Belladonna is a rather short point and click game but it was enjoyable.

Pros:
- Artstyle is very cool
- Nice voice acting
- It has a nice story in form av journals

Cons:
- Bit short

Overall nice game, wouldnt mind sequel or another game by this developer.

Pretty cool game. Got it in a bundle. Maybe not worth 7 bucks standalone, but I really liked it.

That's right. There are no puzzles left for the player to solve. The only ones you encounter are either so simple or outright explained and solved by the protagonist herself as she speaks to herself, leaving you no room to experiment or even ponder what you ought to be doing. I've never played an adventure game this easy in my life unless you count games targeted to toddlers with similar game mechanics. I would argue those games to be even more cerebral experiences than Belladonna.

The staple, the hallmark of a good adventure game to me has always been that they force the player to think outside of the box. A constant effort must be made by the player to figure out what to do. Careful and most importantly thoughtful game design is needed to keep the player entertained in these type of games. That combined with a vivid and interesting story, a deep mystery, or simply a protagonist that is interesting / quirky and full of character are also very important in a genre that only uses the left mouse click to play it. Belladonna has none of that. There is a mystery there but it's not meant to be solved. The game simply makes you read journal pages that explain it and that's it. The only difficulty in the game is finding an item (if you even missed it -- they are very easy to find) or trying to read the journal pages as the font is set to be so small it makes your eyes bleed.

The only positive I can give to the game is the art design. It's hard to explain just how little is in this game though. In the store page there are 7 backgrounds shown. The game only has about 12 of them, so it basically shows you over 50% of the game's scenery right there. There are also no cutscenes. Sometimes the game just fades to black and we get to hear sounds as if they couldn't finish the game or the artist couldn't bother drawing vital scenes in the game. I mean the entire ending has no cutscene at all. It just fades to black, we hear a few corny lines and then we get to see someone's doodle with the words "The End" on it.

The music is good. The very little there is. I mean I can't complain about it so my only memory of it is that it didn't bother me. It sets a tone and keeps it there. The voice acting is ok. You won't be moved by the characters at all since they are devoid of any. I can't blame the voice actors at all as the writing seems very corny. The game sets a good atmosphere at first in the beginning, but immediately breaks it by having joke descriptions when you inspect objects more than once (a staple in adventure games yes -- but very out of place in the games milieu). If you establish that the main character is a "tabula rasa" an empty slate, but then she makes quirky Monkey Island esque remarks, you just destroyed all the character you worked so hard to establish right of the bat.

Final thoughts (and story spoilers):

Belladonna is a game that falls flat I'm afraid, unless all you're after is a short novel length story that's only twist is the protagonist discovering a note that tells her she was a lesbian when she was alive and the lover of the only other character in the game and that's it. That's it! No character arc, no nothing. It's disappointing because it's established early on that she has no memories, no personality and possibly no emotions at all and is basically an empty slate. Yet she reads a note left by her living self and instantly she's now the person she used to be I guess.

It would've been so much more interesting if the game actually played with these concepts rather than just introduce them and then take the short route out. The game could've made strong statements about sexuality and the human persona, what it is to be a human and to exist. But it doesn't. It just says "o-oh... I'm a lesbian? L-lewd!" and then gives you an ending drawing out of a b-movie with the main character in a slave esque pose under another woman like she just accepted it no problems at all. The game begins "tabula rasa" and ends "tabula rasa".

The most disappointing fact is that the game teases with a lot of good philosophical questions and hints at many possible interesting side effects of what it might be like to be a reanimated human being. But then it doesn't even explore them. It's like there's two lines of the main character pondering about possibly being a sociopath after killing a cat and then talking about it with another character and then this is entirely forgotten. The ending of the game is also insanely cheesy and left me even more disappointed.

I can't recommend this game to anyone. Sorry.

Twitter @ Celgaming
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I appreciate the intent of this game. Few titles dare to look at the issues of domestic abuse or a protagonist in a same-sex romance. But it didn't succeed in its execution. The characters don't leave any lasting impressions (the central characters, despite being in a relationship, show no real emotion towards one another), too much of the story is told through journal entries rather than having revelations occur naturally, and the conclusion is very lackluster. Some impressive concepts were brought up, esp. the concern of whether or not those brought back lacked souls/humanity, but this question was just abandoned without any further discussion. Additionally, the puzzles are too simplistic, with no real challenge or sense of achievement. Belladonna would have worked better as a short animation than as an interactive story.

This review has been updated to reflect improvements and fixes that the devs have implemented since I first played the game. (At the end of the review I've added a note of what has been fixed).

I have mixed views on Belladonna. On one hand the story is dark and intriguing and has pretty solid voice acting, but on the other it does not explore these themes in enough depth to make a lasting impression. I think this game is worth trying if you already got it on sale or in a bundle. My completion time was 1.5 hours, and the remaining time on my counter was for trading card drops.

Belladonna explores some dark and mature themes, including life, death, murder and other moral issues. The game follows an animated corpse as she tries to find out about her past life and how she came to be in this state between being alive and dead. The dark and macabre nature of the story was interesting to me, and will interest those who are also fans of this type of story. I did enjoy unraveling the mysteries behind Belladonna as the story progresses, and some of the twisted revelations throughout the game I did find satisfying.

There are several shortcomings to this game, however, that prevented me from enjoying it as much as I felt I would. The story simply is too short and doesn't explore enough of the dark themes, and felt like a wasted potential. Play time isn't always the most important thing if there is enough emotional impact, but Belladonna felt very rushed at times, for example as some other reviews have mentioned, notably so near the ending.

Belladonna is certainly a point and click adventure game, but within this genre people do have different expectations. I would describe Belladonna as more as a story-exploration game with adventure game elements, that is the focus is more on the story while the puzzles are not very difficult, and do not take up much time. I personally do not mind this as there are other games I could play if I wanted a challenge, so as long you're not expecting some super difficult brain teasers you shouldn't be disappointed in this aspect.

I enjoyed the story of Belladonna, but felt there could have been much more to the game. If you enjoy dark, macabre stories and don't mind easy point and click puzzles, I think this game is worth picking up on sale or in a bundle, but no need to go out of your way to do so.

* Edited out previous inability to take Steam screenshots and broken save system. These two issues have since been fixed. There may or may not be achievements added, but the dev hasn't really 100% promised anything.

Belladonna is an interesting, albiet short, little puzzle-mystery game where you play as a female frankenstein-type reanimated person with no memory of how or why you ended up the way you are. You explore various parts of the mansion you awoke in, uncovering details of the experiments to reanimate the dead, as well as learning of your own fate and how you came to be. It is a fun mystery puzzle game, though the puzzles are very easy, with the main focus being on the story. As you collect journal entries from around the mansion, you learn more of the story. The game in total took me less than an hour to complete, which was sad, because I wanted more; However, the story was interesting and I liked how the story ultimately turned out.

Visually, Belladonna is a very simple and basic game, similar to other puzzle games. I was sad the story wasn't longer and more drawn out, but as a game it was fun to play. Just be prepared for a short game if you are thinking of purchasing this title.

Belladonna is short, actually it's a very short game. It took me a little bit more than 1 hour to finish it and I even did get stuck at point. But it's short gameplay time is the game's only fault.

Belladonna can best be described as a true classic gothic horror story. Most modern day horror games usually rely on jump scares and horrific images to create their "atmospheric" gameplay. Belladonna in contrast is using a completely different approach. By relying on a story progression similar to a detective story, the horrible truth of what dark deeds had been done, will be gradually presented to the player. This way the game manages to create it's dark and brooding atmosphere and keep the player interested in what has been happening.

Gameplay itself is your standard point-and-click adventure style, without pixel-hunting. Interactable objects will always be indentified as those (maybe except for one occasion where I got stuck XD).

Overall. Belladonna is definitely worth playing. Just keep in mind that it is quite short, so maybe wait for a sale to pick it up!

No options -- Simply Load Game, New Game and Exit.

This point-and-click is very short -- about an hour and a half long. It's very linear and easy-to-figure out, and yet... It is in its way fascinating. It took me places I did not expect to be, and had me doing things that... well... I wouldn't want to spoil it for you, as this game is all about the story!

If you do not like reading in your games, don't even bother, as this one is not for you. If, however, you enjoy an intriguing story, Belladonna is definitely worth checking out. I would have liked more actual gameplay to flesh things out, but all in all, recommended~

It is a perfect game for those who want to start grasping the adventure genre. Other games of the genre can be too hard (with puzzles), too long or too crazy (with their story), but "Belladonna" is very well written, it has a few logical puzzles, pretty characters and backgrounds. So it's perfect for a taste of what is an adventure game.

On the other hand, for adventure games veterans this game might seem too short (only an hour or so) and like a missed opportunity to make more environments, implement more puzzles, characters and dialogues. But after all this game was made by one person - Niklas Hallin. So that explains the game's length.

Despite the fact that this game is short and a little too easy for those who eat adventure games for breakfast, "Belladonna" has a very unique style, it looks pretty and it's easy to get attached to the main character - she's nor good nor evil and that adds some depth to the overall feeling.

Ah, and one other thing - the developer himself wrote somewhere on his website that his work is highly influenced not only by other video games, but also by literature. I can say that it really feels, especially while reading the pages torn from "Belladonna's" characters diaries.

All in all, i can highly recommend this game for people who value atmosphere, characters and story in each game. And those, who like only long and/or hard puzzle adventures might as well look elsewhere.

Mixing the themes of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein with a grotesque tale of love, Belladonna is an adventure game for those who like their stories a bit weird, even if it lasts barely an hour.

Belladonna is a name of conflicts: an Italian phrase that means ‘beautiful woman’, but also the name given to a somewhat bland-looking flower – a very poisonous flower. This game, named after both, carries that strange duality: it is beautiful, but it is a game about death.

Death and reanimation, death and unlife, death and what could be considered unnatural even by the less religious people too. In short, Belladonna is a game that starts with a re-enactment of Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus’– or, more precisely, the underlying theme of brining the dead back to life.
After this ghoulish start, the game follows the steps of the newly-resurrected girl who slowly discovers the reasons and events that led to her current state: a story about a marriage gone sour and a man getting obsessed with his work about creating life. A story which also has a few small twists in it, even if most are telegraphed in very obvious ways long before their big reveal.

Although this game is a point ‘n’ click adventure in theory, in practise few things will ever stand in the player’s way to discover the story it wants to tell. Only a handful of objects are used and most of the time the game tells how to accomplish the required objective, so the roughly one-hour game time– the only obviously sore spot about Belladonna– is spent by fully immersing ourselves in this weird, somewhat bittersweet, and maybe mildly disturbing tale.