THE ENTANGLEMENT

Right, but which reality are we talking about? Well, that's hard to explain. So: there's an illusionist, an artist, a director, an old lady, and a dog in a house in the woods that doubles as a hotel, where truly strange things happen. Dates blur, roles mix, locations overlap, and the suspicion of being trapped in a lysergic dream grows ever stronger. But you shouldn't stop at appearances.

The game is one massive puzzle box to be solved piece by piece and, like any self-respecting puzzle, it is governed by ironclad logic as well as honesty. Why do I say honest? Because while Lorelei might seem daunting (and it is), it's never unfair or reliant on "moon-logic." The solution is almost always right there in the elements you've gathered—or at most, in the ones you haven't collected yet—but it's never left to chance. In short, you'll get there, even if it takes some time.

All it takes is the bare minimum required of a good detective: a spirit of observation, a dash of ingenuity, just enough lateral thinking, and a pen and paper. Oh, and crucially, do not ignore even the most miserable scrap of paper. Everything makes sense, both in terms of solving the riddles and understanding the plot, which unfolds through fragments and hyper-metatextual cues in the postmodernist tradition, featuring more or less explicit nods to Infinite Jest and House of Leaves.

I didn't know anything about the game until a month ago, I didn't know the developers, and I don't know what awards they've won—if any. But the first two things I thought were:

Video game writing has taken giant leaps forward (and any inferiority complexes towards other media are entirely unjustified).

I didn't think classic graphic adventures (meaning those based on puzzles and heavy reading material) still had so much to say.