The Count Lucanor

The Count Lucanor has a unique set-up with a fairy-tale setting that quickly dives into gothic horror full of pixelated beasts who want to steal your soul (ranging from hell-risen Goats to evil death monks, and giant-stitched-together monsters who squeal like babies).

Borrowing from Survival horror classics, you have limited saves and save positions and can't attack enemies, only hiding from them. No running in this game so I hope you can out-jog them and hide underneath tables until they run away.

After some really well-staged animated cut scenes, the game allows you to run around and solve puzzles involving pushing blocks, avoiding enemies, navigating mazes, and solving some item puzzles. Nothing is too convoluted and some puzzles have more than one solution.

The game has a unique pixel art style that isn't trying to ape a specific system of the past and has a unique look that is somewhere between Sierra adventure game and JRPG.

The game is a bit too short to leave a serious impact and is not exactly revolutionary with any of its mechanics. All are done well enough, but it all sort of feels like a dress rehearsal for Yuppie Psycho which had longer and bigger ideas, doubled up on the comedy which helped, and had a bit more variety than the original game's castle grounds.

If you really liked Yuppie Psycho and crave a bit more, dig in, otherwise, you aren't missing out.