The Moment of Silence
The Moment of Silence
Game
Game2015
The Mystery of the Druids
Developer House of Tales
The Mystery of the Druids (German: Das Geheimnis der Druiden) is a single-player adventure video game developed by the German company House of Tales and published by cdv Software Entertainment. The game was first released in March 2001 for Microsoft Windows. The story takes place in Britain, where Detective Brent Halligan, an inspector at Scotland Yard, investigates a brutal series of murders. The investigation… From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
109 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Lemmy, Mastodon) · newest Oct 9, 2026 · last updated Oct 10, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
51
Mixed
42 positive · 41 negative
95% range 40–61%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 42 | 41 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 2 | 5 | 16 |
| Lemmy * | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 1 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Mixed
59 of 104 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
54% recommend · 48 yes, 41 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 89 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Mixed (75 of 145 positive).
Players find the Steam version of the game broken, with crashes and missing save functionality. [1][2][3] Some reviewers describe the game as bizarre and unhinged, with a protagonist who is immoral. [4][5][6] Others note that the game is entertaining in a laughable, so-bad-it's-good way. [1][7][5]
Liked
Representative posts
- [11]
I've played The Mystery of the Druids through to completion on an older computer before it was released here on Steam, so I know more about it than anyone would ever want to. Without giving away too much about the plot, all I can say about this game is that the cutscenes are utterly ridiculous, the puzzles are obtuse and violate pretty much every ounce of common sense the average person possesses, and the main …
- [13]
Oh my God, is this game the drizzling poops. I had avoided it decades ago, but because I have an affinity for awful games as well as point and click adventure games, I decided to scratch both itches at once. I was an idiot for having done so. The Mystery of the Druids is infamous for its terrible plot, puzzles and graphics. Look at other adventure games that came out around the same time. Grim Fandango. Syberia. …
- [1]
Get the GOG version. This version has multiple persistent crashes during necessary actions to complete the game. To my knowledge, it is literally impossible to finish the Steam version without working around these crashes using the GOG version and transferring save files. The best thing I can say about this game is that it's very fun to laugh/scream/maybe pee a little/cry at among friends. I look forward to the …
- [8]
Comfy 00s era point and click. Here are the fixes: 1. Grab DDrawCompat from the GitHub and drop the .dll into your install folder. 2. Get the fixed meshes or whatever from the Steam Discussions post "Fix for crashes involving giving bone to Chris and taking bone from Melanie." Install instructions are in the post. You now have a game that saves and doesn't crash.
- [9]
I would like to preface this by saying if you are interested in playing this game I would highly recommend you download a patch created by a fellow Steam user that should stop most of the bugs related to items from crashing the game (I will include the link at the end; it fixed the problem entirely for me though I cannot guarantee it will work for everyone.) Where to begin with this game... The Mystery of the Druids …
Summarised from 34 of the 115 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 13, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
Players who liked The Mystery of the Druids talk about entertaining to laugh at with friends; those who didn't talk about steam version crashes frequently and lacks saving. Which matters more to you?
Critics, per Wikipedia
In the German market, The Mystery of the Druids debuted at #29 on Media Control's computer game sales chart for March 2001. Alex Watson of GameSpot UK wrote that the game had become a "big hit" in Germany by July. The German publication Golem.de similarly reported that the game was "quite successful". Writing for Golem.de, Thorsten Wiesner commented, "The exciting story and the atmospheric game design are big pluses, but deficiencies in control and some weak graphics are also clear negatives—with a little more care, The Mystery of the Druids could have been a much better title." The Mystery of the Druids received mixed reviews. Brett Todd of Computer Games Magazine proclaimed it "poorly…
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 109 · most liked firstThe game keeps crashing I will never find out the mystery of the druids
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Halligan's life was pretty drab Racking up debt with a pizza tab Then his life got flipped around When they found the bones on the hollow ground It's the Mystery of the Droods, they all have an attitude It's the Mystery of the Droods, they all have an attitude Lowery was blessed with dashing looks Got all the girls with all his books He couldn't care less about the quest for killers Still Halligan still came and swiped the scissors It's the Mystery of the Droods, they all have an attitude…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Druid face does not appear in the game collector icon, therefore you cannot fill up your profile with these hot and salty memes. Cannot reccomend.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →For the sake of being fair, I'd like to declare that I'm an enthusiastic and meticulous adventure gamer. I love adventure games. I love story exploration, I love puzzles and growing up playing older games in this genre, I do not expect much on either graphics or even logic department in these games. I've played my fair share of obscure adventure games from old to new, shiny to buggy, and from "masterful" to "lame". So, don't take my word lightly when I say that The Mystery of the Druids was one…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The real mystery of the druids is even after finishing it you have no idea what the mystery actually is.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Get the GOG version. This version has multiple persistent crashes during necessary actions to complete the game. To my knowledge, it is literally impossible to finish the Steam version without working around these crashes using the GOG version and transferring save files. The best thing I can say about this game is that it's very fun to laugh/scream/maybe pee a little/cry at among friends. I look forward to the sequel.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've played The Mystery of the Druids through to completion on an older computer before it was released here on Steam, so I know more about it than anyone would ever want to. Without giving away too much about the plot, all I can say about this game is that the cutscenes are utterly ridiculous, the puzzles are obtuse and violate pretty much every ounce of common sense the average person possesses, and the main character, Brent Halligan, might just be the worst video game protagonist of all…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The real mystery is why I even bought this game
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It is a STILL mystery.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →10/10 would steal money from a homeless man again
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Comfy 00s era point and click. Here are the fixes: 1. Grab DDrawCompat from the GitHub and drop the .dll into your install folder. 2. Get the fixed meshes or whatever from the Steam Discussions post "Fix for crashes involving giving bone to Chris and taking bone from Melanie." Install instructions are in the post. You now have a game that saves and doesn't crash.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Mystery of the Druids yes, we've all seen the cover, but Druids is memorable to me as an adventure game where the protagonist takes the expectations of the character to their logical extreme. completely devoid of morals, yet neither a villain or an anti-hero: halligan is just an asshole.
neutral · AI labelView post →It crashed literally. Instantly. It crashed Nvidia Control panel along with it. It also stole my wallet and rummaged in the fridge. The Mystery oh... the mystery... the drama...the suspense ooooh I need to know the secret now. I won't stop, can't stop. I will ascend the mountains and cross the seven seas until I can catch it. Heed this warning stranger and get the GOG version. Stay away, only evil lurks here... EEEEVILL!!!
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I want to kiss Halligan's juicy lips
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →hideo kojima really did an outstanding work on this game, this game was so good it literally caused my lungs to collapse, i am now in the hospital... Breathtaking !
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A game truly ahead of its time, Mystery of the Druids will keep you wondering on the mystery of a lost civilization. Suspenseful, dramatic, and full of symbolism, this is a game that will make you think about the real world when you're done, and how to better mankind as a whole. This game changed my life, and I recommend it to anyone who needs a great experience in a video game!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I would like to preface this by saying if you are interested in playing this game I would highly recommend you download a patch created by a fellow Steam user that should stop most of the bugs related to items from crashing the game (I will include the link at the end; it fixed the problem entirely for me though I cannot guarantee it will work for everyone.) Where to begin with this game... The Mystery of the Druids is an obscure (though at this point somewhat of a cult classic)…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I played this game once when I was younger but it kinda didn't get me very far. Recently I decided to pick it up again and I assume it could be quite an entertaining game if it weren't for all this crashing and screen flickering (Windows 7). Plus the fact that most major items are literally indistinguishable from background visuals. You may need a guide for even the earliest plot advances. So... yeah, it's not really playable as is. Might work on something like Windows 2000 with everything on…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Halligan's life was pretty drab. Racking up debt with the pizza tab! Then his life got flipped around when they found the bones on the hallowed ground! It's the Mystery of the Druids! They all have an attitude! It's the Mystery of the Druids! They all have an attitude! Lowry was blessed with dashing looks! Got all the girls due to all his books! He couldn't care less about the quest for killers 'Til Halligan came and swiped his scissors! It's the Mystery of the Druids! They all have an…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Women love winners, Halligan!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →worst thing to happen in 2001 - no Saving and loading - not completable. the guide used a guide for one section - sometimes softlocks the whole computer - had to download a mod to function properly - paid money - literally indecipherable puzzles - completely broken animations. - walking sideways through ground - disappearing sometimes - hours of dialogue - when there is a music, does not match. laughable - every character is unlikeable - everytime the romantic subplot is brought up, a…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Steam version is broken. You cannot save and it crashes all the time. I have had to buy it again on GOG as that one works
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →it closed but still kept the audio so all i heard for a solid 15 minutes was a druid throat humming into my ears at an infinitely increasing volume till i had to take off my headphones and let them flood my room with druid sounds
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Broken on steam get on GOG
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand The Mystery of the Druids. The humour is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of celtic history most of the jokes will go over a typical viewer's head. There's also Halligan's nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into his characterisation- his personal philosophy draws heavily from Narodnaya Volya literature, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →its a mystery who's the druid? it might be you
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →FLOATING GAY LOVER??? EATING PEOPLE SKIN???? DRUID AIRSTRIKE???????? THE SALT???? SCISSORS??!?!?? Genuinely baffled at this game. Detective Halligan needs to be drawn and quartered. Live with MORE of The Mystery of the Druids! www.twitch.tv/veggiebltail
negative · AI labelView post →Man, they don’t make games like The Mystery of the Druids anymore. Mostly because you shouldn’t make games like The Mystery of the Druids in the first place. How the fuck did this game ever get made?
negative · AI labelView post →Best game I have ever played, will not let me progress past the bones. It must be the doing of the druids. Wasn't able to drug the homeless man but I least I was able to see Lowry. Can't wait for the sequel.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →spoilers: there are no druids
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Mystery of the Druids: A Bizarre Adventure Game. Found Mandalore gaming from recommendations for more content like Game Dungeon. Love this dude and how he sits 
neutral · AI labelView post →When Stig summoned the Wise Ones in the latest episode of Hunter: The Parenting, the one on right itched my mind like I had seen it somewhere before. Then it hit me that it looks like the dude from the Mystery of the Druids game! So it's either a reference or an Easter egg!
neutral · AI labelView post →I KNOW WHAT THE MYSTERY IS
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →who needs bloodborne when PC has majestic exclusives like this right guys ...haha kill me
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Mystery of the Druids ($1.99) - yes, we've all had a giggle at the cover, but actually playing this game will have you bowled in totally shocked laughter. detective Brent Halligan is neither hero nor anti-hero, as that would require thinking about his actions at all. www.gog.com/en/game/the_...
neutral · AI labelView post →Techical desaster. You need to take the ddraw from the GOG version to save and load. Sometimes the game hangs on exit. Cutscenes can crash the game. Just no fun. Edit: When looking into the problem with the missing ddraw.dll, I made some tests with dgvoodoo2 which also has a ddraw.dll. Here is the guide to play Mystery of the Druids - and other games with similar graphics - in 4K / 2160p resolution and 4:3 ratio: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3412108663
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →My friend messaged me and the game crashed, this is hell.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →♥♥♥♥♥ worth every penny i swear
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Oh my God, is this game the drizzling poops. I had avoided it decades ago, but because I have an affinity for awful games as well as point and click adventure games, I decided to scratch both itches at once. I was an idiot for having done so. The Mystery of the Druids is infamous for its terrible plot, puzzles and graphics. Look at other adventure games that came out around the same time. Grim Fandango. Syberia. Dracula Resurrection. You can’t use the game’s age as an excuse for being this…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game 1: The Mystery of the Druids. Not a good adventure game at all, but a bit like a car crash you can't look away from. The protagonist is immoral to a startling degree and the puzzles are pretty dire. But the unhinged nature of this game kept me surprisingly entertained.
negative · AI labelView post →Huge issues with the steam version. If you want this, you should try getting it on GOG. The steam version is missing some files so you can't save or load the game without downloading random files from websites. That aside, it's got some insanely stupid puzzles, but it is very funny.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I struggled to like this Z-grade Broken Sword with all my might; I wrestled valiantly with its moonbat puzzles, all the while holding on to some semblance of equanimity, but when came the withering revelation that the game was too damned broken for me to progress -- and this after I'd actually purchased the GOG version to get around the Steam edition's lack of manual saves and tendency to crash -- it was the final straw, the overbearing ounce. It was the captain's kitty that put an end to my…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I was turned to this game by a garbage meme on an equally garbage retro gaming forum. Since most the reviews on this game are either people who can't get the game running or losers about to write a game theory to send as their resume to Kotaku who somehow have time to write a wall of text that would make the Chinese jealous about why a game sucks so I figured this game wouldn't be that bad. Now in all honesty the game probably has more reported crashes than the road next to a drive-thru liquor…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I received Mystery of the Druids as a gift from my dad years ago when it first came out, before Steam existed. Back then, I didn't have any trouble running the game and I honestly loved it. When this came out on Steam, I had to buy it. I had lost my disks several years ago. I wish I could say I wholeheartedly believe this is a great game. But the reality is, unless you are playing this on an older OS or tweaking the crap out of your current computer, this game is practically unplayable.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →honest review of video game. pros: -yeah cons: -crashes when alt tabbing -no windowed mode -no video settings -cant save best game i have ever played, immediately buy this right now
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'll update my review once I'm actually done with the game I just thought I would want to drop some knowledge here If you are having issues 1. download DDrawCompat.dll From this steam review https://steamcommunity.com/id/HardenedMetapod/recommended/343000/ 2. Download fixed meshes from this steam post And put the new meshes in the updates folder of the game https://steamcommunity.com/app/343000/discussions/0/1471967615842468311/
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →"The Mystery of the Druids" is an ancient game from 2001. It's a whopping 23 years old at the time of this review. The game lacks support for any modern gaming display resolutions (or widescreen monitors), hasn't been modernised or updated to run smoothly on modern gaming PCs. Despite this lack of modernisation, it carries a pretty high price tag for such an ancient game. This seems to have been put on Steam as a nostalgia gouge, or just a cash grab to try profit from abandonware. This 3D…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Save and load buttons don't work.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It is a mystery.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Man, people really hate Detective Brent Halligan. Boss won't sign papers, buddy won't borrow scissors, and cop is too busy to help. Poor guy! But now there's only one reason why I can't recommend this game, and that's a game-breaking bug when presenting bones as evidence. Someone has found a way to fix it, but it's not possible if you're playing on Steam Deck. So memes and all that trying to unravel the mystery of the druids aside, this game shouldn't be Steam Deck verified at all, and even if…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Nuh uh! I don't think... that you should buy this one... cause... well... it's not super compatible with our modern machines! Brent halligan is far too classist to be compatible with modern operating systems, and the steam release is missing some files, so I've spent 4 hours playing this game and like 6 or so hours howling at discs like a cyber-wolve at the moon analogue that it worships. Video gasmes
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Saving and loading the game manual is not possible after years of complaints. Animations are broken. I've always wanted to play the game, but I suppose I'll never be able to at this rate.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →been playing for a long time and cant figure out how to get the cat at the docks. PLEASE HELP!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →An okay game with retro graphics and game play. Basic point and click. Reasonably interesting storyline. Downsides were puzzles that I found to be illogical and puzzles you couldn't solve without backtracking a long way and playing hunt the pixel after finding out (from a walkthrough) that you failed to pick up something critical several scenes ago (I'm looking at you - piece of wire!). A bit too much 'hunt the pixel' for my liking and with the game providing no hints, too many of the puzzles…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Purchased for nostalgia, as this was my first ever point & click adventure game, which got me into the genre. The characters are very poorly pixelated, but the interactive scenes still look very nice. The voice acting is good, which helps immerse you in the intriguing story. Puzzles are challenging, albeit annoyingly illogical a lot of the time. Overall, if your willing to invest your time into getting this old game working properly, it's worth a buy in the sales. A big thank you to Steam…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Won't even run at more than 5fps with constant strobe effects 10/10 best game
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Holy crap I just realized that infamously bad adventure game The Mystery of the Druids cribs from The Dagger of Amon Ra! Both games have a kind of ridiculous adventure solution for getting into a closed museum that involves a homeless guy, but only Mystery of the Druids involves attempted homicide
neutral · AI labelView post →The infamous advetnure game The Mystery of the Druids turned 25 years old yesterday, so here's a supercut of the playthrough we did last year for our birthday, fittingly enough! www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKnE...
neutral · AI labelView post →The game seems fun and I adore the atmosphere. But Unfortunately the game doesn't save and it crashes constantly. Refunded :( Will probably get this game somewhere else
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It is a mystery.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
Posts are quoted from public profiles with links to the original. Want yours removed? Contact us.
