Surreal Point and Click Concierge is Challenging, Boring
- Antal Bokor
- 6 days ago
- 3 min read
It’s spooky season, and I’m always looking for scary new games to play. Concierge, however, turned out to be a little less scary than I thought going in. It’s certainly spooky, surreal–definitely atmospheric–but it’s not an outright horror game. Concierge is more of a cerebral point and click adventure that rewards its players with minigames if they’re able to wade through its cryptic set of puzzles.
First, I want to talk about what I really think works with Concierge. I absolutely love the entire presentation, from its music to its hand painted art style.The art has certain details that are left just vague enough that my brain is never at ease. The visual style is easily the best thing about Concierge, and it blends imagery in a way only new media can. I also really appreciate the apparent love that went into the creation of Concierge. It's art in a pure form that isn’t concerned with commercialization, and it's better for it.
The puzzles in Concierge are challenging and varied, but sometimes half the battle is finding them. That means lots of wandering around the old hotel in which Concierge takes place trying to figure out what the next thing to do. And that’s where my complaints begin..
I would love to say that I played through Concierge from start to finish and there was never a dull moment. Unfortunately, this was not so. While I can appreciate the art that Concierge is, and the love that went into its development, it gives me no joy to report that it was boring as hell. And I’m not someone who requires action. I grew up playing point and click adventure games. I just couldn’t get into Concierge the way it deserves.
Concierge is set in a decrepit old hotel where the only other person around is an enigmatic caretaker. It had the potential to be poignant, or scary, or—anything, really. But it instead ends up being cryptic (which is good), strange (also good) but it leaned a little too hard into those two things making Concierge a chore to play. This makes for long stretches of nothing between small moments of forward progress–even for those who are moving forward at a good clip.
Concierge is a hard game to talk about in regards to pacing. Everything feels so esoteric, and what clues are given are so cryptic that I feel like I stumbled upon puzzles, and sometimes their solutions, merely by chance. This adds to Concierge’s dream-like atmosphere, but it doesn't make for a very fun or engaging game. But “fun!” isn’t always the point when you play games, and what Concierge lacks in thrills it makes up for in melancholic strangeness.
Nothing in Concierge is clearly defined. That can actually be one of its draws. The idea that there are no tutorials, and that Concierge drops you in blind is mentioned on its Steam store page as a sort of retro homage. But those older games came with (sometimes) giant instruction manuals so there was rarely a question of objective. Concierge is all about unfolding its mysteries without the luxury of hand holding or pesky tutorials.
I’m not one who usually uses in-game hint systems, but Concierge’s tip line found prodigious use by me, and I still couldn’t get into it.
Despite my admonitions, Concierge might be worth checking out if it ticks your boxes. It’s definitely a unique game, and for the gamer that’s seen everything, Concierge might just have something new for you.