It’s been a few years since we last got a new title from Harvester Games, best known for 2012’s spine-chilling 2D adventure, The Cat Lady. A few years, in fact, and since 2019’s Lorelai, as noted in my launch coverage, wrapped up that trilogy (The Cat Lady, Downfall, Lorelai), perhaps… Burnhouse Lane is the beginning of another? Hard to say at this point, although based on available details, we can most certainly expect another unsettling horror adventure, and a handful of rather interesting additions too.
Now, in spite of both titles sitting comfortably in my library on GOG.com, I have yet to actually play Downfall or Lorelai – something I aim to remedy sooner rather than later. Because of this, I can only properly compare Burnhouse Lane to The Cat Lady, which I’ve gone through multiple times and plan on revisiting for an in-depth review at some point. That said, while there are more than a few similarities, in spite of the new features – which I’ll get to in a moment – it’s safe to say that Burnhouse Lane is its own thing and that Harvester Games is sticking to its tried and true: genuinely terrifyingly dark and sinister tales that, for multiple reasons, come with a lengthy content warning. One glance at the trailer below should reveal exactly what I’m referring to.
Solve puzzles, make friends and enemies, run, hide and fight in this dark adventure that’ll take you on a trip to another world and back…
So, with all that out of the way, how about a glance at ‘one foot in the grave agency nurse’ Angie Weather, its protagonist, who’s been dealt quite the sinister hand by fate? Five impossible tasks must be completed in order to win her life back, a challenge that involves a fair amount of thwarting off evil-doers or, alternatively, hiding from things that go bump in the night. With a branching narrative, finite ammunition, and survival horror elements inspired by Resident Evil and Silent Hill – where combat was far from always the best option – the road ahead is going to be bumpy at the best of times. According to its creator, it’s “a story about death, friendship and everlasting hope that no matter how bad things get there is always a reason to go on”, which sounds like a pretty darn groovy time to me. Considering my general distaste for horror games, that definitely says a lot about Burnhouse Lane. A lot of good. But as always, we’ll see what happens… come launch.
Burnhouse Lane will be available on Steam, come Q4 2022.
