Daemonologie

very good :)

dripping with atmosphere. great sound, music, and visuals

i absolutely love this art style

This game is absolutely beautiful and worth every single cent, the atmosphere and complex history is absolutely fantastic and i wholeheartedly recommend buying this game since it so damn cheap and so damn good, i believe the developer deserves a lot of recognition for this game and from what i've read it as a one person proyect

I'd recommend the game with a couple caveats

It has incredible atmosphere and compelling visuals while also having fun old scotland English but while initially it seems like it'll be an intriguing deduction game, you can't question any villager beyond the first 2 days rendering any new information being required to be dragged out with torture. It also doesn't help that you have so much time after this that the only way to pass the time is to just torture everyone to get to the fifth day. While I wouldn't recommend this as an actual interesting horror visual novel, I think the intent with the game is more to reflect on the time period rather than anything else which to me is disappointing since maybe it's just me but I feel like it's known well enough what the horrors here were that it just didn't do anything compelling for me. With that in mind though I can see recommending this to other people, but for a fair amount of people I don't think there's enough here for you.

I do hope a new game will be made expanding on everything here though, I really do think something incredible could come out of the ideas on display here.

A short but great game. The art is amazing and I didn't found any satisfaction when I killed who I thought was the witch, which was amazing.

Ambiguous and uncomfortable. Dark, atmospheric, and beautifully crafted. While very short, I feel like there's a fair amount of digging you can do to construct a more complete picture of the relationship between these characters. A very interesting experience, I'm glad I picked this up!

A short but very impressively crafted game!
I really adore that uncanny and somber medieval ambience with intriguing mystical elements of folklore and religion, in my opinion the game manages to capture that exact mood and setting wonderfully. I especially enjoy the eerie soundtrack and unique cut-scene presentation!

The concept is quite captivating and the peculliar characters immediately made me interested in finding out more about everything. While I wish there was more content regarding the general lore of the setting or at least background information on the protagonist, I actually found the enhaced mysterious feeling quite fitting.
During my first playthrough I felt somewhat unsatisfied with the seemingly incomplete ending, however after reading the dev's comments regarding the plot and replaying the game more attentively, which lead me to understand what ACTUALLY went on, and now really like the conclusion in retrospective! I definitely recommend playing this multiple times in order to torture] talk with every character thoroughly and understand the depth of the plot.

Asides from that, I believe that the gameplay aspect (despite having awesome potential) may profit from some more variety, but overall I highly enjoyed this atmospheric experience and mainly just wish that I could enjoy it for longer!

The dream sequences are so creepy and beautiful! I like how it leaves you still wondering at the end too. There are no easy answers.

good game

Game with striking visuals and themes [Eng and Pt-Br review]

This game is incredible. The presentation is perfect and manages to capture your attention instantly. The black and white visuals and ancient writing complement each other perfectly. The cutscenes in this game are a work of art in themselves and would be worth more than the price of the game itself. This is art. But the game goes beyond that. Its plot is simple and gets straight to the point. You are an inquisitor hunting a witch in the village and, to do so, you need to question and even torture the suspects. The game manages to generate a very interesting social critique. You are quickly confronted with several conflicting stories and need to reach a conclusion in the end. But beyond that, it is incredible how the game manages to develop its characters so well in just a few minutes, making you question issues of the time and even the present day. It is a game that you will not soon forget, whether because of the bitter taste it leaves in you or because of the work of art that is its visuals.
It is extremely important to play more than once to have the full experience, but since the game is fast, this is not a problem at all.
[hr][/hr]

Jogo com visual e tematica marcantes [Eng and Pt-Br review]

Esse jogo é incrível. A apresentação é perfeita e consegue capturar a sua atenção instantaneamente. Os visuais preto e branco e escrita antiga se complementam perfeitamente, os cutscenes desse jogo são uma obra de arte por si só e já valeriam mais do que o valor o jogo, isso é arte. Mas o jogo vai além, seu enredo é simples e vai direto ao ponto, você é um inquisidor a caça de uma bruxa na vila e para isso precisa questionar e até torturar os suspeitos. O jogo consegue gerar toda uma crítica social social muito interessante, você rapidamente é confrontado com várias histórias conflitantes e precisa chegar a uma conclusão no final. Mas muito além disso, é incrível como o jogo consegue desenvolver tão bem seus personagens em pouquíssimos minutos, fazendo se questionar sobre questões da época e mesmo dos dias atuais. É um jogo que não vai sair tão cedo da sua cabeça, seja pelo gosto amargo que deixa em você, seja pela obra de arte que é seu visual.
Extremamente importante jogar mais de uma vez para ter a experiência completa, mas como o jogo é rápido, isso não é problema algum.

I wanted to love this game. The aesthetic were giving me strong Darkwood vibes, and I adored the haunting music, pixel graphics, and claymation cutscenes, but I can't get past how deceiving the advertising is.

This game lacks anything that makes it feel like an actual game. It's way too short. A “run” is under 30 minutes and the game only has one ending despite the tags saying “choices matter.” The whole message the game makes is that there isn’t a right answer. I get what the game and developers were going for, and if this were a free game I found on Newgrounds or an art piece, I’d sing praises. But this is a game I paid $3 for and got less than 30 minutes of actual gameplay. (The only reason my time shows 45 minutes is because I replayed it to see if more of the story would unfold, only to get the exact same gameplay, just with the cutscenes in a different order.)

I'd honestly recommend saving your money and watching a playthrough on YouTube. If you want something similar, I highly recommend saving up for the aforementioned Darkwood, where your choices actually do impact the game.

2 playthroughs in 40 minutes. Appreciate that it feels like there are right answers, but the point is lengths you have to go to will break anyone.

On the fifth dawn, a witch must hang

This game is definitely an enjoyable experience.

It is short (around an hour) but totally worth the money in my opinion.

The stop-motion animations are gorgeous and the whole game aesthetic is excellently eerie as you would expect from a witch-finding game.

The dialogues are also fun and have a Scottish words for which you have Glossary in the game!

The ending might seem rather anti-climatic but once you realise (or find) the reason behind you will understand that the game couldn't have end up better.

Very short but really enjoyable and beautiful game.

The setting of old Scotland is very cool, and the premise of the game trying to find the liar and hang the witch is definitely an interesting one! In my opinion the gameplay falls very flat, actually it is confusing and boring... BUT taking this at face value I still give this a recommend just for the style.

I think that if you were to take this style and this idea and attach it to a game with a more fleshed out mystery or better gameplay then this has some true potential! Until then though this is a nice little interesting game for a cheap price.

Good. Short. Atmospheric. Awesome combination of dark middle ages, inquisition, and investigation mechanics.

I stumbled across this while looking for a copy of James VI's Daemonologie for a research project I'm working on. What a find! I loved this very much although it was short and sweet (if 'sweet' is the word). It's always great to see games and media in general written in the language I grew up with and still use day-to-day.
In terms of gameplay, it was exactly what it needed to be and made sense for the setting and story. The only thing I might have added is a physical evidence element, such as finding wax dolls, human remains and the like that were thought to have been used for evil magic by witches. This could then raise the question of who might have planted those things there. This is alluded to in the game as it is, though, which I love! And any further addition of elements like that would create an altogether larger and different game. For the small scale of a work like this, I wouldn't change anything!
It boils down what moved the process of witch hunting along which was intra-community squabbles, gossip, reputation, paranoia, zealotry, torture, and lies. It's so impressive that a game can capture this in such a concise experience where it can take pages and pages of explanation in many texts on the subject. And then I haven't even gotten to the artistic merit of this game which is fantastic. The cutscenes look like they are shaped from clay, which is incredibly apt. And the pixel art absolutely nails the gloomy and indistinct creeping dread of a village in the grip of a panic about supposed agent of the Devil in their midst.
I cannot recommend this game enough! Well done to the developer!

Great graphics, the game is scary and there is a point to the story. The game represents the time period and its nature, however it is quite short. You could obsesively look into each of the relationship dynamics between characters, but that is not my style. overall an enjoyable experience that might spark inspiration within you

Folk horror short story.

Absolute cinema.

Daemonologie is a disquieting exploration of the tenuous bonds of community. Set in a fictional Scottish hamlet and inspired by the very real witch trials of the late medieval era. When an agent of higher authority comes to collect its most reviled citizenry, who better to turn them in then their neighbours?

The game's description lays out fairly clearly what your role and objective are in Daemonologie, so I'll only tack on a few clarifying statements. It's functionally a point-and-click detective story, where you, the Witch Finder, interrogate a small village of Scottish commoners for the truth regarding a witch in their midst. You have the choice to force the matter with each villager, if a more even-keeled approach leads to elliptical responses. As you'd expect, no one is willing to admit they're cavorting with the supernatural - so you're armed with a series of medieval torture devices and given the grim task of prying answers from their bodies.

This might've been the first thing you noticed about the game, but the art and music direction are complete, singular even. In-game, the playspace appears both stripped-down and meticulous at times, evincing a conscious effort to frame each of the sparse scenes with care and without overburdening each area with noise - possibly to avoid red herrings. There are few prerendered cutscenes - most of the gameplay occurring in a series of multi-tiered dioramas - but each feels like a memorable capstone on the chapters/days of the short playtime. The assets in these scenes, fashioned like doll effigies, play out a strange puppet show each night, as the Witch Hunter stews on the confessions of the suspects - coalescing their fears into vivid nightmares. All the while, the soundtrack sprinkles a breadcrumb trail of dread throughout the scenes. I found myself falling in and out of the tracks during my first playthrough, first pulled in by the visuals, then frozen, unsettled by what I was hearing.

Although the game is fairly short, there's enough meat for you to return to if you decide there are still loose threads to investigate. You may not need more to find what Daemonologie is hiding but a playthrough should only take you 45-60 minutes, meaning you can readily revisit paths you neglected in your first or second. I wanted to type "easily" revisit, but the act of torturing these people - although simply rendered and suitably "gamified" - can be impactful.

At its price, and for how long some of its scenes will linger with you, this is an easy recommend. Of course, I would've liked to see more (even despite how gruesome the subject matter is) but that speaks to how perfectly suited the presentation of the game is to its contents.

I love how this game makes you reflect on the historical events. For sure give it a go, the cut scenes and the atmosphere is great.

The stop-motion cutscenes were a pleasant surprise as I haven't seen any game use stop-motion for horror animations up till now. A well thought-out piece of art worth experiencing for the money.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions

A commentary on politico-religious mercenariesjudicators of yesteryear. This game will have you torturing people with crisp, and disturbing, sound design around said methods and tools. If getting to the Fìrinn truth of the happenings of a small village plagued by a witch sounds like a great time, this game's for you.

🎮 Gameplay & Mechanics

This is a simple point-and-click game. Nothing crazy you need to learn, just click on locations, click on people, and click continue. The game is more about the engaging story than it is gameplay mechanics.

🖼️ Visuals & Art Direction

The stopmotion cutscenes played at the start and end of every day are unbelievably high quality. The post-processing shaders that add film grain and scratches/dust artifacts give the scenes a more believable quality. This is nice to see as so many other games using the same shaders end up looking trashy.

The day to day gameplay is all pixelated and the entire playthrough is monochrome (you can get gray ... or dark gray). I feel this works well for the overall story. There's something about letting your imagination take over the finer details that pixels can't that always makes horror a good residence for pixels. The monochromatic scale also gives a dreary vibe to the whole game.

🎧 Sound Design & Music

The soundtrack, as small as it is, does wonders for this nightmarish little romp as a witch hunter. The opening cutscenes has some beautiful vocals and it says everything without a single word spoken. The SFX played during cutscenes and torture scenes is very well done. There's no voice acting for the characters you meet which is a shame.

📖 Story & Writing

This is where Daemonologie shines. It's great because it's not only telling you a story about a small village and all the demonic things that have been happening, but also a glimpse into human history and the ways people would go about proving innocence or guilt. I can't say much without spoiling the story, since it's so short, but the fact you need to buy a witch finder to execute a "witch", should be incredibly telling.

🧩 UI/UX & Accessibility

Since the game is so short and the UI very clean and intuitive, there's no need for tutorials. You won't be stuck wondering what to do for any reason, it's a point-and-click game that makes it's options very

The game is meant to be played in a tongue you're probably not familiar with. There's a HELP menu that teaches you all of the terms you'll see throughout the game, but even so if you're really not wanting to play search the dictionary, there are other language options.

🔧 Performance & Technical Aspects

System specs:

• OS: Windows 11 Home
  
• RAM: 32GB
  
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7700X
  
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER
  

This game could be played on a potato, you'll be fine. Trust.

♻️ Replayability & Value

I suspect there aren't multiple endings, but I haven't tortured everyone for 5 days straight, so I can't say for sure. What I can say is you'll have to do multiple playthroughs if you want to see the full story of the village as it's impossible to interrogate (torture) everyone with the limited time you're given.

I completed the first playthrough in under an hour, but I could see multiple playthroughs taking this above the 2 hour mark and even so, the story and atmosphere you get to experience for $3 bucks? Absolutely worth it.

✅ Pros & Cons ❌

Pros

• Gorgeous sound track
  
• Memorable characters
  
• Immersive atmosphere
  

Cons

[*]Short

🎯 Final Verdict

Daemonologie is a short but immersive slice of history that has you as judicator, torturer, and executioner. All cutscenes are small hand-crafted masterpieces that give you an idea of what plagues an individual who takes up the job of a witch finder.

Well crafted and atmospheric game.

Multiple playthroughs to get all dialogue is recommended!

Fisherman Firinn is the best one!

Quite an interesting and beautiful piece of art with an unexpected yet very bold twist

Fantastic short horror game. Buy it and enjoy.

A charming little title. Find out who's your real witch.

A short brilliant experience that left me reflecting more than I thought I would. The frustration at the end when wondering what the right answer was before it hit me that oh... that's the point. There is no objective answer.

The mechanic of time passing felt a little clunky, but for such a short experience it was an easy thing to overlook. The visuals and animations are stunning, and it's honestly something I'll be recommending to my other horror fanatic friends.

Found this game through SocksNeedsHelp's analysis on youtube. The moment I saw the gorgeous stop motion cutscenes I knew I had to play before watching their video. Very glad I did.
This game is worth the price for the atmosphere, animation and sound design alone. It's creepy and had me cringing away constantly (in the best way). Very short & I definitely suggest playing it two or three times - you'll understand why quickly enough ;) Really interesting ties to real life history, too.

https://youtu.be/Z0i4cVDHgTk?si=rar7lATxlKOnm-ol - that's the video analysis for this game once you're done! A good listen. Def play the game yourself though first, you get so much more atmosphere (and seriously I cannot overstate the sound design in this thing, it's so good)

short, disturbing and cool!
The stop motion was fantastic.

i need a full project with the stop motion cutscenes asap, this is great for what it is, so much potential

I highly encourage anyone that experience this game to read the creator's post about the historical context and narrative decisions to create it:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/3048140/discussions/0/4839771730899310250/
The game is an experience and makes you reflect on the whole situation of the village and not solely on your POV. It requires understanding of the era to some extent.

That being said, the point of the game is to make you, as the player, to reflect on the whole situation and decide if there is even a "right or wrong" decision.

Pretty cheap, very nice art, good narrative, smart.

Recommend it

Very cool game! The stop motion cutscenes are fantastic and its absolutely on point when it comes to aesthetic and atmosphere. Short and sweet 20ish minute experience, and executes its premise very well imo. You can tell the dev put a lot of thoughts into how much to allude to and what to leave amiguous.

Beautiful. Amazing atmosphere. In this game there are no witches. No snakes whos beheding would bring an end to the pain. Only scared, clueles people, who have to experience suffering, and on top a witch hunter is going to kill one of them. Just to ease the others mind. A great depiction of hell. Based on true events.

Extremely aesthetically pleasing visuals! I honestly love the opening scene, the music and animation works so well together and it looks so nice, it really sets the tone for the entire game. The game can be a little repetitive, but it's overall a short narrative experience so I don't think it really takes from the game. I really enjoyed this!

Even tho the game is short, I highly encourage you all to buy it to support the developer. In about a 40 minutes, it tells a story of various characters and their relationships between each other and also depicts a terrible atmosphere of witch trials. It disturbs you with subtle game mechanic and the dark themes. I encourage you to think about the game in it's context and not take everything too literally. It is a great piece of art. It has some flaws but I can sense the dev is about to make some incredible games in the future.

Woah. This game was actually phenomenal.

I played it only once so far, and I feel like I stumbled over my choices in the end, but it was REALLY good.
The ambience is extremely creepy, the character stories are fleshed out and the stop-motion in cutscenes and pixel art of the rest of the game definitely adds to the vibe.

I heard of this game from a youtube video I stumbled on and, seeing how it was a short play, decided to give it a go before watching. And I absolutely do not regret it.
Definitely a recommend from me. Will play it again.

The highlight of this game is the gritty visual style and the stop motion animations you get in between the gameplay loop. The actual story is not bad, but I'm not sure if it'll be everyone's cup of tea.

This is fantastic for a 30 minute game. In relatively short form, the game really makes you think about the reality of witch-hunting.

Also the stop motion cutscenes are *chef's kiss*

It was a truly great game for this short amount of play time. Worth the few bucks for sure. I liked the design, the old language option and the different charecters. I've seen some comments on the games ending saying it was confusing but I admit that I actually loved the idea of it. You should play it if you have a spare hour and like creepy stop motion cut scenes!

Really cool art style and concept! Best to go into this sight unseen as the game itself is very short (30m-ish) and is structured for at least a second playthrough. With that in mind, I think it's well worth a pickup for the atmosphere alone. I felt a little forced into certain actions, but by no means were those game breaking. I just wish that there was more of an opportunity to interact with the world in ways that would make later decisions more questionable. Overall very solid project and the clear sense of style from the art greatly elevates the experience.

It's short, simple. Somehow clunky and beautifuly animated. You already know who the witch is.

Accurate Medieval Simulator.

Absolutely great game.
I love the visual style, and its creepy dark tone.
Great job.

Horrible horrible story. Exactly as it should be with the theme and the real life events that inspired it.

Glad I 100% identified the actual witch. Just like all good witch finders throughout history have.

Good game! sadly it was a short game, tho i would love to see a more long fleshed out version of this game, or another like it with different endings not to say the way this game did was bad, I think it was brilliant! the way it subtly hinted into things was awesome.

Simple, short, really strong art style. Really immersive when played with the Old Scots English option. Message is really clear, if not particularly groundbreaking.

So, first I tortured everyone.

Then I asked a few questions.

Then I hung the priest and left.

10/10