What do you do when you’re in need of inspiration for your writing? Why, you take a much needed break and visit the creepiest abbey in town. This is the premise of Mercury Abbey. Players step into the paws of Harrod, a character based on a gray wolf who’s a struggling writer. At the start of the story, Harrod is working on his latest novel and feeling pretty pessimistic about it. Sales have been lackluster since an influx of competition from similar works have flooded the market including a cyberpunk style adventure featuring a cat as a protagonist. Harrod isn’t given any peace to work or stew as he receives a call from his sister, who tells him that she's dropping off his nephew Willie with him. It’s at this point, the game finally starts.
The game is fully 2D and side scrolling with Harrod either moving to the left or right as he investigates his environment. Controlling him is easily done with a keyboard but a mouse can also be used for more point and click style gameplay. An indicator will pop up if there’s something interesting to be examined as Harrod passes it. There’s plenty to be found lurking, items which may be of use later and background info for future reference. All of which and more can be found and examined again in a handy archives menu easily accessible with the press of a button. After collecting his clothes and developing a photo for his editor Miss Leckie, Harrod opens the door in time for his nephew Willie to blast right in. Willie, a dog/wolf mix, doesn’t hold back in telling his uncle that he needs new material to write about before taking a seat in Harrods office. As the excitable and adventurous pup that he is, Willie definitely is cute and endearing. He also makes for a nice contrast to the far more realistic and calm Harrod. The two don’t stay home for long however, as Miss Leckie calls and gets Harrod to set up an ice cream date. So the two leave the apartment and step outside into the city.
The city itself seems pretty lively with various citizens running around. There are NPCs present which Harrod can talk to, such as Buck, a hyena who is part of a biker gang and Officer Duhring, a doberman police dog on the scene of a wreck. This introduces a new mechanic which could be interesting going forward. Chatting with Officer Duhring tells us about a festival which unlocks a dialogue option for a character named Kevin that we haven’t met yet. Since going right is out of the question, Harrod and Willie go left toward the ice cream shop and past a couple more NPCs. In the ice cream shop, Miss Leckie, a red fox, sits down with Harrod and reiterates that his work isn’t selling and that he needs to consider trying different genres. Harrod isn’t exactly open to the suggestion but that doesn’t stop Miss Leckie from giving him a ticket for two to the Mercury Abbey in hopes that he’ll get some inspiration from the experience as it's said to have supernatural occurrences. While Harrod isn’t too keen, Willie is more than willing to make the trip. Leckie leaves and we get a chance to talk to Kevin the ice cream bear before returning to the apartment. Kevin mentions a mysterious break-in which opens up a new dialogue option for Officer Duhring should Harrod speak to him again. And of course, Harrod can ask about the festival that the officer brought up earlier. It’s an interesting event to note but so far unimportant to the greater story. Returning to Harrods apartment leads to a cutscene where Harrod and Willie are indeed making the journey up to the Abbey.
It's now dark as Harrod and Willie are given a ride via carriage part of the way thanks to the giant otter, Papa Shire. Harrod then has to carry Willie the rest of the way up the steep hill as the opening credits flash by. This game is pretty impressive from both a visual and audio standpoint. The 2D sprite work is well done and looks good against impressively designed backgrounds. The animation is on point and I respect the artstyle for the various characters. Whoever did them did a very good job of capturing what animals they were based on as well as what type of character they’re supposed to be. One thing I didn’t mention was that when booting up the demo, it suggests having headphones. The reason for this became very clear early on - the sound design so far is impeccable. There’s a sense of dynamics with the sound that just immerses you in, whether it's the bustling city or the undeniably creepy atmosphere of the Abbey. My ears enjoyed every second of it and I could see why I’d want headphones when playing this. The sound absolutely could only be better with them.
When they arrive at the main gate, the duo find it locked. Around the corner is an abandoned greenhouse that used to be part of the estate. Realizing that it could be a way in, control switches to Willie as he’s the only one who can climb the vines up the wall and get inside. Climbing up and moving into the greenhouse, the visuals impress once again. The greenhouse looks abandoned in every conceivable way: the once controlled plants now run rampant, platforms and windows lie broken and dusty and there’s a significant amount of spider webs that Willie has to pass through to progress. In order for Harrod to get inside, Willie needs to find some kind of rope. Fortunately there’s a rope ladder in the main area that would work perfectly for this, however Willie needs a way to cut it down. There’s half of a pair of scissors on a higher floor wrapped in spider web and the second piece is locked in a weird box that requires puzzle solving to open. I appreciated the complexity here, opening the box is not as simple as finding the 3 coins needed to unlock it as they also need to be arranged in a certain way. After figuring it out, Willie was rewarded with what he needed to cut the rope ladder. There's a journal that offers a little bit of background on who used to tend to the greenhouse and why they wanted the tricky box as well as some clues to opening it. After cutting the ladder, Willie has to find another way back down which admittedly took me a little too long to figure out as it involves the vines again. After collecting the rope ladder and returning to the window so Harrod can get in, control switches back to him. This time he has to move a large crate that would’ve been too heavy for Willie and this unblocks the front door, letting the duo onto the estate. The creepy feeling of foreboding remains as they finally arrive at the front desk and the most unsettling looking clerk appears from the darkness to admit them and refers to them as the “final guests”.
This is where the demo ends and I must say, I’m very intrigued at what's going to happen. There’s more than meets the eye at the Mercury Abbey and I suspect there are as many secrets as there were cobwebs in the greenhouse area. The mystery will have to remain unsolved until the game releases on Nov 22 in less than a month. I look forward to revisiting the abbey in the future. If you enjoyed what you see here, feel free to check out the demo for yourself and wishlist it on Steam
Thanks for reading!
