If atmospheric point-and-click games are your thing, make sure The Tragedy at Deer Creek is on your radar

Released earlier this month to little fanfare, The Tragedy at Deer Creek deserves its moment in the spotlight. A cinematic point-and-click adventure about exploring an abandoned logging camp, it’s a game that exudes atmosphere and suspense, and presents a story that leaves you desperate to find out more.

In The Tragedy at Deer Creek, you play as Charlotte Gray. She’s a photographer and, armed with her trusty polaroid camera, she sets out to explore an abandoned camp, photograph it and, hopefully, try to uncover what happened there. Thanks to its dark and shadowy locations, Deer Creek gives the impression of being a horror game. But you don’t have to worry about anything jumping out from the dark at you. Instead, this is a game that prefers to play with your heart rather than your nerves.

You see, as Charlotte explores the logging camp, she finds signs of the people who once lived and worked there. She’s working on a project known as Forgotten Frontiers, and she hopes to present a visual journal of places time has forgot. That means not only looking at the buildings and the camp itself, but digging into the belongings left behind.

As Charlotte, you’ll uncover photographs, tools and personal belongings that tell a story of the people in the past. It’s not only eerie, but it’s strongly emotive, too – helped by the fact that The Tragedy at Deer Creek is fully voiced. The voice acting here is excellent, and it really helps to elevate your immersion in the mystery that Charlotte begins to uncover.

Being a point and click game, there are numerous puzzles to solve, but much of The Tragedy at Deer Creek will be spent exploring and investigating the items around you. Like all games in the genre, interacting with as many items as possible pays off, but here, there’s the added bonus of learning more information with every new item you pick up. Charlotte will constantly narrate as she explores and, coupled with the game’s excellent atmosphere, it’s enough to make you press on, delving deeper into this eerie world.

If you’re not sure whether The Tragedy at Deer Creek is for you, there’s a free demo available now on Steam which will give you a taste of what to expect. But if you’re a fan of puzzle, point-and-click or investigation games, you won’t regret picking this up. Costing just £13.49, it’s worth every penny.