Game: The Hunter’s Journals – Blissful Ignorance
Platform: PC, Android
Genre: interactive fiction
Style: light influences
Verdict: Mixed
Buy: Steam
Lovecraft Video Games received a review copy of The Hunter’s Journals – Blissful Ignorance through the Steam Curator program.
The third entry in the Hunter’s Journals series of interactive fiction games called Blissful Ignorance. This time, you set out to investigate the dire incidents that have occurred at a monastery located high in the mountains.
Once again, you have a stamina stat that serves as your health and a skill stat that gets added to your dice rolls to determine whether you win or lose a round of combat. If you’ve played either of the previous Hunter’s Journals games, you’ll know what to expect; if you haven’t, it’s a simple enough system to learn.
Your choices will determine how you proceed with your investigation, and this time I noticed some changes later down the line in addition to immediate consequences.
However, the branches felt a little less varied than in the previous games, with fewer side stories as alternate paths to follow – and unfortunately, I once again encountered a situation similar to Pale Harbour where I reached the end of my first playthrough in an unwinnable state due to an early choice I’d made.
On the other hand, the story was an entertaining and creepy adventure, not quite as Lovecraftian as Pale Harbour yet more so than Vile Philosophy, with more of a demonic focus this time. I enjoyed watching everything unfold and seeing how little choices shed more light on the story.
While I still think Vile Philosophy has the best gameplay/interactivity of the three, The Hunter’s Journals – Blissful Ignorance is still a decent choice if you want to spend a few hours dealing with demons in a deadly monastery.
Buy: Steam