Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and the Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist (Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and the Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist for short) is a completely free, 20 minute game featuring comedian Simon Anstell (Nevermind the Buzzcocks) and made by William Pugh, co-creator of The Stanley Parable, and his new studio CrowsCrowsCrows. You play as a thief who needs to break into a mansion to steal a very valuable but cursed emerald. Even though the game is pretty short, it lasts for the perfect amount of time and is one of the best, completely free offerings on Steam.
The game starts off with you on the outskirts of the property, mansion in the near distance. It is a dark and stormy night, which adds a bit of tension. There are some guards patrolling both inside and outside the house. There are multiple ways to get into the house and reach the vault. You are mostly unarmed but you have a grappling hook and a blackjack. The game play itself is a bit of a cross between a sneaky first person shooter like the older Thief games but with some more action puzzle parts as well, especially when you get to the vault.
Although the fact that it is free might absolve itself from any criticism (you get what you pay for after all), there are moments in the game that seem a little off. For example, when you are outside the mansion, the rain is intermittent. Sometimes it is falling, sometimes it isn’t. There are also parts of the game where there seems to be an unnecessary delay. In one part of the mansion, there is an elevator that takes you down the basement so you can get to the emerald. I pressed the button to go down a few times before the game even did anything.
Besides the tricky laser room, the major set piece in this short game is the tiger. I won’t say too much about it, but it is reminiscent of the zombie dog in Resident Evil. The whole sequence is beautifully done and really made me jump! It is the best-looking part of the game as well, and it is a shame that the tiger suddenly disappears as quickly as it revealed itself. I played through Dr. Langeskov twice just to experience this part again.
But seriously, if you have 20 minutes and want some amazing fun, there is no reason why you shouldn’t download and play this game. And turn the subtitles off. It might be free, but the studio’s tagline is expensive content at low, low prices. This is an absolute gem that should be charged for.
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