PixlBit

PolyPusher Studios, the Irish developer behind Montague’s Mount, describes its latest project as a “psychological rollercoaster ride through isolation, desolation, and one man’s tortured mind.” Its perception of the game it created doesn’t quite align with the game it actually released, where the rollercoaster is more like rush hour traffic, and the only tortured mind is my own. Montague's Mount is a first-person adventure/puzzle game about a man who awakens on the beach of a deserted fishing island, unable to remember who he is or why he’s there. Promising although the concept sounds, concept only goes so far without the execution to back it up.

While other games have explored complex themes without structured narratives, Montague's Mount tries to squeak by with too little of everything. Beyond the narrator's occasional interjections and whatever you may infer from the objects found around the island, there are no vehicles by which to deliver the promise of a psychological thriller: no cutscenes, no documents to read, no impending threat to push you forward.

The game instead depends on its ominous setting to hold the player's attention, but problems abound there too. By default, it’s dark—it’s really dark, to the point where I actually couldn’t see the game. I increased the gamma to 150% (the maximum possible via in-game settings), but it still wasn’t enough. I increased my TV’s brightness to about 150% as well. Finally I could see enough to start. Of course, the extreme brightness caused the already drab graphics to become even more washed out. Add the film grain and raindrop effects, and it’s simply too much. Sometimes the protagonist stops blinking and the rain pauses enough to see a rare glimpse of the island’s dreary beauty, but these moments of clarity are few and far between. With more subtlety, the setting could be atmospheric and immersive. As is, it’s overdone.

Often closer to a hidden-object game than a puzzle game, Montague’s Mount frequently requires you to locate items before you may proceed. Pacing, therefore, depends on how skilled of a pixel hunter you are. My skills apparently wanting, I frequently combed the length of the island three to four times, clicking everything I could see, before I located something I could use. All too often, I was stuck with one item I didn’t know how to use and was unable to locate any others. The poor visual fidelity, paired with the protagonist’s stuck-in-molasses walking speed, slows exploration to a crawl. The fact I stumbled upon multiple “secret areas” while pursuing the game’s primary objective suggests the developer misjudged how obscure the objectives are, how well the secrets are hidden, or both.

Of course, locating items is only half of the process. The other half is using them to solve the game’s convoluted and uninspired puzzles. The combination to a safe whose contents ostensibly are intended to be secure is written right beside it. Meanwhile, lowering a publicly accessible bridge involves an arduous string of events that includes transcribing Morse code emitted by a buoy and arranging colored pegs.

Apparently aware of the bridge puzzle’s non-sequitur design, the developers include, in-game, a step-by-step guide to solving it. The guide’s presence is awkwardly justified as a note left by a previous visitor to the island. This individual apparently solved the puzzle and instead of simply leaving the bridge down decided to raise it back up, scatter the required elements, and write directions. I would’ve preferred more subtle guidance or, even better, a more logical puzzle.

These instances of breaking the fourth wall are unfortunately common and undermine immersion. Another such example is the constant display of Gaelic vocabulary. Everything you click pops up with the object’s Gaelic word and English translation. With no visual cue to indicate which items are relevant and which are simply part of the scenery, seasoned adventure game players who click everything will see these messages constantly. The game may be set off the coast of Ireland, but otherwise the vocabulary lessons relate neither to the gameplay nor the story whatsoever.

In Montague's Mount, there are two ways to get stymied, either where you don't know how to progress, or by getting physically stuck because of a glitch. I got physically stuck twice. I also dropped off the island and into the ocean, witnessed a floating power pole, and carried invisible inventory items. My review copy executable file is labeled version 0.9.3. I'm no software expert, but I would expect anything less than 1.0 to be a work in progress, and that’s exactly what it feels like.

Montague’s Mount reminds me of the 2009 Wii horror game Cursed Mountain, another title whose sluggish controls and poorly designed gameplay squandered its genuinely promising concept and setting. You may read a description of the game and think it sounds like a strong premise. You may watch a trailer and think the art style appeals to you. But only by playing it could you see how PolyPusher Studios created a setting and then, almost as an afterthought, built a game around it.