Rhiannon Curse Of The Four Branches PC Game

October is certainly the right time of year to release Rhiannon: Curse of the Four Branches. This eerie adventure about a haunted farmstead from Arberth Studios may be well out of date when it comes to game mechanics and visuals, but it packs a real punch when it comes to pure spooky storytelling. A tale steeped in ancient ghouls and a mystery drawn from Welsh mythology draws you in, even as the dated visuals attempt to push you away.

The setting is a farmhouse named Ty Pryderi, a rustic pile isolated deep in rural Wales. You play as Chris, a friend called in to house-sit for the Sullivan family after they hit a rough patch while restoring this old place to its long-ago grandeur. No, it's not dry rot that's causing the problems--their daughter Rhiannon has begun hearing voices and seeing disturbing visions, so mom and dad have hauled her off on a vacation while you keep the home fires burning and feed the cat. Only problem with this scenario is that Rhiannon isn't a lonely goth chick acting out because her parents dragged her off to a farmhouse a couple of hundred miles away from the nearest Hot Topic; she's actually a sane girl being messed with by ghosts, and they've now turned to rattling their chains at you in her absence. Cue the creepy music, disembodied voices, spectral apparitions, and so forth.