Waxworks - Final Rating

By Deimar

We come to the end of HorrorSoft. And it is a pity that it seems so rushed and a bit unfinished because I really liked both Elviras. The good things in them easily overcome their flaws, at least if you are interested in an horror themed adventure. However, in this game there are simply too many design mistakes, too much repetitiveness, too many dead ends… And even though I ended up the game with the mine, which is the most elaborated level, mostly well designed and interesting, it came after three sections ranging from meh to borderline infuriating. In the end, it didn’t left a good taste, neither as an adventure game nor as an RPG. Let’s check its flavour in our PISSED rating.

Waxworks - Won!

By Deimar

Bernard Rinaldi's Journal: So my recent career success has come to a stop. My supervisor is sending me to this remote mine in the middle of nowhere so I can make a safety report. Yeah, sure. A safety report about an abandoned mine that no one cares about. And don’t get me started with those supposed reports we have been receiving saying it is operative again. That makes no sense. But I will endure. I will go there, write my report, maybe kill my evil twin and go back to show him that I can carry any job he sends my way. Wait, what twin?

Attack of the killer lettuces!

So… real life got in the way. I don’t know if this happens in other countries but in Spain we usually have lots and lots of Christmas dinners with friends and coworkers before the actual Christmas and it also usually coincides with deadlines to finish that year’s projects. So I had to let the game wait for a while. And it was a pity, because The Mines, the last waxwork left, is not very long, and not very difficult once you notice a few things and find the most important location in the map. Without that, it is pretty frustrating and infuriating and I can only hope I can convey my pain and desire to kill the designers through my writing.

Waxworks - Zombie

By Deimar

Diggie McGravery's Journal
“Oh man, I love this new job!. The town is already very quiet, but in the week I have been working as a gravedigger here, nobody has come to the cemetery. Well, only the priest, but he mostly keeps to himself. It was a bit weird seeing him for the first time, with his uncanny resemblance to me and always wearing a black robe with a red five pointed star but hey, what do I know about these quirky monastic orders, am I right? There are only two things that could spoil this experience for me. The first one is the continuous odor. I know, I know. Silly me. I work at a cemetery. It is normal that it smells like rotting corpses. It is only that this one reeks of it, you know what I mean? There is that, and the gigantic bat that comes every night at dusk and heads right for the church. It always scares some poor women there, because we hear the screams. I hope it will fall onto my new friend, the gardener, to clean that mess.

Hum, I just noticed I am missing my trusty shovel. Better make a quick run to the cemetery and get it before some rascal steals it from me. Maybe we can even pay a visit to the priest while we are at it and kill him. That’s what Boris wants”

Two gone, two to go. And the next one by popular demand is the cemetery, which in many reviews is recommended as the perfect waxwork to start the game. After having played it, I can see why. It is very small and focused, with very little in the way of puzzles and surprisingly, at least to me, it even gives more insight into the lore of the game. But it is frustrating as hell.

Waxworks - London Calling

By Deimar

Frederick Abberline's Journal: I am quite concerned with all the deads in Whitechapel and I don’t know why. The dead of the five women has stirred not only the district, but the whole country. But that’s not it. Nor the gruesome manner in which the killings were carried out. No, it something else. As if I had to find him. But why? Why go there and chase a murderer? Because Boris said we must? Who is Boris? And now I am preparing to go out into the night to hunt him. To hunt our brother.

Waxworks - Walk Like an Egyptian

By Deimar

Prince Cassim's Journal: For Hathor I will have my revenge against my brother. He pledged allegiance to the God of Death, Anubis, bringing shame to our family. He even had the audacity of becoming the High Priest and constructed a pyramid in my territories. But worst of all, he has just kidnapped my beloved princess. What’s her name? At the verge of our wedding! We have to find him and kill him. It can only be us, so said uncle Boris. Wait a second, who is Boris?

The people have spoken and so I listen. And the people have decided a very weird order for my playthrough. But I am getting ahead of myself. Our first stop through history begins with the original twins, the Egyptian High Priest of Anubis and prince Cassim of… Egypt? My guess is as good as yours.

Where is Brendan Fraser when you need him?

Game 101: Waxworks (1992) - Introduction

Written by Deimar

I am starting to think I am the place adventure game sagas go to die. This is the fourth saga I am closing and this time we can even add the company behind it to the list of casualties. Well, it was more like a rebranding. But the fact that this is the last game of Horror Soft as we know it is still relevant. So, without further ado, I give you Waxworks.

I am already missing Elvira’s... erm… personality. This one can’t hold a candle to her