Elsinore is a Shakespearean Groundhog Day
The time-looping tragedy is out now.
It must be frustrating to create something with a time-looping premise when everyone talking about it is immediately going to compare it to Bill Murray film. Anyway, Elsinore is Hamlet meets Groundhog Day. It looks very neat.
Instead of a weatherman, we've got Ophelia, stuck in a four day loop that ends with everyone in Elsinore Castle dying. It's a point and click affair, where you'll need to explore the Danish castle and beyond and chat with its inhabitants in an attempt to tweak fate. Hamlet, Othello, Polonius—the whole gang is here.
The residents of Elsinore have their own schedules to keep, as well as needs and desires, but by lying, befriending, gossiping and other interactions, you can knock things out of their routine and change the timeline. Following the Groundhog Day rules, Ophelia remembers everything when time resets, but everyone else is oblivious.
As you'd expect from a Shakespearean tragedy, everyone is keeping secrets and there are lots of grisly deaths awaiting them, but at least you have all the time in the world to rescue them all.
You'll be able to go beyond Elsinore, too, though you won't be able to escape the time loop, and it looks like there's trouble waiting beyond the castle walls. Trouble like pirates.
I'm very much on board with this, especially if it means Ophelia gets a better end than drowning after being stricken with grief over the murder of her dad. She really doesn't have a great time in Hamlet. Do we have to save everyone, though? I mean, sure, let's keep some of them around, but Hamlet? Surely we can let him die. The man's a knob.
Elsinore is out now on Steam and Itch.io for £13.16/$17.
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Fraser is the UK online editor and has actually met The Internet in person. With over a decade of experience, he's been around the block a few times, serving as a freelancer, news editor and prolific reviewer. Strategy games have been a 30-year-long obsession, from tiny RTSs to sprawling political sims, and he never turns down the chance to rave about Total War or Crusader Kings. He's also been known to set up shop in the latest MMO and likes to wind down with an endlessly deep, systemic RPG. These days, when he's not editing, he can usually be found writing features that are 1,000 words too long or talking about his dog.