a bit of a throwback game obviously very inspired by games like Fatal Frame with the base gameplay being taking pictures of ghosts but also very inspired by Silent Hill 3 in ways I will not spoil also visually it looks like a ps2 game which I kind of like there is also a much bigger focus on an Indonesian setting and horror which is a nice departure for a genre that is so dominated by Japanese horror but it's still not an amazing game the combat is often more annoying than tense enemies attack patterns border on stun locking. there 3 acts 0,1,2 with 0 just being the tutorial/demo for the game it's a fairly short game which is for its own good tbh the first act is a pretty average fatal frame level walk around this place full of ghosts until you figure out the puzzle and get the key to get out nothing special but then act 2 is where the game gets experimental not in the way of experimenting with the genre more like experimental in the way that the devs didn't really know what to do and where just making stuff up as this act opens with like an uncharted type chase sequence lol but then the game has more dialogue despite being a lil cringe and they start experimenting more with the type of enemies and puzzles and It started growing on me despite some of its combat problems that most definitely did not get fixed act (I say this because act 2 came out about a year after act 1 even when you are playing this as one game you can like these 2 acts where made at completely different times) honestly I am curious to see how the sequels handle this world moving forward I hope they keep leaning in on the things that make it more unique like the weird enemies and focus on indionisian folklore/horror instead of just being a fatal frame rip off which act 1 very much felt like

While I myself have never played a fatal frame game, I don't think I need to to recognize that this is essentially just a game from that series done worse. It feels like most of the ideas they had centered around the setting and shoving in Indonesian folklore, because those are the only really interesting parts of the game: everything else is either boring or poorly made.

Part of this is because the game flip-flops between automated sections that are basically cutscenes to putting you in large areas with barely any ghosts to make it scary and half the space is pointless. For example, two of the most notable areas in the game are a mansion and a school, and in both of them there are only maybe three rooms each that have things important to progressing and maybe two ghosts that are constant threats.

On paper, this game should be an easy 8/10 but sadly I think it's more of a 4/10 because of it's poorly executed ideas and boring level design (especially in the first half) and buggy nature. At one point in the game, the entire level, except for the floor, refused to even load in so I couldn't progress the game and made the game unplayable until it just decided to randomly fix itself 15 minutes later.

The 2nd half of the game is much better because the locations are cool and unique. The first half suffers too much from being just a dark boring dilapated school that we have seen in over 50+ horror games already, but the locations in the 2nd half are much more interesting and the entire game should of been based on them. Puzzles are also super weird in this game because sometimes the puzzles use a mechanic that is only used a single time and then never again and there seems to be a lot of wasted potential there. Overall: just play Fatal Frame instead.

It is not a good game.
It's a fatal frame without everything that makes a good fatal frame. Sure, they have the camera, but that's all it is. There are no multiple storylines, no scenes that genuinely scared me or made me feel pressured... all the ghosts are simple to kill and none of them really show any mechanics like the tutorial said (that there are ghosts that you can only hit in the back, that's a lie).
You can't zoom in with the camera until near the end of the game when it's no longer useful, and the zoom is super strong as you can be literally invincible.


but judging it as a game of the fatal frame franchise is not good; it's not a fatal frame, it's a different game
and judging it as a horror game... it sucks.
Act 1 takes place in a two story square that you go up and down for lore (which btw is not thought provoking at all, it's completely straightforward and dull) and act 2 is more open, but consists of scripted scene with instakills or trading in combat and it just doesn't feel right.

When you die, the game sends you into a "limbo" that makes you run from point A to point B and the more you die, the longer the amount of time you have to run. This can be disabled as one of the "accessibility" settings, but it really makes it more difficult.
Why? well... you respawn exactly where you died and the enemies don't return to their point of origin, so they can literally spawnkill you or corner you into a wall without you being able to do anything because of the stunlock they give you, which leads you to walk back 30 seconds in limbo. If this setting is disabled; maybe you spend 1-2 minutes walking and that will give time for the ghost to move because they usually have different places they go, BUT disabling this option also disables you an achievement!


I don't want to spoil the story, but I can say what it is so irrelevant and bad about. The ghosts don't really have stories either, they're just ghosts that are part of Indonesian folklore but they just threw them in and put them in random places. While it was fun googling and learning things I didn't know, I would have wished there was some kind of story like in some fatal fra- ................ in some decent game.

I was hoping I could enjoy it at some point but.. nope.
was never the case. Bad gameplay, bad writing, lack of atmosphere with songs that end in fade out so you can tell when they loop again. You can tell it's a first time game from the developers. A free to play horror game from steam gives you a more complete experience than the first DreadOut.

No me puedo creer que se me haya olvidado incluir esta trilogía hasta hoy. Para mí, Dreadout siempre será el juego que me abrió el camino a la escena de desarrollo indonesia, y el que me hizo querer saber más sobre aquél mundo, y por ese motivo, siempre voy a tenerlo en alta estima. Como juego de terror, resulta opaco y obtuso en gran medida, pero en mi opinión, lo compensa de sobra con una profundidad de ideas, estilos y personalidad. La hora que pasamos con nuestros compañeros de instituto se siente lenta y amateur, pero acaba plenamente justificada una vez empiezas a verlos desaparecer. Y la magia de desentreñar el extraño y, en ocasiones, completamente alienígena comportamiento de los fantasmas te sumerge en su ambiente paranormal mejor que lo que cualquier monstruo de Dead Space hubiera sido capaz de hacer por su cuenta.

Dreadout es un juego opaco, incómodo y duro, pero precisamente por eso me parece tan valioso.

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I can't believe I forgot to include this trilogy until today. For me, Dreadout will always be the game that opened my eyes to the Indonesian development scene, and the one that made me want to know more about it. For that reason, I will always hold it in high esteem. As a horror game, it's dull and obtuse to a large extent, but in my opinion, it more than makes up for it with a depth of ideas, style and personality. The hour we spend with our high school classmates feels slow and amateurish, but ends up fully justified once you start to see them disappear. And the magic of unraveling the strange and, at times, downright alien behavior of the ghosts immerses you their paranormal environment better than any Dead Space baddie.

Dreadout is an opaque, uncomfortable and hard game, but that's precisely why I find it so worthwhile.

Imported from my Backloggery:

This horror game was not interesting to me. I got stuck three times, not due to my inability to play the game well, but just due to the fact that the game was unclear with what it wanted you to do. The fog means you cannot find landmarks, which works against the game. The game was scary at first, but this was due to repeated jumpscares. They completely destroyed the tension and atmosphere. Playing the game was more annoying than scary. Not being able to change the sensitivity sucked as well.

Fatal frame has become PC exclusive. I heard some Indonesian people saying folklore representation is abysmal and that's bad but at least I got something to google later.

Shame that ghosts are pretty standard photo-to-kill and provide no interesting combat experience except the mirror using one.

Nonetheless I can see the team tried their best to create something they are passionate about. And that I can respect. Will be waiting for the next game expecting to see some progress.