Galkn has been inconsistent in it's quality across the run unfortunately. Runs have been anywhere from middling to very energetic. I've really enjoyed my positive runs though!
This is the first house to really get across the scope of these new tents. It's not quite a soundstage, but there are a number of larger scenes and setpieces that would be incredibly difficult to pull off in smaller venues like the old tents, F&F, B79, MiB. You can really tell that the exceedingly positive reactions to originals like Dead Man's Pier have influenced design sensibilities across this year's event. Lots of houses this year share that open-air format where you aren't constantly boxed in by walls, and can see into later or earlier portions of the same house. Galkn is one of those, and it shows off the scale of these buildings in a way that felt missing with last year's Goblin's Feast; which itself felt too cramped to portray the towering fantasy kingdom it was trying for.
The sets are really well-detailed and have some cool dynamics. I really like one of the opening scenes where you're in a ditch with wolfs and bears above you on snowy cliffs jutting out from interesting angles. Solid use of SIF and darkness to hide plainer rooms like the bridge or forests. When the energy is right, the actors elevate a number of these slower, less detailed scenes.
The intro spiel is too quiet and too long. Compared to last event, this year has largely done far better at getting it's narratives across. But this room's narration has the same issue as 33 of being too complex, too winding, and just way too long. It quietly describes the entire backstory of the main villain, and I've never registered more than a few words of it before I'm entering the next room. A house narrative can be complex, but it should happen clearly and during the house. If a house needs backstory and lore, it should happen outside of the house on the facade or in the queue. Dolls and WWE understood this, but Galkn didn't get the memo. You've got maybe a sentence, maybe two if you're lucky, to get your idea across. The Jason Universe exterior section shows how to do this perfectly.
Luckily, the story isn't really that important. Mythological-type monsters are attacking a snowy village. Up until the end, that's about as complex as anything seems to get, which is totally okay. The ending is very cool as well, if a little out there without context. After the biggest scale "Dead Man"-esque moment of house, you enter the tightest, cramped church corridor before reaching the Atrium, with a room-sized fleshy monster waiting inside roaring violently. It's an incredibly cool setpiece.the sound design on the creature's vocalizations is really cool and unnerving, like the kind of roar a new Kaiju would give off before fighting Godzilla. And the puppeteering work is great and very fluid, a necessary component of a large monster like this; lest the monster become a Madame Tussauds figure like the ST3 Mind Flayer a few years back. Entering the stomach of the creature leads you to the best part of the house, where skeletons intensely pop out from anywhere in this meat hallway. Very similar to the ending scene of Wicked Growth imo, and similarly well-executed.
Overall, it's interesting that for as much as this house has to offer, it doesn't really excite me much at all. It's totally servicable, and has some really cool rooms, but most of it feels pretty samey and been there, done that; or just like a less good version of Blood Moon: Dark Offerings. Part of that is just that I've been going to the event for almost a decade. There's only so many times I can see the same props, rooms, and ideas reused and it maintain it's novelty. But if this was someone's first year? This is a definite solid house with good amount to enjoy. Not the best in most catagories, but when the performances are there, it's a good time.