Is Draugen A Mystery Worth Solving? | Draugen Impressions
129Do you like Scandinavian crime dramas? Draugen is a first person investigate-em-up that might tick your boxes. But does this Nordic mystery deliver? Join Alice for a quick tour of the game as she shares her Draugen impressions. (This is Draugen PC gameplay, if you were wondering.)
Draugen is a walking-sim slash psychological thriller AKA ‘Fjord Noir’ set in Norway in 1923. In our Draugen PC gameplay you’ll see the beautiful scenery come to life, as we try to get to the bottom of the mystery that surrounds not only the town we’re visiting, but also the man we’re playing as. For a full Draugen review, check out Rock Paper Shotgun: The Site (link below), but hopefully these Draugen impressions will let you understand what to expect from the game. It’s only a short game, run time of about 3 hours, so I took my time with this 25 minutes of gameplay, but it tells a couple of gripping tales nonetheless. None of which are spoiled here. Shame I couldn’t say that for my first version of this video.
You play as Edward Harden, a man from Boston who has travelled to abandoned, isolated Graavik on the hunt for his missing sister, Betty, who apparently travelled here for work - she’s a New York journalist. But you’re not alone, you’re accompanied by your young - quite rude - ward, Lissie. AKA Alice. Edward - also known as Teddy, old bean, wet blanket, and old sport - and Lissie have two varying outlooks on how to progress through the mystery of finding his missing sister. And often, Lissie gets annoyed by how much you care about Betty and how little you care about her. If you’ve seen the Draugen trailer, this video will hopefully fill in more gaps about what you actually do.
Join me, Alice - RPS Alice, and Draugen Alice I suppose - as I accompany Teddy through this Fjord Noir mystery that unravels before them. With a slight air of unease, and the want to stay inside the farm house, Draugen delivers on being a little bit creepy, and a little bit sinister. Not much of which you’ll see here - but the weather does change depending on Teddy’s mood, so be wary of his shifts. Also, he’s a classic unreliable narrator, with Lissie saying that he’s misremembering things, or that she thinks he’s wrong. It’s all quite exciting to work out the truth behind Teddy, as well as his sisters disappearance, and the deserted town. It’s quite hard to deliver the final Draugen verdict when you are still picking over what you can and can’t believe.
Despite Draugen being very linear, and by “very” I mean, literally on rails, it makes you firmly believe you are Teddy and that you have some kind of influence on the world and story. You don’t. But it’s a nice feeling. The town of Graavik is lovely, but creepy, and isolating. It’s an odd feeling, you’re sure it’s deserted but you never feel alone.
Draugen is out now, and as I said, only 3 hours long, so you’re able to go and uncover the mysteries yourself, if you so wish. But if you do have any questions about Draugen, pop them in the comments and I will do my best to answer them for you. Or, if you’ve already played Draugen, why not offer up your own Draugen review in the comments - but no spoilers! Oh yeah, and if you liked the video please do give it a thumbs up, and subscribe to Rock Paper Shotgun if you haven’t already. Just click that big red button there. Ah, that’ll do it.
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