The third week of September brought an intriguing haul of new releases to Steam. While titles like 'Dying Light: The Beast' and 'Arena Breakout: Infinite' made headlines, and smaller indie projects like 'Jump Space' or 'Mega Bonk' earned their share of acclaim, one particular title stood out: 'Strange Antiquities'. Coming from the developers of 'Strange Horticulture', this new venture pivots into the eerie world of the occult.

In Strange Antiquities, you find yourself running an antique shop. You are the assistant to a great occultist named 'Eli', and you possess a sharp mind and nerves of steel. Why would you need nerves of steel in an antique shop, you ask? Well, it’s because the primary inventory consists entirely of bizarre occult artifacts.

The shop is stocked with items that are anything but ordinary: shriveled hands, peculiar necklaces, and wooden goats. Your job as the assistant is to provide the right items to those who come calling. Usually, this would be Eli's responsibility, but a sudden turn of events has left the shop in your hands.

Here is the catch: you are merely an assistant, not a master practitioner. You have no idea what these occult trinkets actually are. If a customer demands the 'Heart of the Moon', you are essentially flying blind. Fortunately, you have access to the master's reference books, which you must pore over to deduce the correct answer.

The books detail the creation, structure, material, and peculiarities of the items. They rarely provide exact visual matches, so you must rely on interpretation. Sometimes there are illustrations, but they can be misleading. For instance, if a customer asks for the 'Hunter’s Blessing', the description might define it as 'a trophy taken from a fallen beast'. The sketch might show a wolf's face, yet the item on your shelf is a tiger-tooth necklace.

To identify items, you must investigate them—checking for sight, touch, sound, and general aura. These details serve as your clues. For example, the 'Ossic Loop' might be unassuming, but if you listen closely, it emits a distinct hissing sound like a serpent. Identifying items correctly unlocks new information from customers, leading you to discover even more mysterious artifacts.

Your main goal is to keep the shop running for 17 days. However, peace is a luxury you cannot afford. Ominous crows gather outside, strange characters appear, and the local occult happenings are clearly escalating. Customers are relentless, and every time the master returns from a mission only to head back out, you are left alone to face the potential danger of your own ignorance.

If you supply the wrong item, your sanity meter drops. Fail four times, and you are staring death in the face. This triggers a high-stakes dice game. The dice feature symbols like cats, moons, suns, and butterflies; roll an 'X' bone symbol, and you inch closer to oblivion. Match the required patterns within the limit, and you can return to your duties.

You might be tasked with matching, say, two cats, one snake, and three random symbols. You have the ability to lock dice, so unless your luck is truly abysmal, survival is possible. However, the difficulty ramps up each time you return to the board, making survival less certain. Occasionally, when the bones pile up, Jupiter the shop's guardian cat may appear to bat the dice away and save you.

Beyond the shop, you will use a map to explore the local area. Reaching the correct location based on riddles nets you new antiquities. Stumbling into the wrong place, however, drains your sanity. Some areas even require specific occult items to enter; get it wrong, and your sanity takes a hit. Every choice requires careful deliberation.

Thankfully, Strange Antiquities includes a hint feature. If you are stuck or simply want to speed things up, you can hammer the hint button to find the truth. The game also offers official Korean language support, despite some occasional translation oddities. Had you been forced to play in English alone, the difficulty would have been significantly higher.

Strange Antiquities is currently sitting at 'Overwhelmingly Positive' (95% positive) on Steam. Players are saying: "It’s much harder than Strange Horticulture", "A delight for puzzle and deduction fans", "It really makes you feel like an occult detective", "You can pet the cat, so why wouldn't you play it?", and "I was completely immersed in the eerie atmosphere." Only a few have noted minor translation bugs or the punishing difficulty of certain puzzles.