Secret of Gloam Lake

This thread is for story and gameplay discussion of Episode 1: Secret of Gloam Lake.

To report bugs, crashes, editing errors, and other mistakes, please post in the Bugs & Mistakes Megathread :bug: instead. That will keep this thread cleaner.

What to Post Here

Any commentary is welcome, but here are some suggestions:

  1. What were your favorite moments?
  2. How did the puzzle/exploration elements go for you?
  3. How could I improve a particular scene, in your opinion?
  4. Where did you want more agency? (new choice ideas)
  5. Where did you want your character’s race/sex/stats to be more relevant?
  6. What ending did you get, and how do you feel about it?
  7. What are your unanswered questions and curiosities?
  8. What’s something you’d like to see in a future episode?

Spoiler Rules / Spoiler Warning

Lurkers, I encourage you to play through the episode at least once before reading the comments at all. Or you could come here if you get stuck.

Posters, for particularly spoilery spoilers, like puzzle hints and answers to the main mystery, please blur them with a spoiler tag as shown below.

Writing this: [spoiler] It was all just a dream [/spoiler]
Will display this: It was all just a dream

The puzzle elements in Chapter 2 were a real highlight for me. I loved how nearly all of the traps were telegraphed in some way if you took the time to look around the temple. It made my exploration of the space feel justified, and rewarded. It also gave me a lot of mileage out of investing in my Int score. That entire section was very polished, and super engaging.

Also, I don’t think I’ve ever been happier to fail a dice roll than the Faith roll in Chapter 3. If any new players are looking for advice on a dump stat, I’ve found that having a low Faith score has only made the whole experience more fun overall.

I played an earlier version of this chapter some time ago, so vaguely remembered the plot while I played it, but it was still good the second time around.

I found some evidence of hidden ink in the journal but couldn’t find any way to use that. I expected directing the light into that room might let me hold it up to it and read it, but that didn’t seem possible.

The start of chapter 2 didn’t seem to take into account if you (major spoiler) killed the imposter in ambush, or presumably were ambushed by it, which made the dialogue at the start seem a little out of place.

The start of the first chapter also seemed a little too heavy on retelling parts of the prologue instead of just covering the time gap.