to notice the evident improvement that the sequel has over the original! We didn't have to fidget or click around for the super ultrawide resolution to flawlessly work, offering us a stunning view of everything in our shop.

Playing as the apprentice of the Thaumaturge, who needs to (unhappily)  leave the shop to us, our job is to help the incoming customers find what they need. This is done by looking it up in a book — imagine how different it would be if they had Google! — and deciphering which is the appropriate solution through the hints available. 

It’s not as simple as “it’s a blue trinket that looks like a horse”, either — the pages help choose which item to offer with subtle hints, and the senses feature offers detailed information about each item, such as the material it’s made out of or how it feels to touch it. One of my favourite puzzles (no spoilers; don’t worry!) was one that mentions very little about the artefact except that you can hear a hiss-like sound when placed against one’s ear.

For anyone anxious that this might be a difficult game, don’t be: unlike other shop-keeping games, the Strange franchise doesn’t keep you on any sort of schedule or timer. When the customer comes in and asks for help, you can take your time and think about it or reference the book as many times as you like! 

Although it's been a minute since I've played Strange Horticulture, it was still easy to recognise that Strange Antiquities' gameplay feels smoother. The hidden objects and items are easy to manoeuvre, the sound effects are silky and satisfying (my favourite one was the cat's purr — and, yes, you get to have a cat in this one, too!), and the overall guidance feels better, as it didn't take me long before I was familiar with the gameplay mechanics.

That, however, didn't save me from offering the wrong items enough times to get into trouble. It wasn't the game's fault — I just like being a stubborn fool sometimes. When that happened, it wasn't the end of the world, I just got taken to a board game where I had to fight for my sanity and life. It's an easy system reminiscent of Yahtzee with a fantasy twist: roll the dice to get the correct symbols, which break the seals. I almost failed, but there was an adorable fluffy paw that saved me by moving the die to a favourable one right before I did! I don't know if it's because I pet Jupiter (the cat) every five minutes, the luck of RNG, or because it was my first "death", but I was grateful.

Strange Antiquities isn't so easy that it's boring or dull, but it's also not so complex that it became frustrating — there was a nice mixture of research and thinking that my wife and I had to do with every new customer. Every correct answer will unlock a new entry in the book; mixed with the labelling system (which can be set to automatic in Settings), this makes for a fun collect-a-thon-like loop: the amassing of knowledge on artefacts is visible.

Another way to progress and gain more antiquities is by venturing around the town; I was surprised to see there are 32 different places to visit! I won't spoil where, but we explored an area out of curiosity and came home with a gift. After finishing my first day, something happened that I didn’t quite understand, but I got a black card with writing on it about a prisoner. Using clues from what was written down, I located the right building and got a reward for it; it’s a neat system that breaks the monotony by adding yet another type of puzzle element, keeping it varied.

We got to play for about an hour and a half, and I had a blast! I look forward to exploring the rest of it when it comes out. Truth be told, it's an easy game to recommend everyone try, even if they haven't played through the original entry. It's accessible, unique, and entertaining. This comes as no surprise, seeing as Strange Horticulture has over 12,000 reviews and a score of 94% Very Positive on Steam!

Make sure to wishlist and follow Strange Antiquities if you want a dark and memorable puzzle game when it comes out, or if you're too excited, try out the original entry! If you don’t know about it, you can check out the review here.