Far too often I’ve found games attempting to go with a creepy or horror vibe of some kind on the Switch to be disappointing. Whether the choice is overall format (looking at you, walking simulators), an over-reliance on jump scares, or having an incoherent story trying to drive the experience, there are more misses than there are hits. While outright violence and high tension can be appealing, I also appreciate a more low-key approach at times, and for me that’s what Tales of Candleforth delivers on.

In the game’s prologue you’re introduced to an older woman, who appears to be an elder of some sort with ties to something dark, and becomes stricken with a mysterious illness. Before she’s able to escape from whatever it is that has come for her she’s taken, then leaving you to work as her granddaughter, who appears to have inherited her grandmother’s connection and is determined to understand what has happened and perhaps still save her grandmother. To do that you’ll need to solve a series of sometimes quite normal but sometimes pretty bizarre and creepy puzzles over a few chapters of play.

While there were definitely times I felt stuck, once even to the point where I decided to hit a walkthrough to understand what details I’d been missing, I was actually most impressed by the game’s diverse and unusual puzzles. There are absolutely some details you’ll need to be careful to see, to drive you to some assumptions about what to do, but once I got through Chapter 1 I did feel more confident that I was on the same wavelength as the game finally and most everything began to make sense. Mixing together elaborate patterns, music, the use of symbols that will be revealed slowly, and a fair amount of being sure to search everything around you, I typically found these brain teasers pretty engrossing. Sure, there are times when some corners could be cut with a bit of process of elimination, but despite the means of moving the cursor around the screen being quite slow and plodding, the console controls aren’t as convenient as using a mouse but they’re at least effective.

I’m not so sure I’d go with any implication that Tales from Candleforth delivers actual horror so much as some grim and dark themes, as well as some very creepy moments and imagery. Overall I’d say the sense of mystery was more on my mind, but with the game’s overall hand-drawn look being a bit Burton-esque in many regards you do get a very dark tone to everything. The shame is that while the story seems like an interesting one overall, the ending failed to help it all end on a high note, instead a bit more of a confusing one. As the game’s title implies there are many tales, hopefully we’ll get more in the future that can help either deepen the mystery or at least give this chapter a more clear conclusion. It may not be firing quite on all cylinders, but it does at least make for a pretty satisfying time up to that point.