Strange Antiquities Review: A Bewitching Puzzle Shop of Secrets

 

During my first two hours serving Strange Antiquities’ customers, I must have tugged the bronze pendulum of an ornate clock a dozen times. I was desperate to figure out what its spinning hands meant — flipping through my occult encyclopedia for any mention of time, comparing the clock face to hermetic symbols, and yanking the pendulum again just in case I’d missed something.

This moment of confusion perfectly captures Strange Antiquities, the follow-up to 2022’s Strange Horticulture. It’s a game full of locked cabinets, mysterious symbols, and clues that feel like promises — waiting for you to uncover what they mean. And when those connections finally click into place, it’s glorious.

A Worthy Sequel to a Cult Classic

Like its predecessor, Strange Antiquities builds its magic around the rhythm of serving customers. Each visitor comes in seeking a specific item — something with a name, a story, and often, a bit of danger attached. Your encyclopedia holds the answers, but never directly. Instead, you’re given hints: the material, a symbolic meaning, perhaps the emotion the object evokes when held.

You’ll listen, smell, and study each item on your shelves, searching for the right match. Outside your cozy shop, a story of curses and cults unfolds — and the choices you make, like which of two objects to give a customer, can shape the outcome.

The items themselves are beautifully strange. There are jeweled boxes that trap spirits, carved totems with cryptic marks, medallions shaped like snake gods, and blood-stained stones clutched by eagle talons. Every object looks like it carries a history — and the game’s descriptions often hide double meanings that make you second-guess your first impressions.

Does this necklace give me goosebumps because it’s cold… or because it’s cursed?

The Joy of Becoming an Expert

Early on, puzzles are simple enough — maybe identifying an object made of bronze with a single gemstone. But soon, they layer into deliciously complex webs of logic. You’ll juggle multiple reference books — on gems, curses, and symbols — flipping between them like a scholar chasing forbidden knowledge.

A typical puzzle might involve diagnosing a customer’s curse, cross-referencing your books to find the right remedy, and finally tracking down the matching object on your shelf. It’s a methodical process that rewards patience and curiosity.

And when you crack a puzzle? The game shows you which clues mattered most — sometimes revealing details you hadn’t even noticed. Each success makes you sharper. By the end of my playthrough, I could identify death stones and fire gems without even opening a book. It’s the kind of mastery that feels earned, not given.

Secrets Hidden in Plain Sight

The true magic of Strange Antiquities lies beyond its cataloging puzzles. Hidden around your shop are intricate, interconnected secrets waiting to be unearthed.

That mysterious clock? It turns out to be part of a multi-step puzzle that literally opens new parts of your store. The locked cabinet in the corner, the sliding-door cupboard, the engraved desk — all of them hold surprises that make you feel like an alchemist in your own right. The moment you realize how they fit together is pure delight.

Even the collectible maps hide secrets. Click on a marked location and you’ll unlock a story vignette or a new item. Solving these involves riddles, shapes, and patterns — and later, a device that overlays the map to reveal hidden spots. It’s wonderfully inventive and made me feel like a genius every time I solved one.

Not every puzzle is perfect, though. A few solutions felt arbitrary, and sometimes the game requires solving an earlier puzzle before moving forward without much indication. But these moments are rare and forgivable in a game so full of imagination.

A Shop Worth Spending Time In

What really kept me hooked wasn’t just the puzzles — it was the shop itself.

Between bouts of brain-teasing, I’d listen to rain and thunder outside, pet my cat until he purred, and reorganize my shelves to fit my mood. One day I’d sort by material; the next, by color or by the level of mystery each object exuded. It’s not busywork — it’s immersion. The shop feels personal, alive, and deeply yours.

That said, the controls can be a little fiddly. Moving items between shelves and your workbench takes more clicks than it should, and I often zoomed in on books by accident. They’re small inconveniences in an otherwise beautifully tactile experience.

The Verdict: More Ambitious, Just as Enchanting

By the time the credits rolled on my 10-hour playthrough, I was both exhausted and utterly bewitched. Strange Antiquities is longer, denser, and more ambitious than Strange Horticulture — occasionally uneven, but always intriguing.

Even when the overarching story of curses and rival factions lost some steam, I never stopped enjoying the quiet, cerebral joy of uncovering its mysteries. Every puzzle solved felt like unlocking a piece of ancient knowledge — one only you could have found.

If Strange Horticulture made you feel like a botanist deciphering the natural world’s secrets, Strange Antiquities turns you into a scholar of the arcane — piecing together history, faith, and folklore from the comfort of your cluttered shop.

Verdict:
An atmospheric, brain-tickling sequel that rewards patience and curiosity. Despite a few rough edges, it’s an enchanting return to the world of puzzles, rain, and ritual.

If you like this review and want to see more like Strange Antiquities, you can click here.  My snapchat is Cara_lynn97. Twitter and Instagram are the same. I stream on twitch multiple days a week! Be sure to follow me to see the live playthroughs of games and anything else I might do and post online.