The Stone of Madness

The Stone of Madness is a fantastic real-time strategy game with a fantastic gameplay loop. It effectively combines strategy mechanics with roguelike elements to create an engaging experience I wouldn't want to get away from. I like how distinct the five protagonists are, both in terms of their abilities and fears and the amount of planning and moving parts required to get through each level. The controls can be a little finicky here and there, and I wish there was voice acting to spice up the intriguing story, but the gameplay, intriguing 18th-century visual style, and premise make up for the...

Once it clicked, I could hardly put The Stone of Madness down. The game’s detailed Goya-inspired art direction is just gorgeous. When everything works, all the hard work you’ve put in to make it to the next plot point pays off. It’s so much easier to list out negatives instead of quantifying success, but The Stone of Madness is a compelling, largely successful stealth challenge.

The Stone of Madness isn’t a game for everyone, but it’s hard not to request that even the more discerning player give it a try. The game's somewhat bizarre and disturbing art style remains a high point, and even those unaccustomed to real-time tactical strategy titles may find the game’s story and setting compelling enough to stick with it until the end. Despite some finicky controls, it’s clear that the team behind the game poured their heart and soul into it, with each frame packed with an unbelievable amount of detail and care. The Stone of Madness has a way of transforming the player’s fr...

Isometric real-time stealth elevated by a unique approach to time, mental health, and a resplendent monastic setting.

The Stone of Madness isn’t perfect by any means, but its successes readily outweigh its missteps. Its emphasis on real-time stealth and simultaneous control over three distinct characters at a time work to create some very hectic gameplay situations, naturally encouraging the player to learn and improve. Infusing this rewarding gameplay with a striking art style and a tinge of dark humor makes for a unique experience worth looking into, even if the controls can be clunky and the guards can ...

Despite its flaws, The Stone of Madness stands out because of its creative idea, beautiful hand-drawn art style, and innovative stealth gameplay. It's recommended for fans of psychological horror and tactical stealth games.

The new title from Spanish developer The Game Kitchen, previously known for their ‘Blasphemous’ series, is simultaneously new and familiar terrain for the studio. The religious iconography of their previous titles is alive and well, but gone is their Metroidvania action to be replaced by the tactical stealth of trying to escape an 18th-century monastery. Besides some frustrations with its resource management and a few lacking stealth mechanics, The Stone of Madness does a compelling job r...

For all its sins, there’s the makings of a stealth-tactics classic in The Stone of Madness. Its grisly sensibility, rock-hard difficulty, and inconvenient bugs at launch mean it’s not a game for the weak-hearted, but 20+ hours with its rich, system-driven drama produced many delightful escapades worth admiring - even if a good number ended with us back in our cell miserably plotting our next attempt.

The Stone of Madness delivers a puzzling experience that forces players to be creative and quick. Its gameplay elements largely succeed at providing a unique challenge, while its world and characters are easily forgotten.

But if you’re willing to put up with that sort of ongoing pressure on your health and sanity (oh, how very meta), it is, at least, an intriguing experiment and a certainly unconventional game in a genre that usually tends to be more about 360 noscopes and sick kills than reckoning with the fragile mental health of your band of heretics who may or may not be falsely accused as they seek to escape a monastery. One day, they’ll make that The Name of the Rose Black Ops they keep hinting at, but until then, this is what we’ve got.

The Stone of Madness innovates on tactical stealth and charms with the detailed art, but its survival mechanics bring too little to the table to sell me on this new formula.

The Stone of Madness is one of the most frustrating games I've ever played. Despite its beautiful art style, great characters, compelling narrative, and unique gameplay, the obtuse puzzles, absurd difficulty, lack of accessibility, and numerous technical glitches make this experience absolutely not worth it unless you want to feel as stressed and insane as the game's characters.