Review: Servant of the Lake
- Guilherme Ribeiro
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
What new revelation will we have about the Vanderbooms?
THE GAME
Servant of the Lake is a point-and-click puzzle game developed and published by Rusty Lake. In another game in the Rusty Lake series, this time we take on the role of a new servant who is going to the remote Vanderboom family estate to help reunite the Vanderboom siblings. You will help with daily tasks, but you will also have some obscure tasks. What mysteries do the Vanderbooms have in store for us?
MY IMPRESSIONS
The Rusty Lake series is packed with games, each with a story that evolves or is further refined with each new installment. Despite this, you don't need to have played all the previous games to enjoy Servant of the Lake. Of course, it's much more enriching to the story if you know what has already happened in the series, including understanding some things that may have been left open or unexplained in other games, but the game works very well nonetheless, as its gameplay combined with the story is more than enough to keep you interested. The game is in Brazilian Portuguese, making it easier for the player to follow and understand the story, as well as helping to understand certain puzzles. The characters are all voiced in English, which helps the player to become immersed in the game. The art, already classic to the Rusty Lake series, remains excellent and unique.
The story revolves around the Vanderboom brothers and their hidden ambitions. I won't go into too much detail about the story, because I want to avoid spoilers since Rusty Lake relies heavily on them, but I must say that I really like how much more there is to tell. The puzzles have a balanced difficulty, are meticulously crafted, and are very fun to solve, always with the expected Rusty Lake quirks. You'll have a notebook, which can be used to write down patterns and passwords, helping the player with the puzzles without having to constantly revisit locations. Although the story takes place over only three days, you'll have many chapters to play, and it has an interesting replay factor, but I'll leave that point up for the player to discover for themselves. Servant of the Lake is another beautiful game in the series that makes you increasingly eager to know where it all leads. For those who already follow Rusty Lake, it will be a delight, but for those who are just discovering it now, it will be hard not to want to play everything that's already available.
ACHIEVEMENTS
Most chapters in Servant of the Lake will have secret interactions, meaning you can use items that normally solve puzzles in other places, thus unlocking new achievements. Additionally, completing each chapter unlocks an achievement, so basically, you'll have to complete the game and perform these different interactions in each chapter. Remember that you don't need to complete the game to perform these additional interactions; you can do them during gameplay, sometimes even unintentionally. Finally, there's a final objective after finishing the game that also unlocks an achievement, but I won't discuss that, as I said before, it's more fun if the player discovers it on their own. Completing 100% of the achievements in Servant of the Lake is extremely cool and satisfying.
CONCLUSION
I really enjoy the Rusty Lake series. Whenever I see that a new game is about to be released, I get excited to play it, since I know the quality the series has. Servant of the Lake was no different. They continue to deliver quality, a very intriguing story and peculiar situations, as well as very fun puzzles to solve. The developers continue to do an excellent job and always leave the player wanting more of this crazy universe that Rusty Lake presented to us. I'm already looking forward to what's to come and I hope that Servant of the Lake pleases new players and brings them to this incredible series.
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