This should not work.
This game absolutely should not work.
The amount of questionable design decisions stuffed into this one game is very worrying on paper. 1. You have a finite amount of ammunition in the game, meaning you can softlock yourself if you don't have enough to take down mandatory bosses.
2. Narrow hallways can have as many as four enemies at a time that can potentially all come back hours after you've killed them off, stronger and faster than before.
3. You have a whopping SIX item slots (yes I played Chris) to carry guns, ammo, healing drugs, keys, and whatever other items you need to progress, and because of that,
4. there is a shit ton of backtracking.
5. You have a finite amount of saves throughout the entire game. If you fuck up and save too often too early you can completely screw yourself (it's this exact thing that's part of the reason I can't stand Ori and the Blind Forrest).
And despite all of this (or perhaps in light of all of this), it is beyond brilliant.
I don't think I've ever experienced anything that so genuinely makes me feel dread. It's a horror game, but aside from a few jump scares it's not even scary. But it is undeniably so fucking stressful, and I love it. All of these things that sound terrible on paper put you so on edge, and the sound design and cinematography doubly so. The gameplay is literally just a point and click game: get things to use on other things, but it works perfectly in this horror theme. I cannot possibly praise this game enough, I had no idea I would love it this much. There's nothing I can even say to do it justice.
This game absolutely should not work.
The amount of questionable design decisions stuffed into this one game is very worrying on paper. 1. You have a finite amount of ammunition in the game, meaning you can softlock yourself if you don't have enough to take down mandatory bosses.
2. Narrow hallways can have as many as four enemies at a time that can potentially all come back hours after you've killed them off, stronger and faster than before.
3. You have a whopping SIX item slots (yes I played Chris) to carry guns, ammo, healing drugs, keys, and whatever other items you need to progress, and because of that,
4. there is a shit ton of backtracking.
5. You have a finite amount of saves throughout the entire game. If you fuck up and save too often too early you can completely screw yourself (it's this exact thing that's part of the reason I can't stand Ori and the Blind Forrest).
And despite all of this (or perhaps in light of all of this), it is beyond brilliant.
I don't think I've ever experienced anything that so genuinely makes me feel dread. It's a horror game, but aside from a few jump scares it's not even scary. But it is undeniably so fucking stressful, and I love it. All of these things that sound terrible on paper put you so on edge, and the sound design and cinematography doubly so. The gameplay is literally just a point and click game: get things to use on other things, but it works perfectly in this horror theme. I cannot possibly praise this game enough, I had no idea I would love it this much. There's nothing I can even say to do it justice.