Gibbous – A Cthulhu Adventure review for Nintendo Switch, PC

Back in the fall, I reviewed a game called Tangle Tower. I was a big fan of it, in part because even though it was an adventure game, it wasn?t slavishly devoted to the ?90s. I?ve played my fair share of modern takes on the genre, and for the most part they seem to begin and end with trying to recreate Day of the Tentacle and Maniac Mansion. That?s not the worst idea — those games are classic for a reason — but it does make it feel like the genre now exists primarily to relive past glories.

Gibbous – A Cthulhu Adventure is, unfortunately, not like Tangle Tower — which is to say that it?s more or less what you?d expect from an adventure game. It has all the hallmarks of the genre — the snarky tone, the ?click on almost literally everything” gameplay, the puzzles where you combine random item X with random item Y to solve — without really adding anything of its own.

That said, even if Gibbous doesn?t bring anything new to the table, it?s not wholly without charms. For one thing, the writing isn?t bad, and the bonkers story about a talking cat, a doomsday cults, and the possible end of the world moves along at a decent pace. Plus, notwithstanding the Lovecraft reference in the name, the game doesn?t have the usual self-seriousness that tends to pervade games that draw from the horror writer. It?s horror-adjacent comedy, rather than horror.

Even more importantly, Gibbous looks absolutely stunning, like a cartoon that you can interact with. The cutscenes look fantastic, and even if the playable environments aren?t quite as outstanding, they still look better than the vast majority of other games — adventure genre or not.

Of course, the game doesn?t look so incredible that it?s able to overcome being your standard adventure game fare — perhaps because, looks side, Gibbous is your standard adventure game fare. That?s great news if you?re a genre fan looking for another hit, but if you?re not already a fan, nothing here is likely to make you one.

Stuck In Attic provided us with a Gibbous – A Cthulhu Adventure Switch code for review purposes.