If you’ve ever thought, “I wish I could identify strange artefacts for a living,” then Strange Antiquities is your dream game. A sequel to 2022’s Strange Horticulture, this cosy-but-creepy adventure plants us right back in Undermere, only now the plants are out, and the cursed knick-knacks are in.
This time around, your boss Eli White, resident thaumaturge, leaves you in charge of the relic shop while he swans off on a business trip. Naturally, the townsfolk take this opportunity to dump their strange little problems at your door. Bad dreams? Weird neighbours? Possibly cursed? Don’t worry — you’ve got shelves full of sinister trinkets and a big book of arcane information to help.
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And let me tell you: I have been waiting for this one. Counting down the days. And the payoff? Worth it. Bad Viking has taken the beloved mechanics of Strange Horticulture, sprinkled in quality-of-life upgrades, and delivered something that might be one of my top games of the year.
What’s new?
The bones are the same — customers shuffle in, tell you what they’re after, and you puzzle out which artefact is which based on the description in your Bible: Strange Artefacts. But a few tweaks make everything smoother. The new Index feature lets you click straight to the right page in your reference book (because, honestly, no one has the patience to flick through 100 pages every time someone mentions “curse”).
However, in Strange Antiquities, some customers don’t tell you what they want, so you have to use your noodle to figure out what best suits them based on their accounts. With the new Index feature, this isn’t too difficult to solve, and there are other books available to help too.
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Exploration is expanded too, with two more maps to poke around in, plus a surprisingly fun dice game that pops up when you’ve taken one occult wrong turn too many. Oh, and Jupiter the cat has replaced Hellebore from the first game. Functionally the same, but still a purrfect counter companion. (Yes, you can pet them. 10/10.)
The good that’s still good
Auto-labelling is back — but do yourself a favour and switch it on immediately unless you’re really keen on manually labelling a bunch of items. The pace is still gloriously chill, giving you time to wander town, unravel clues, and bask in the smug glow of getting things right. Each solved puzzle feels like a detective-y dopamine hit.
You’re still given clues to solve at the end of each day too. Struggle-bussing? The hint system is generous without outright spoiling the fun. Even when I leaned on it, it nudged me in the right direction without robbing me of that aha! moment.
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The Strange Antiquities soundtrack seems very similar to that of its predecessor and is still immaculate. It keeps the setting sinister, but never too scary for a chicken like me. It’s quiet enough to let you think, but still makes you aware you’re playing the game.
Strange, but wonderful
A good game is like a good book. You can’t put it down and that’s exactly how I felt after I started playing Strange Antiquities. Despite having two other games on the go, Strange Antiquities is the one I wanted to go back to repeatedly, with that thirst to unlock and label all the items in my shop for that sweet 100% completion.
No real complaints here. The length of the game is perfect, and there are multiple endings to chase for that replayability element if you’re so inclined. It’s also nice to see that the pricing is almost on par for both platforms, when Switch games are usually much pricier.
Strange Antiquities also runs beautifully on Steam Deck, with touchscreen, controls, and autosaves all working seamlessly — so you can keep sleuthing whether you’re at your desk or hiding under a blanket.
Strange Antiquities is out now on PC via Steam for $26.50 and Nintendo Switch for $27.
Quest Daily scores Strange Antiquities:
9/10
A copy of Strange Antiquities was supplied to Quest Daily for this review.
