because it seems possible that some of the hypothetical galley house fans out there have found at least one of my posts: if you have just finished Incident at Galley House and you are looking for stuff like it here is my list
Games:
-Lorelei and the Laser Eyes. This one absolutely has to go on the top of the list and not just because it's The best video game. LATLE is a puzzle game where you explore a massive hotel during an unclear time period and solve logic puzzles to recover information. The whole thing, the atmosphere and the characters and the interface and the story, feels outside of time and place, eerie but not scary, and yes, like you've forgotten something important. And you can TRUST this game because it ABSOLUTELY STICKS THE LANDING in its narrative and symbolism and purpose. Please play this game I need more people to talk to about it I'm losing my mind
-The Golden Idol games. These are extremely satisfying and well written narrative mystery games which often feature characters dealing with technology they don't, or shouldn't, understand. The tone very effectively balances silly and serious (the artstyle is part of this); most of the characters are comically stupid or selfish in some way, which is actually something that works really well with the kind of story being told here. The first game is very tightly written, and the second pulls off something similar but on a larger and more impressive scale. There are six DLCs which are also great.
-Utter a Name, which is on the shorter side (90 minutes maybe?) but quite good and overlooked I think. Another game with some magical elements where you explore a house full of bodies, trying to figure out who they are and how they died, but only having access to a single, short scene from each room. My experience playing was total confusion followed by uncertainty followed by everything very suddenly falling into place and fitting together. It was great.
-TR-49, which is actually in a Steam bundle with Galley House right now, so that's cool! Another game where you navigate a strange computer interface and find fragments of history. In this case, the format is that of excerpts from old books and forgotten scientific papers, each with commentary from the creator of this strange catalogue. Also voice acted, unlike any of these others. The Steam page says the game was partially inspired by Type Help, apparently, which I didn't know. *(The game has some weird visual glitch where on some graphics cards no text will appear on the screen, but I found a fix, so if you run into that feel free to message me and I can help out.)
-And yeah I would be remiss if I didn't mention Return of the Obra Dinn and The Roottrees are Dead, games which are only at the bottom of this list because I find it impossible to believe you have not heard these recommendations somewhere else before. Both great games, Obra Dinn arguably inspired the genre and Roottrees is from the same devs who remastered Galley House so both are kind of obvious choices
Things That Are Not Games:
-Agatha Christie mystery books, because, yeah obviously. And Then There Were None for a similar setting and premise, Five Little Pigs for a similar investigation style, Towards Zero for similar tension growing in a dysfunctional situation, A Murder Is Announced for similar unexplained dead people in your house, and Peril At End House purely because it's one of my favorite Christies, the game makes a reference to it, and that made me very happy. (I am linking to Barnes & Noble because it will give you a better summary than I can. These books especially are so easy to find through libraries.)
-Dark One: Forgotten, because, this is pretty close. The premise of this "audio original" (fictional podcast) is actually just about finding a musician who went missing but whose disappearance was, for some reason, never investigated. The tone is certainly a little campier than Galley House, but that makes the serious and distressing moments hit all the harder. I remember sobbing. (This was supposed to be part of some larger multimedia project which has been paused or thrown out, I don't really know, but it works perfectly well as a standalone and I know if it was expanded my favorite characters would not be there, so I don't really care. It's on this list because It Does Functional Invisibility Well.)
-Last Year at Marienbad, if you're feeling particularly tired of cohesive narrative and want a cold, refreshing bottle of unexplained confusion, dread, and the overwhelming feeling that there is something important missing from all of this
-DARK, I would be lying if I said this were on the list for any reason other than being my favorite show, but the thing is that I like Galley House for very similar reasons. If you're looking for something with writing so cohesive it is actually somehow upsetting, and characters who investigate only to wish they had never looked, and a story where the interpersonal drama is absolutely there but it is heightened and worsened and made so much more upsetting by The Other Thing That Is Going On. this is the show for you. watch with subtitles. the dub is evil.
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Please let me know if there is anything you think I should add to this list and I will try it and let you know (unless it's a book, because if it is it's going on the end of my reading list after 599 other books, and I will try it and let you know but it will take me three years.)
Also let me know if you want me to do a recommendations list like this for whatever media you actually follow me for.
