God's Basement
released on Oct 16, 2018
God's Basement is a first-person, narrative-driven, single player horror game. Uncover the secrets of an afterlife shrouded in mystery, as an entity known as "The Operator" leads you deeper into fringes of a seemingly eternal purgatory.
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A lot of this game is pretty standard and cookie-cutter for an indie horror game, but it's also hard to be too critical of it considering it was made by one dude, this being his first and to my knowledge only project.
I think the worst part about it is the fact it plays more like a puzzle game than a horror game, really. You spend more time wondering what to do in any given situation, trying to figure out what bizarre thing you'll need to do to progress, than you do dealing with any sort of tension. And even then, that mostly bottoms out once you realize you're never in any sort of dangerous situation.
I appreciate the story even if it isn't that original, but the whole thing is just rough.
I think the worst part about it is the fact it plays more like a puzzle game than a horror game, really. You spend more time wondering what to do in any given situation, trying to figure out what bizarre thing you'll need to do to progress, than you do dealing with any sort of tension. And even then, that mostly bottoms out once you realize you're never in any sort of dangerous situation.
I appreciate the story even if it isn't that original, but the whole thing is just rough.
Some good ideas and creepy vibes, but ultimately kind of a mess.
I wanted to like this game more than I did. I do like walking sims, especially horror ones, but God's Basement falls short in a few areas. First off, the puzzles here can be pretty obtuse. After a short amount of time the game gives you a 'hint,' which is really just the solution spelled out to you, but I'd still occasionally have difficulty understanding what exactly the game expected me to do. I also had a number of control issues. Specifically with interacting with objects. I could only view an object when I was transitioning between normal and zoomed-in views. Not the worst bug, but frustrating when you haven't figured that out yet and you need to view an object to trigger the game progression. Also, while the game features some pretty solid environmental storytelling, the game will occasionally stop to recap everything you're supposed to have learned via a in-game monologue. I feel all of these issues combine to make a otherwise creepy experience become more frustrating than anything.
There's a lot of potential here. I really do like the atmosphere and narrative themes found throughout the game. Although I may have not been completely on board with this game, I'm very interested in seeing what Erebus puts out next.
I wanted to like this game more than I did. I do like walking sims, especially horror ones, but God's Basement falls short in a few areas. First off, the puzzles here can be pretty obtuse. After a short amount of time the game gives you a 'hint,' which is really just the solution spelled out to you, but I'd still occasionally have difficulty understanding what exactly the game expected me to do. I also had a number of control issues. Specifically with interacting with objects. I could only view an object when I was transitioning between normal and zoomed-in views. Not the worst bug, but frustrating when you haven't figured that out yet and you need to view an object to trigger the game progression. Also, while the game features some pretty solid environmental storytelling, the game will occasionally stop to recap everything you're supposed to have learned via a in-game monologue. I feel all of these issues combine to make a otherwise creepy experience become more frustrating than anything.
There's a lot of potential here. I really do like the atmosphere and narrative themes found throughout the game. Although I may have not been completely on board with this game, I'm very interested in seeing what Erebus puts out next.