Trapt is a truly unique game centered around a fantastic gameplay idea but unfortunately it leaves a lot of untapped potential untouched.

-Atmosphere: the game is set in a generic fantasy universe but the surprisingly big cast of characters and the Japanese voice acting makes it’s atmosphere somewhat memorable. It is nothing outstanding, but enough to keep the player entertained.

-Story: the short story (~5hr) of Trapt is also nothing groundbreaking, but engaging enough to always look forward to the next cutscene. The writing is mediocre at best but it has that PS2 era charm combined with some Japanese weirdness which makes it fun to follow.

-Gameplay: the game’s strongest aspect is undoubtedly it’s gameplay, however it still falls kind of short. The core gameplay loop is extremely good: during every level you are trapped in a mansion with different types of enemies and your goal is to defeat them via various traps you can lay and activate. At first this is tremendous fun, however it doesn’t get deep or complex enough to encourage the player to be creative. Although there are some different types of enemies (with different resistances, weapons, speed, etc.) and permanent usable devices/elements in the environment, sadly they aren’t enough to push the player for experimentation. One can easily finish the story with using no more than 4-5 different traps from the dozens available and while the interactive environment sounds fun, it doesn’t provide enough gameplay reward to make it necessarry to use it. Therefore the game can get pretty repetitive very fast. Personally I still had fun from start to finish, but I was craving for some more challange to spice things up or any reason to experiment with different trap combinations. I do believe however, that the core gameplay loop is genious and would make for a fantastic remake with some additional ideas to keep the experience fresh until the ending.

Ah yes, the next-gen follow-up to the fantastic Tecmo's Deception line. What? You've never heard of it? Well it's something like this. You are a female. You have the power to set traps. You have to set them because for whatever reason people are always seeking you out and either trying to kill you for your trap-setting ways or just want to say hi and you have to kill them because they might find out about your hobby. Sounds crazy, I know, but it is absolutely fantastic in a very sadistic and dark way. I've you've ever read a Chuck Palahniuk book and felt like you identified with the main character then you owe it to yourself to play one of the titles from this franchise.