izigame.me

*Sigh* If only Steam had a neutral review option...
The review is spoiler free except for one technical achievement. So no story spoiler here. ;)

Slender Threads is a great game with a complex narrative. It tells the story of Harvey Green, an aspiring writer who spends his days as a traveling salesman, stopping for a night in the seemingly tranquil town of Villa Ventana. His sole purpose is to sell books and gather inspiration for his writing, but soon after his arrival, strange events begin to unfold. There seem to be eerie creatures at the edge of the forest, mysterious disappearances, and inexplicable occurrences. Will Harvey be able to unravel all the mysteries? Will he even survive his own story as the town becomes drenched in blood?
This game is a perfect example of a great story with poor execution, hence the 6/10 score. On the bright side, the graphics are good, the music perfectly fits the atmosphere, and the answers to all the mysteries are genius.
However, there are major caveats. First, as a completionist, I found issues with the achievements available at the time of this review. In my humble opinion, achievements should encourage players to discover Easter eggs, explore different aspects of the game, and engage with new content—not impose restrictions or set playing conditions. The final achievement, which requires completing the entire game without using fast travel, significantly diminished my enjoyment. This was especially frustrating because the game offers little direction to guide players, causing me to wander aimlessly for much of my playtime, only to realize the next clue is at the other side of the town.
Another issue that worsened my experience was the lack of clear indicators for when time has passed. At times, I believed I had finished an area when, in reality, I only needed to wait a bit longer for an event to trigger. Since there's no way to notify the player that something has changed, a lot of time ends up wasted.
Similarly, there is no clear rule for when items will disappear from your inventory. Most vanish after a single use, but some don’t. This limited my creativity since I was never sure if an item would remain available. The same goes for trying to discuss with inanimate objects—I got blocked so many times early in the game that I eventually forgot to use the feature altogether.
Lastly, this game is best played over a short period to avoid forgetting important clues, given how little guidance is provided. This is particularly challenging when trying to minimize the use of fast travel for completionist purposes.
I don’t necessarily recommend this game, but I wouldn’t tell you to avoid it either. The story is its strongest point, but there are so many small issues that hinder enjoyment that I can’t wholeheartedly suggest playing it. Some mechanics feel clunky, and the pacing is often unintuitive. Play it if you have patience and enjoy fun, creepy mysteries. The ending is worth it, and all the little hints along the way will finally make sense. But please, don’t attempt it as a completionist—unless you really like walking. XD

As a small side note, if the devs ever read this, I think it would have been fun to learn more about the town’s inhabitants. There are so many inanimate objects you can interact with and inspect, yet very little information about the villagers that isn’t directly tied to advancing the story.
If you enjoyed this review, please check out my curator page to find more : Ele's Little Recommendation Corner!

I'm a little on the fence with this one and it has to do with the ending. Possible spoilers ahead!
You play as Harvey Green, an aspiring writer whom tries to sell books in a little backwater village. Upon arrival at said village, he explores around town and something mysteriously draws him to a place were he hears his own name on the radio and the game picks up pretty nicely from there.
The game has done a lot of good when it comes to wondering what comes next. The story unfolds piecemeal and had left me wanting for more as it was rather interesting... At least up until a certain part.
The visuals aren't the best, but they serve this point-and-click well enough.
The voice acting was good. Everyone seemed to give it their all, even for characters that were minor / afterthoughts.
Most of the puzzles were logical enough that it keeps the player engaged enough, but there were some of them that left me frustrated with the mechanic / visual of it, which I'll explain in a bit.
The sound design and music are... Not that amazing and it feels like it was all a little too low on volume, or simply absent, but that's not really a huge issue.
For the not so decent: there is a puzzle there with a hair dryer that made me frustrated with the mechanics. Yes, I understand what needed to happen, no the game didn't allow you to. The issue here isn't so much the solution; the problem is that, on the game's screen, the hair dryer has an electrical cable plugged in. But since the player can't click on this outlet, they have to interact with a power box. Seriously, who just takes spark plugs from the power box without deactivating certain devices first?
That's where I noticed the 'hint system' wasn't exactly helpful. I knew what to do (rather: wanted to do), but the system was rather unhelpful with providing a solution. I acknowledge that this could be a 'me problem', but I once again point out towards the logistics of said puzzle.
Another slight problem I have with it, was meeting one of the major characters in the game, whom then asks if you want to open a window. I immediately called out what was going to happen and the game does 'exactly' that and it was played as an 'oh no! How did that happen?' Come on, if the player sees it from a kilometer away, so could the game. Though this could be more of a pet peeve of mine...
Now, the reason why I won't recommend this game and actually glared at the screen and begrudgingly played the epilogue: the ending.
It's all in your head only works very, very rarely and this game has been a huge victim of it. It's not exactly that, but the concept is the exact same thing. That completely caught me off guard and not in a good narrative way. I get wanting a twist in the end, but this is not a good way to do it. It felt cheap, even with the epilogue in the end to sort of - kind of, wanting to justify it.
It's a bit of a shame, as the rest of the game is pretty good / decent despite some flaws. I usually want to play point-and-clicks multiple times, despite having a linear story, Monkey Island, The Journey Down or The Dream Machine. This one, I'll gladly leave in my library without touching it again, simply because of that ending.

When I played the prologue back in 2022, I knew this would be a great game, and Blyts didn't disappoint. Coming from the developers who created the famous Nobodies series, Slender Threads gives the same feeling of investigation. You play a salesman, Harvey Green, who is struggling to become a writer, arriving in Vila Ventana to isolate himself and try to finish writing his book, but this vacation is cut short when someone in the inn suggests meeting another writer. Excited, Harvey headed to the man's house, only to discover he was missing for days. The problem is, the radio in that house mentioned Harvey's name! The game has many unexpected twists.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3424258868
The artwork is unique, the character's style and animations are really good, and they even have expressions! The atmosphere of the whole game is dark and eerie, I enjoyed every area I've visited. The soundtracks are beautiful, fitting the atmosphere right. Now, when it comes to the voice acting, nothing can describe how outstanding their act was! It was phenomenal, especially the main character, who was voiced by Joe Gaudet, and Amber Lee Connors, who did Lena's voice; they both sounded better than any triple-A game. What surprised me the most was Alex Walker Smith; he is the composer of the game and did multiple voices. His voice was very well done, and his music is outstanding. This is why I enjoy indie games more than any mainstream games; the talent is definitely there.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3424260847
Just like any Point&Click game, you get the items to use and options to either speak, use, or observe anything around you; I liked the small comments from the main characters. Nothing is repeatable when you click on anything, which makes the game unique. The puzzles are very nice; they will require you to explore the city, and you'll get a map that will allow you to travel fast to any previously visited place. I found it quite helpful. If you ever got stuck, your notepad has the hinting system, It'll guide you to what you should do next as you get a main objective as you keep advancing in the story.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3424260064
Pros:
+Interesting well-written story.
+Beautiful artwork style.
+Interesting characters.
+Choices and consequences.
+Beautiful soundtracks.
+Outstanding voiceovers.
+Fast traveling map.
+Hinting system.
+Good game length.
+Manual save.
+Steam achievements.
Cons:
-Nothing!
It took me a little bit over seven hours to finish the game without a guide. The epilogue was a surprise I didn't expect; when you play the game, make sure not to skip the credits. I highly recommend it to people who enjoy this genre; try out the free prologue; you'll not be disappointed.
Other Reviews:
Slender Threads: Prologue Review

𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤𝑠 𝑐𝘩𝑒𝑐𝑘 𝑚𝑦 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑝𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝐹𝑒𝑒𝑛𝑎'𝑠 𝐶𝘩𝑜𝑖𝑐𝑒
Follow IndieGems for more reviews like this one.