The point and click genre is one of the most creative in the gaming industry, it was right there at the crash during the 80's, which it managed to survive and it became the one of the most lucrative until the early 90's.
Despite its early crowned popularity however, the great love for them has all but died except on certain corners of the PC market. Legends like Monkey Island, Kings Quest & Zork have slipped away from the limelight, but the genre is still very much alive.

Charnel House is a point-and-click, text based mystery and horror game trilogy that is, by all accounts, amazing. Episode 1, Inhale, dips the player into the simple, yet effective, mechanics that allow you to peruse the beautifully crafted world presented to you at your at own speed. Using only six keys you can learn about the fateful events that happened only mere months before the game starts.

You play as Alex throughout episode 1, a young girl with a love for books who has just suffered through a life shaking break up with a former paramour, Gavin. Who know this because of the sheer amount he's referenced, then, as we attempt access the desktop, it shows us a picture with an etched out face.

The first key event to happen is when Alex listens to the answer phone messages, one from Alex's mother, asking about her health and the like but the other, while dismissed by our dark haired protagonist, is absolutely key in terms of plot. A man leaves a message about winning tickets to “Augur Peak”, which she writes off as being boring.

After some basic puzzling that tests your ability to click on everything within the apartment, the horror sets in. This creepy atmosphere doesn't kick in until Alex elects to watch a DVD to wait out the storm outside her window in New York and accidentally falls asleep, dropping off until she's rudely awoken by her Raven telephone behind her.

However, as Alex shakes the sleep off her eyes, the lightning flashes and, without her noticing, a hunched figure appears next to her, slumped into the sofa. This split-second reveal would set anyone on edge, but it's made worse because you can actually miss it the first time around, and it's not the last time you see 'it' appear.

As the episode draws to a close, you get a phone call, a phone call that causes Alex to almost have a panic attack on spot. You're forced to think fast as Alex loses breath and the whole incident is resolved purely by the title of the episode: inhale (in this case, using an asthma inhaler). This traumatic news isn't mentioned, as the player if left in the dark about what happened but Alex grabs her holdall and heads straight for the door, heading to claim her prize at Augur Peak.

The final scene at the train station introduces the friendly Doctor Harold Lang to our freezing heroine and cranks up the fear one final time when the train conductor addresses a wriggling black bag that he carries onto 'Gloria', his beloved train, after killing a poor crow.

Inhale is a wonderful example of point-and-click mystery done correctly and the entire trilogy really stands out in the crowd from any competition.