Charon's Staircase Review (Xbox One)

STAFF REVIEW of Charon's Staircase (Xbox One)

Wednesday, December 7, 2022.
by Adam Dileva

When I heard about Charon’s Staircase I had a feeling something sounded familiar. Then it dawned on me; Charon (pronounced kind of like ‘Karen’) is the iconic ferryman that carries souls between the worlds of the living and dead in certain mythologies. While not quite the same setting, it certainly has somewhat of a connection to what I expected. Not quite sure what to expect, Charon’s Staircase is a mixture of a puzzle game and a walking simulator, complete with a mysterious and horror-like backdrop.

Set within the 1970’s, “The Ministry” used to rule with an iron fist over the country. Now that their rule has ended, it seems as though some of their darkest secrets are starting to see the light of day. You are a special Agent, simply known as “Desmond”, sent by The Ministry to find and retrieve some very specific classified documents from the Oack Grove estate. There has to be a reason they want these documents destroyed, and almost from its opening moments you can tell there are some very dark and disturbing secrets being hidden.

Quickly, you start to piece together some notes and documents that seem to revolve around a pair of twins with some possible supernatural abilities. It’s obvious that some atrocities have occurred, and the further you venture within the Oack Grove estate, you start to get clues about some sort of ‘Project Alpha’, which is absolutely terrifying. I won’t spoil much else about the story, as a playthrough is only going to last you a handful of hours depending on your puzzle solving skills.

A first person “horror" game, even though there’s no survival elements or combat, Desmond must explore his way through the Oack Grove estate looking for his objective and answers. First and foremost, Desmond walks slower than a senior who isn’t able to outrun a snail. The default walking speed is so slow it’s excruciating to simply get through a room or hallway. Holding down ‘Right Bumper’ will allow you to “run” according to the control options, but that turns your painfully slow pace to barely a brisk walk. There’s barely any difference and I bet that a good portion of my play time was due to this slow speed.

As Desmond explores, you’ll be wandering around a number of different environments, from creepy and brooding forests, desolate mansions, a horrific hospital and more. While there’s a narrator that chimes in now and then to explain what’s going on or what Desmond is feeling, the majority of the narrative is given through hidden notes and books littered around throughout the estate.

Being that the backdrop is a horror game, without any enemies you need to face against or any possible way to really fail outside maybe one interaction, it’s hard to really categorize Charon’s Staircase as a horror game outside of the ‘blood and guts’ portion in the later half. There is the odd cheap jump scare, but these moments are usually more of a “what was that?” as a person or something walks across the hallway up ahead, which of course is nowhere to be found when you go investigate where you saw them last.

As you explore the estate, there are some branching paths and doorways, but in general you’re kept pretty much on track with a bunch of locked doors or invisible walls in the outside portions. The narrative is genuinely interesting in the beginning, but making sense of all the characters and what exactly is going on is dependent on how much exploring you’ll do outside of the mandatory puzzles and the amount of reading you’ll do with the notes you find.

The majority of the gameplay outside of the puzzles has you searching every room with the cursor in the middle of your screen to see if something can be interacted with or picked up. With over sensitive controls, even turned down, it can be a bit frustrating to get the cursor exactly where you want. Many times I was stuck, unsure what to do, only to find out it was an item or clue I didn’t pick-up because I didn’t have the cursor perfectly over it the first time I explored the area.

While a majority of the notes you find are tied to the narrative as background lore, some will be direct clues on the puzzles you’ll be tasked with solving to progress. There’s an issue with this though that I found, as the developers clearly had to translate into English, and it’s as though there might be something a bit off with the translations at times. The first handful of puzzles weren’t too challenging, as I needed to find specific four digit codes for a digital keypad lock, which a certain note gave me a big clue as to where to find the solution. For example, my clue said something about specific rooms in order. Each of the rooms had a specific painting that when examined had a number on its description. Simple stuff. Then there’s the last half of the game where the puzzles are completely obtuse.

This is where I feel the English translation caused a lot of my issues, as there’s a handful of puzzles that give you a description about something and you need to set certain objects in a particular way or order. Two puzzles specifically were infuriating, to the point where I gave up after an hour of trying to brute force it and shamefully having to find a walkthrough online. Worse yet, the solution didn’t even make sense, so I didn’t get that “ah hah!” moment. Trust me, the Tarot Cards and the Lantern puzzle need a serious rework to be much less obtuse.

If you’re not a puzzle game fan, Charon’s Staircase doesn’t have much else for you aside from wandering around the estate trying to find clues on how to progress passed certain locked doors, finding keys and passcodes. The latter half of the game’s puzzles really changed dramatically and frustrated me. Remember, you 'run' at snail’s pace too, so all the wandering around back and forth takes forever.

Given its ‘horror’ backdrop, you can expect a lot of gloomy and brooding darkness all around the Oack Grove estate. The 70’s European setting certainly sets a mood and tone, but I’ll tell you right now, you’re going to have to play with the brightness setting depending on your TV. The default is so dark that it’s almost impossible to see anything in corners or areas that aren’t directly lit. So of course I cranked up the brightness, only to find that I was constantly blinded once there were brightly lit areas, so you’ll need to find a good middle ground to even see what’s around you. Darkness sets the horror tone but being forced to brighten it makes it lose some of its atmosphere. As for the visuals themselves, it’s dated as best with simple models and muddy textures.

The audio is actually done quite well all around. In the opening areas there’s some piano that plays in the background, setting a certain tone. The atmospheric audio is what really keeps things tense, as creaking wood, knocking on doors and other creepy sounds really makes it seem as though you’re not alone. The best part is the narrator for Desmond, as he has a smooth voice and is performed quite well with a compelling tone that had me wanting me to continue listening to anything he said.

With over twenty supported languages and a genuinely interesting story if you take the time to find and read the notes strewn about the estate, Charon’s Staircase impressed me most with its great as a whole, and the fact it was created by so few people. While Desmond searches for this mysterious staircase there’s a great foreboding atmosphere you explore, even if there’s no tension or actual danger within its Oack Grove estates' walls, leaving you frustrated with its obtuse puzzles.

**Charon’s Staircase was provided by the publisher and reviewed on an Xbox Series X**

Overall: 6.0 / 10
Gameplay: 5.0 / 10
Visuals: 5.0 / 10
Sound: 8.0 / 10

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