The Gladdening Chamber
A downloadable game for Windows
You have been informed that an online friend has gone missing.
Using your research abilities, you will chase the truth behind what happened to them.
You will have limited time for this pursuit each night and will face challenges as you follow their trail.
You will have five days.
You will experience things you do not yet understand.
You will enter The Gladdening Chamber.
The Gladdening Chamber is an atmospheric horror internet-mystery game.
In it, you will be tasked with connecting the dots between clues found in various places online to discover what happened to a friend who has recently stopped posting on his beloved horror, supernatural, and cryptid discussion forum.
This game may be comparable to a visual novel in terms of reading volume, however the gameplay will lean more towards the organization of information you're given and solving puzzles along the way to unlock more leads to investigate.
Close attention will need to be paid to the details of your findings; while not every news article, forum or blog post you read will have bearing on the overarching mystery, the ones that do may not at first be apparent.
Keep good notes, leave no stone unturned, don't give up, and you will succeed - though it may take more than one attempt.
Download
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Development log
- Patch v1.4Nov 11, 2020
- The Gladdening Chamber has been featured in DreadXP's Ultra-Indie Spotlight!Nov 06, 2020
- Patch v1.3Nov 03, 2020
- Subreddit Launched!Nov 02, 2020
- Patch v1.2Nov 02, 2020
- Patch v1.1Oct 29, 2020
Comments
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My friend and I have been playing through this over the last couple of weeks (if you're the person who still actively replies on the subreddit and you see this comment, thank you again!!!), and I just want to say, you did an incredible job here. Really difficult puzzles for someone like me, but crazy fun. I love the writing in every corner of this game, you have a great imagination and mastery of atmosphere. Genuinely one of the best indie-horror/mystery games I have ever played, and I will be sure to tell all my friends about it!
Would love to play through this, but the initial jumpscare just turned me off. I wish I could watch someone else play it but, perplexingly, there is not a single playthrough on youtube.
How many jumpscares are there?
There are some other scenes throughout that may be tense, but that is the only big, dumb, and loud one! Sorry.
Also, if you come across anything that has you stuck feel free to contact me for hints. We also set up a sub when the game was released that may be helpful: https://www.reddit.com/r/TheGladdeningChamber/
Thank you for checking out our game!
Oh, good to know then! The scare wasn't that bad, but it's the expectation of more LOUD jumpscares that really made it too stressful to play through. I had no way of knowing if I'd be pulled from the computer with a FNAF style jumpscare or not, lol. Thanks for the response, I'll definitely check it out more later!
Ok, I finally played it and finished it, and it was really good! I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it, particularly reading all the horror stories scattered throughout.
The puzzles were pretty difficult, good thing the subreddit was there, otherwise I don't think I could have done it... even though I played it with 2 other people. Still it was fun and it reminded me of when I used to play notpron.
My only gripe is that I replayed the loop too many times, to the point I wished there was a skip cutscene/fast forward/day select button.
Oh, and it would also been cool if the whole game could be played with only the mouse. As the only keyboard button needed is the ALT key, maybe if it was mapped to the middle click, it could have been a little smoother and also more accessible for some people.
Anyway, I'm going to recommend this for sure, and probably check out your other games too. I'm surprised it's not more popular. I don't even know where I heard about it.
Thanks again for playing - we knew it'd take a lot of patience to fully experience this game for anyone compelled to dig into it. Even with some of the quality of life improvements you suggested, it'd still be quite a lot of reading and puzzling so your efforts are appreciated!
It's a unique title, and we'd love to revisit it some day in the form of a spiritual successor if not a direct sequel.
I think there's still a lot of potential in the realm of stories-happening-inside-computers-inside-your-computer. I do have a couple of other recommendations for those, if you're interested:
- Location Withheld, by Bryce Bucher
https://bryce-bucher.itch.io/location-withheld
- DEAD LETTER DEPT., by Mike Monroe/Belief Engine
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1627350/DEAD_LETTER_DEPT/
Hi again! I tried both of those recommendations and I just wanted to say you definitely outdid them
For Location Withheld I made the error of playing the demake. While it certainly has a little more charm, it definitely lost appeal in the transformation, as there's less interaction with the environment.
As for Dead Letter Dept, it was more of a job than a game, lol. It kinda dragged on too long doing that dull chore, even for a demo.
I also played the 2000 Navidson lane and it really got me at the end...
I really found nothing like The Gladdening Chamber where you have to parse through lots of information and filter the clues to find a solution. I guess I'll keep looking :)
This time I'm coming to you with a recommendation of my own.
Have you played Stories Untold? The recent announcement of Silent Hill Townfall from team No Code reminded me of Stories Untold, a game they made some years ago.
I haven't played their other game, Observation, yet, but Stories Untold is very much in the vein of the games we've been discussing, and it is pretty good I would say.
Great work emulating the 2000s Screenlife sub-genre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screenlife horror vibe. The setting and on-site hauntings are perfect for a cozy yet unsettling mood, and the dynamic element helps players stay invested.
I believe it goes really well with the recent rise of found footage jam entries. Since they're related.
I'm so stuck right now at trying to figure out the password to get into the website. I'm sure I'm being dumb but seriously I have no clue XD kinda at a stand still but I really wanna finish it it's really good so far :)
Hey there! Thanks for checking out the game. The password to access that site can be found on /boo/ - it's a phrase that's connected to the missing administrator. Good luck, and let me know if you could use more hints! There's a lot to discover.