Summary

Mundaun is a horror game released in 2021. It was created by Hidden Fields and published by MWM Interactive and later Annapurna Interactive. You play as a man named Curdin. You receive a letter notifying you that your grandfather has died in a barn fire. And so you travel to your grandfather's hometown of Mundaun in the Alps, intent on finding out exactly what happened to him.

This is the first on my list of shortish indie games that seemed very interesting that I wanted to cover. Obviously not the first such game in that vein I've done, but I did find a whole big batch that I wanna see. So expect more like this in the future. The graphic style in particular drew me in to this one. And we also get to return to the Alps this time! Though they feel very different than when we here in Pentiment...

Review

Really cementing my enjoyment of folk horror. I think a big draw is the idea of the specificity and the locality of supernatural things going on. The Exorcist comes to mind. Part of the draw and the horror of that whole setup is the idea that not only is there a demon possessing this little girl, but it's a specific demon with specific rules governing it. Enemies being more generic universal darkness monsters can be fun and everything, but backing horror with some local superstition or culture I think can go a long way. Similar to Eggers' stuff.

Or another comparison would be to psychological horror. Mundaun, obviously, is not that. But what I mean is that a big draw for me, with psychological horror, is the idea that a lot of the spooks and scares are specific to the protag (in general). Reflections of their own pysche. Folk horror works similarly. The baddies are generally specific to either the protag or the setting the protag is in. I think that's an easy way to get us invested in the scenario. Gives it a bit more meat than there would otherwise be. Another big draw of Mundaun is just the sheer weirdness of everyone. I've spoken before on how I'm a big fan of weirdoism and we've got that in spades here.

I do feel a bit mixed on the ending. I think that I wish fewer games would do the multiple endings thing. I'm sure people would bitch because "muh playa choice!" but I really don't think it's necessary in like a good third or half of cases where it's present. Necessary in a narrative sense. When done well it can add a lot of weight to what you've done throughout a game. But I feel it's well overdone. I enjoyed the little story of Mundaun and I don't think the presence of multiple endings really added anything. I would've preferred a clear canonical series of events. As it was, I felt unsure at the end whether I got a "bad" ending or not. To be clear, I'm not at all against delving into endings that are more mixed or even outright bad (in the sense of having no good options). But when there are alternatives, I can't help but wonder if perhaps I should have done something differently. But when a bad or mixed ending is the only ending a game has, I'm much more likely to let it sit with me and accept it.

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