

His only salvation in this underground setting is, of course, light: The creaks are terrified of it, which makes sense, since light transmogrifies them into harmless furniture if it touches them. The main character is animated in an immediately endearing way: He perpetually wears an anxious expression, eyes wide, eyebrows raised, as if he could melt into a bundle of nerves at any moment. It also seems like it could crumble at any moment due to seismic activity, whether natural or caused by the mysterious giant creature that you occasionally see glimpses of. The hidden mansion, with its vaguely Victorian architecture and steampunk-sans-brass aesthetics, feels like a lived-in space that was gradually, perhaps over centuries, hewn out of colossal stalagmites in the cavern. If you want to see the very best of the best for your platform(s) of choice, check out Polygon Essentials. When we award a game the Polygon Recommends badge, it’s because we believe the title is uniquely thought-provoking, entertaining, inventive, or fun - and worth fitting into your schedule. Polygon Recommends is our way of endorsing our favorite games. There are a few different types of this latter group - the eponymous “creaks” themselves - such as menacing robot dogs and metallic jellyfish-like creatures, and all of them will kill our friend with a touch.

He quickly finds himself exploring a vast subterranean structure lying in a massive cavern: a dilapidated mansion that’s the size of a small town and is home to a variety of eldritch beings, including bird-people and some deadly mechanical monsters.

He’s been sleeping above a wonder, as it turns out. Our hero does what anyone would: He crawls in and starts investigating what lies beneath his home. The disturbance jolts the wallpaper, a piece of which peels off to reveal a metal door leading to a secret passageway. The overhead light in his bedroom flickers and then dies, as a loud thud rattles the entire house. This is the surreal setting for Creaks, an elegant puzzle game from the Czech studio Amanita Design that took me on a grand adventure.Ĭreaks stars an unassuming everyman who, at the beginning of the game, is just trying to get some reading in before bedtime. Imagine a world exactly like the one in which you live, but where every piece of frayed wallpaper may hide a door into a monstrously beautiful mystery.
