For almost a decade, we've had the pleasure of having new players discover and explore our first game, Primordia, during Steam sales. Now we are pleased to welcome you to the nightmarish carnival of Strangeland. If you are considering diving in, a few tidbits:
First, we are pleased to announce that we now have a Linux build for Strangeland. We've always been very fond of the Linux gaming community, and we're really happy to be able to get a build posted so quickly. Please let us know if you run into any issues, and we will quickly patch them!
Second, for possible players on either Windows or Linux, a few notes about the game:
- If you are unfamiliar with point-and-click adventures, please check the How to Play information in the options menu.
- Unlike many older adventure games, you cannot lose the game (either by permanently dying or becoming permanently stuck). There's always a way forward (and sometimes that way forward actually is transient death!).
- If you get stuck, the game has an integrated hint system accessible by dialing 0 on the pay phone in the central area. But if you'd rather ask someone outside the game, there's a very active community on the message boards, and the development team reads it throughout the day. We're happy to give you nudges.
- Similarly, if you have any technical difficulties, please post a message on the boards or send an email to me at [email protected]. We typically manage to respond in a matter of minutes (or at most hours). No game is ever bug free (especially games with a giant cicada!), but as of right now, we haven't heard of any ongoing issues. Nevertheless, we're always happy to help.
- While Strangeland may evoke comparisons to games like Sanitarium or Silent Hill, it is not a game about uncovering a deep, dark secret. There are plenty of mysteries and darkness, but some players have been surprised at the lack of a surprise.
- The game has an incredibly robust commentary and annotation mode; if you are finding the mysteries and metaphors impenetrable, you might experiment with this mode, which many players have enjoyed. Our recommendation, though, is to play the game without commentary and annotations in your first run.
Most of all: we hope you enjoy the game, and that you share your thoughts with us. There is nothing more rewarding than hearing from players, and nothing more valuable as a developer than receiving feedback (positive and negative alike) from the folks drawn to the game.
Much love, and happy(?) adventuring!