Dreadworks: The ELIGOS Grimoire

Welcome to Dreadworks: The ELIGOS Grimoire! Your unofficial collection of these tense, atmospheric and totally unique Game Boy world crafted by Horatiu Radoiu (a.k.a. ELIGOS GAMES). This ain't your average retro collection, we're talking about a cool lineup of deep story driven adventures, each project pushes the limits of what you thought a Game Boy game could be, all while dripping with a distinct, unique style that's totally his own. So if you're into stuff that's more than just pixels on a screen and wanna make you feel something, you've definitely come to the right place. Let's break 'em down.

Dreadworks: The ELIGOS Grimoire

AF✝ER

AF✝ER is a mix of a small town mystery and a psychological horror trip, all in that classic grayscale aesthetic that somehow makes everything more unsettling. You're basically a park ranger coming back to your hometown and you have to investigate some bizarre happenings that are giving off Twin Peaks vibes. The gameplay is a cool mix of exploration, talking to a cast of stange characters who all have secrets and navigating tense sections where you have to manage your sanity and battery power for your flashlight. The atmosphere is well driven, the limited graphics and lack of sound are used perfectly to build the constant feeling of loneliness, like something is wrong just beneath the surface of this quiet town. It's not always perfect, sometimes the puzzles can be a little obscure and you might get stuck, but the overall experience is immersive and you keep playing to see what freaky thing happens next.

Bitterroot

In Bitterroot you play as a random girl who gets stranded and ends up trapped in a crazy cursed mansion. The graphics are solid and creative for the system with detailed sprites and backgrounds that make the mansion feel more immersive and oppresive, like you're constantly being watched. The gameplay is a mix of old school adventure game puzzles, where you're hunting for key items and figuring out how to use them and there are moments where you have to fight off ghosts with your camera, which gives some Fatal Frame vibes. It packs personality and style into its runtime, and you can tell it was a passion project to see how far the graphics could be pushed.

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Neighbor

Neighbor is like that feeling when you move into a new place and you're just waiting for something to be weird, but it actually gets weird. You're just trying to live your life in this dream apartment, but of course there's a whole bunch of spooky secrets hiding in the walls. It's split into a few chapters, which is pretty cool 'cuz it feels like a mini-series you can play through. The whole vibe is tense, like you're never really sure what's gonna happen next and there are some moments where the game just switches from the normal GameBoy style to a more realistic, like a magazine or some noir series. It's not just about running away from stuff either, you gotta figure out puzzles and make choices that actually lead to different endings, which makes you wanna play it again to see what you missed. It's a good time if you're into stories that unfold slowly and keep you guessing.

Cargo

Cargo is short adventure when you're exploring an abandoned spaceship and the whole thing is just dripping with atmosphere. The gameplay is all about managing your oxygen and ammo while you try to solve puzzles and figure out what went wrong, which adds a real tension because every move counts. The art style is honestly one of the coolest on the system with some awesome character portraits and a UI that makes it feel even more sci-fi.

Friend of the Void

Finally, Friend of the Void is a super unique collab with Sleepless Seven and a kinda melancholic game jam project where you're basically trying to befriend these lonely eldritch creatures in the dark to find your lost friend. The art is honestly stunning, like each character has so much personality even with just a few pixels, which is wild for a game made in a week. The whole vibe is about making connections and giving the right items to these beings, which is a really cool and different kind of puzzle. But fair warning, it can be a bit frustrating 'cuz there's no save feature and the dialogue is super cryptic, so if you mess up and give an item at the wrong time, you might have to restart and figure everything out again from the beginning. Definitely worth checking out if you're into experimental games.

Traumatarium

If you dug these games and wanna see more stuff like this, consider giving a tip to the dev making these wild creative projects in his free time, even a small one helps keep the lights on and fuels more of these unique GameBoy adventures. Plus, it's a solid way to say «hey, your works are cool» and support him for future projects.