Gibbous

Gibbous - A Cthulhu Adventure is a point-and-click indie adventure game that was funded on Kickstarter in May of 2016 and has been underdevelopment by Stuck in Attick ever since. The game has been greenlight by the Steam community. It released on August 07, 2019 on Steam and GOG.

Overview

Gibbous - A Cthulhu Adventure (PC, Mac, Linux) is a comedy point 'n click love letter to classic-era Lucas adventures, HP Lovecraft, Hitchcock and many, many others. A lighthearted spoof of the Cthulhu Mythos, Gibbous will have you controlling 3 protagonists, dealing with strange cultists, ancient voodoo, and Dead Cthulhu himself. Well, "dead" is just a matter of opinion... Everything revolves around the dreaded Necronomicon and how it affects the protagonists' lives. Grizzled detective Don R. Ketype wants it because he always gets his man (or book); and easy going, easy living librarian Buzz Kerwan stumbles upon it and accidentally transforms his cat, Kitteh, into a talking abomination, thus setting on a quest to return her back to cathood.
 * Classically-inspired point and click adventure game,
 * Dark yet humorous – think Lovecraft meets Day Of The Tentacle,
 * Frame-by-frame traditional animation,
 * Lovingly painted 2D backgrounds inspired by Transylvanian architecture and nature,
 * Exploration, character and story-driven experience,
 * Fully voiced,
 * Unique item combination responses for just about everything, up to six “examine” responses,
 * Original soundtrack contains different musical themes for almost every screen,
 * Tentacles, eldritch things one should not speak of, and all kinds of insanity, both cute and evil,

Despite being HD, the game is intended to feel like a 90s adventure with a few modern enhancements like autosaving, hotspot revealer etc. Gibbous draws inspiration from HP Lovecraft's writings, classic Lucas Arts adventures such as Day Of The Tentacle, Monkey Island and Grim Fandango, Hitchcock movies, classic Warner Brother cartoons and Hayao Miyazaki's richly detailed environment art. Talking about the game, lead-developer Liviu Boar said that they built their own story on the reliable, tried-and-true skeleton that classic adventure game structure provides, so it felt very comfortable to take the story in directions those 90s games didn’t. "While there are some similarities with the classics, like crazy characters full of quirks and funny dialogue, Gibbous has a story of its own, and it's not exactly a light-hearted comedy through and through."

Gameplay

The year is 192... No, no it isn't. It's present day, and things have been getting weird around Darkham lately - well, weirder than usual. Decadent cults that are rumored to worship strange deities have been popping all over the city, and they are all whispering about the resurgence of the dreaded Necronomicon.

The game will have you controlling Don, Buzz and Kitteh alternatively, as they try to unveil the mysteries behind the strange tome's powers, attempt to get Kitteh back to normal, and survive in a world that gets more and more eerie by the minute.

During your time with Gibbous you'll encounter strange cultists, abhorrent fish-people that lurk around the damp streets of shunned Fishmouth, Voodoo magicians with a humane take on the subject and a host of situations both hilarious and bone-chilling.

Reception

Gibbous: A Cthulhu Adventure has received praise from several game critics since its release. It holds an aggregated score of 9/10 on Steam based on 252 very positive reviews, a Metascore of 76/100 and user score of 6.5/100 out of 36 ratings on MetaCritic. Softpedia considers Gibbous a game that ''"no self-proclaimed point-and-click fan should overlook, as it will definitely find a place in your gaming library, comedy movie collection, and finally, your heart." ''

In its review, The Sixth Axis gave Gibbous a 80/100 score, declaring the game "one of the most enjoyable Lovecraftian titles of recent times," while GameWatcher rated it as an 6/10, mentioning that, while the game does get things right and it has heart, it's difficult to recommend due to an "average story, simple puzzles, and shaky voice acting."