Scratches (video Game)
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''Scratches'' () is a 2006 mystery horror
adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...
video game developed by Nucleosys and released by Got Game Entertainment. It is the first commercial adventure game ever to be made in
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.


Plot

Wealthy construction engineer James T. Blackwood and his wife Catherine reside in Blackwood Manor on the outskirts of
Rothbury Rothbury is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the River Coquet. It is north-west of Morpeth, Northumberland, Morpeth and north of Newcastle upon Tyne. At the United Kingdom Census 2011, ...
, England. James is accused of murdering Catherine in 1963, after which the manor becomes owned by the couple's friend and long-time doctor Christopher Milton. James suddenly dies from a heart attack a few days later, though some in Rothbury believe he killed himself. The police close the case due to a lack of evidence. In 1970, Christopher inexplicably disappears without a trace. In 1976, American author Michael Arthate becomes the manor's newest owner. Seeking seclusion to work on his next book, he instead becomes more interested in researching the house's history when he finds that the house echoes its horrific past, which manifests as a scratching sound that is particularly loud in the basement and near fireplaces. In the end, Michael discovers that the scratching noises are caused by James and Catherine's severely deformed son Robin, who had been locked in the basement the whole time. Michael flees the house, later finishing his novel and becoming a prolific writer as a result of his experience.


Alternate endings

An early version of the game's ending saw Michael using a magic amulet to kill Robin and revive him as a fully functional human. The amulet would come with a puzzle, with Michael dying if the player could not solve the puzzle. Lead developer Agustin Cordes said the ending was "completely unfair in terms of design" and it was abandoned. In the Director's Cut edition of the game, a side quest called "The Last Visit" continues the story of the house after Michael flees. An unnamed reporter is sent to uncover the mysteries of Blackwood Manor before its scheduled demolition. The place has become a scene of ruin, full of looting, graffiti, and vandalism. The reporter ultimately discovers Robin, who chases him until Milton appears back at the manor to speak with Robin. As the reporter escapes, Robin leaps onto Milton and presumably kills him. Blackwood Manor is later demolished and the reporter notes that the mystery of a mask found inside the home remains unsolved.


Characters

* Michael Arthate: An American author whose successful debut novel ''Vanishing Town'' (a reference to '' Dark Fall'') left him with enough wealth to purchase Blackwood Manor, achieving his longtime dream of owning a Victorian estate. * James Thomas Blackwood: An eccentric gentleman who had always been a prominent figure in his native
Rothbury Rothbury is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the River Coquet. It is north-west of Morpeth, Northumberland, Morpeth and north of Newcastle upon Tyne. At the United Kingdom Census 2011, ...
, being one of the most successful construction engineers in the region. * Catherine Lydia Blackwood: James' enigmatic wife who teaches English at a local school. * Christopher Edward Milton: A close friend and long-time doctor of the Blackwood family. * Eva Mariani: An Italian immigrant and aspiring photographer who was the Blackwood family's maid. * William Bailey: A retired police chief who was in charge of the investigation into Catherine's death in the early 1960s. He was convinced of James' guilt but was never able to convict him. * Jerry P. Carter: Michael's old friend and a successful real estate agent. * Barbara Stiles: Michael's assistant who aids him with fan mail and contacts magazines around the world to offer them his short stories. * Robin Blackwood: The son of James and Catherine Blackwood who was kept hidden from the public due to his deformities.


Gameplay

''Scratches'' uses a first-person perspective to navigate around the house. Using only a mouse, the player can access various rooms and other places in order to solve the mystery of both Blackwood and Milton's disappearances. It features music and sound effects by composer Cellar of Rats. The game is heavily influenced by
H. P. Lovecraft Howard Phillips Lovecraft (, ; August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American writer of Weird fiction, weird, Science fiction, science, fantasy, and horror fiction. He is best known for his creation of the Cthulhu Mythos. Born in Provi ...
and makes references to his works such as the '' Necronomicon'', '' De Vermis Mysteriis'', '' The Mountains of Madness'', and the city of R'yleh. Michael also states that he moved to
Rothbury Rothbury is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the River Coquet. It is north-west of Morpeth, Northumberland, Morpeth and north of Newcastle upon Tyne. At the United Kingdom Census 2011, ...
from Lovecraft's hometown of
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.


Development

''Scratches'' was developed by a two-man team in
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. Agustín Cordes did the programming and design, while Alejandro Graziani did the art direction. The developers opted to create their own
game engine A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games which generally includes relevant libraries and support programs such as a level editor. The "engine" terminology is akin to the term " software engine" u ...
called SCREAM (Simple CReation Engine for Adventure Makers) rather than licensing a pre-existing engine. SCREAM utilised a combination of pre-rendered and 3D graphics, creating what the team referred to as "pseudo-3D", an effect which was hard to create using existing adventure game engines. The game was designed to be
non-linear In mathematics and science, a nonlinear system (or a non-linear system) is a system in which the change of the output is not proportional to the change of the input. Nonlinear problems are of interest to engineers, biologists, physicists, mathe ...
. Its atmosphere has been compared to that of ''
Resident Evil ''Resident Evil'', known as in Japan, is a Japanese horror game series and media franchise created by Capcom. It consists of survival horror, third-person shooter and first-person shooter games, with players typically surviving in environments ...
''. Artwork from the game started being released in 2004. The Director's Cut saw changes analogous to those between ''
Myst ''Myst'' is a 1993 adventure video game developed by Cyan and published by Broderbund for Mac OS. In the game, the player travels via a special book to a mysterious island called Myst. The player interacts with objects and traverses the ...
'' and its remake ''Realmyst''. Scratches went gold February 21, 2006.


Release

''Scratches'' was first released in
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on March 8, 2006 through game publisher Got Game Entertainment. However, Nucleosys had plans to release several international versions of the game worldwide. A
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version of the game has been available since March 2006 (published by Rondomedia), as has the
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version ''Graffi Mortali'' (published by Power Up). A
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version of the game is also available. A
Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...
version of the game has been available since May 2006 (published by
Russobit-M Russobit-M was a distributor of PC games in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, CIS. It was crucial in PC game distribution in the Post-Soviet states. In 2003, it partnered with GFI Russia, GFI to release game software and DVDs thr ...
). The
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version of the game (''Rasguños'') was announced but was never completed. Nucleosys in 2007 released a "Director's Cut" version of Scratches, which includes an
alternate ending An alternate ending (or alternative ending) is an ending of a story that was considered, or even written or produced, but ultimately discarded in favour of another resolution. Generally, alternative endings are considered to have no bearing on t ...
and two more hours of gameplay. In addition to remastered sound, graphics and more. This version was announced on March 16, 2007. The title was part of Got Game Entertainment's mixed genre of games in 2007. On October 21, 2010, Meridian4 announced that they had signed a digital publishing agreement with Nucleosys for this game. There were plans to create a Director's Commentary with a few additional features but as a result of Nucleosys' shutdown, it will not be released. In 2012, Meridian4 released Scratches on Steam. Versions for
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and
Mac OS X macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...
were planned, but were never released before the demise of the developer.


Critical reception

Globally, ''Scratches'' sold more than 150,000 units by March 2007. By 2012, sales had reached roughly 250,000 units. Upon release of the director's cut, Wired asserted "You probably didn't play PC game Scratches". In March 2006, Scratches ranked in the top 10 of Amazon.com's Top Sellers in Computer and Video Games, as well as in popular game indexes such as GameRankings.com. Scratches received mixed reviews but overall achieved an average to high score from most review sites. According to Gameguru the game " received decent reviews". Most notably
GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
gave the game a 3.9 and
IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
gave it a 7.7, emphasising the game's mixed reviews. GamesRadar noted that the games uses a "brooding, silent atmosphere" to "slowly build up the tension and terror". Game Chrinocle offered a positive review on the horror aspects of the game. IGN seerted that it was "average" and "decent-to-good".


Legacy

After Nucleosys went out of business, Agustín Cordes would go on to found Senscape, who developed the horror game '' Asylum'' after a successful
Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...
crowdfunding campaign. Scratches is the first commercially released adventure game ever developed in Argentina.


See also

*
List of horror video games Horror game, Horror video games narratively deal with elements of horror fiction and comprise a variety of video game genres. List See also * Survival horror * Horror fiction References External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Horror game ...


References


External links

* (archived) *{{moby game, id=/scratches, name=''Scratches''
Video interview with developer (Spanish)
2006 video games Windows games Windows-only games Cancelled Linux games Cancelled macOS games Adventure games First-person adventure games 2000s horror video games Point-and-click adventure games Video games developed in Argentina Video games set in country houses Video games set in Northumberland Russobit-M games Single-player video games Got Game Entertainment games Meridian4 games