Lykan is a bit like Sleepy Hollow, only with a werewolf instead of a Headless Horseman, and with a Depp rating of a reassuring 0.0. It's also quite a lot like the disappointing Red Riding Hood film of 2011, which was pretty much a lycanthrope whodunit. You're a werewolf hunter in a very purple Victorian town, and your job is to root out the beast - naturally, by firing a crossbow at it - while trying not to harm any innocent civilians. As time goes on, the monster will begin to pick off the other citizens, leaving telltale corpses all over the cobbled streets.
Impressively, Charlie Carlo's game is inspired by the astounding Westerado , which only came out a few weeks ago . As with that browser-based Western, you can pull out your weapon and kill anyone at any time - but if there's a copper around, prepare to be truncheoned to an early death. The trick, as the 'How to Play' screen makes clear, is to observe the civilians' shadows, which give the werewolf's true nature away. This is a lot harder said than done - and when you do unmask the monster, you still have to take the thing down.
Interestingly, you can also change the game settings so that multiple werewolves appear, they show few or no tells at all, or the town is crammed full/mostly clear of civilians. I really hope Charlie builds on Lykan in future, because there's a nuggest of brilliance at its beating werewolf heart.
Thanks to the increasingly excellent Indie Statik .
