Riddlewood Manor is an impressive adventure that comes to life beautifully thanks to an incredible art style. The visual presentation is paired with a massive amount of puzzles to work through, all of which strike a great balance by being engaging without turning into massive head scratchers. This puzzle solving is tied to an interesting story centered on saving the Riddlewood family, which provides a strong narrative drive. While exploration can be dangerous, and there are lots of ways to die along the way, the game thankfully ensures that failure is never too detrimental to your overall progress. It also handles its horror elements thoughtfully, because while the included jumpscares are somewhat predictable, there is a very welcome scare warning option for players who do not cope well with sudden frights. Additionally, the experience is supported by solid voice acting, even if the total amount of dialogue is relatively light.
The only frustration with the game stems from how it handles transition zones between its environments. At times, the game prevents you from going back out of certain areas, meaning that if you accidentally missed a required item, your only option is to completely restart that specific run. This restrictive design choice can feel unnecessarily punishing and disrupts the otherwise smooth flow of exploration and puzzle solving.
Overall Riddlewood Manor is a visually stunning and highly accessible puzzle adventure that succeeds through its captivating art style, engaging narrative, and thoughtful horror options. Although the inability to backtrack can occasionally lead to frustrating run restarts, the gentle puzzle difficulty and forgiving progression system make it a thoroughly enjoyable mystery well worth exploring.