Paolo Garelli
We begin this review by thanking Edizioni Aristea for providing us with Oscura Carcosa, the second volume of the Per Speculum series.
The expectations for this gamebook were decidedly high. 49 Chiavi had set the bar high for this series, which promises to reveal hidden and frightening truths. We took our time delving into the themes and now we are finally ready to talk to you about Oscura Carcosa.
In case you want to throw yourself into exploring the city even before reading this review, know that the game book can be purchased at the official store for around €24. We remind you that by entering the code NDU5 you will receive a 5% discount!
Before starting our journey, we shall explain what we are talking about briefly. Oscura Carcosa is the story of a city that comes to life through the description of its inhabitants, its structures and above all its mysteries. The city is the true protagonist of this gamebook and we understand this as we learn its secrets and cross its streets. Even though it is made of iron, wood and stone, we will often have the sensation that the city is alive, like a dark organism in decay. Everything seems to hinge on the figure of the King in Yellow and, although the sovereign is now distant, his image seems to link every story.
Our First Impression on Oscura Carcosa
The focal point of Oscura Carcosa is the two volumes that compose it, contained within a box that recalls the illustration present in the main volume. The first tells the setting and introduces us to our character Jiří Orten, a second-hand dealer who owns a junk dealer in the Jewish ghetto of Josefov. It is not a simple collection of information, but a fundamental part of the gamebook. Hidden within its pages are the solutions to the puzzles and the insights necessary to advance our theories.
Please know that it is not necessary to read this volume before starting to read the gamebook. You can always opt to discover its secrets as the reading progresses. I must say that we preferred to immediately dive into the in-depth pages and in the long run, we suffered a little from the large amount of information to assimilate. Despite this, it was truly impossible to resist the temptation to discover everything possible about the city.
The second volume, however, is the real gamebook. We are talking about an adventure with more than 300 paragraphs, which takes us through four stories to discover the mysteries hidden behind as many objects as possible. As we delve further into the mysteries we will discover the neighborhoods of the city, its inhabitants and their particularities. Everything is accompanied by the splendid illustrations by Erica Rossi which help us get lost in the alleys of Carcosa. Fortunately, we will have an A4 map that will help us in the difficult task of surviving its dangerous neighbourhoods.
A Guide to Carcosa
Walking through the city, you have the impression of truly passing through its neighbourhoods, immersing yourself in the atmosphere expertly created by the author Federico Bianchini. The plot revolves around the search for the mysteries of Carcosa and the secrets that are hidden there. We will wander around the street market looking for something that catches our attention; four objects, simple rubbish for some, but not for us. Like moths drawn to the flame, we will not be able to resist searching again and again.
Through our experience and methodical (sometimes obsessive) research, we will discover secrets that perhaps would have been better left hidden, buried in the past of the city and its inhabitants. One object after another we will push ourselves further and further into the meanders of Carcosa, coming into contact with its inhabitants and its legends. A real treasure hunt, in which the prize is the resolution of a mystery, a small piece of a much larger puzzle.
Oscura Carcosa Mechanics Review
Oscura Carcosa has some very particular mechanics, in line with what was experienced with 49 Keys. Forget the character sheet, the statistics and all the packages we normally associate with this type of work. In Oscura Carcosa the only parameter that will be tested is your wits. Having to avoid annoying spoilers that could ruin the experience, I can’t go into too much detail. Know that Oscura Carcosa is full of puzzles that will ask you to delve deeper into the topics written in the first volume.
A real quest that will allow you to put the pieces together and find the solution to the puzzle. The key thing is that there is not just one path. You can decide how much to risk and how far to go into the depths of Carcosa; Consider carefully what and who you are willing to sacrifice for knowledge. Based on your answer, know that obtaining more or less points will allow you to understand in the end whether or not you managed to unravel all the mysteries of the city.
Final Considerations of the Oscura Carcosa Review
Oscura Carcosa is a small masterpiece that offers a mysterious story with puzzles that force the reader to think continuously to get closer to the solution step by step. I loved the way the author managed to convey the decadence of this multi-ethnic city. A first-person journey that in some moments led me to identify perfectly with Jiří’s life.
I reached the end of the gamebook convinced that the streets of Carcosa no longer held any secrets for me, discovering despite myself that I had not yet revealed all the mysteries of the city. It is a gamebook with high replayability, which largely corrects the defects reported in 49 Keys. After all, who knows what hides that alley that we had decided not to explore, certain that we had now solved the enigma….
