Note: I didn't finish the game. I played just under 2 hours. If you think that makes the review invalid, than so be it. In this review, I'll simply touch on what I thought of the game in the time I played. Slight spoilers, I suppose.
PROS
- The atmosphere. PT vibes. The opening scene, exploring the desolate house that seems abandoned yet always feels like there is someone else there. Fan-♥♥♥♥♥♥♥-tastic atmosphere.
- Sound design. The sudden bass hitting you in the head, the sounds of distant footsteps creaking the floor, and doors shutting at the other end of the house. Fantastic.
- It's a linear game, but you don't really feel like it is. Sometimes key items are in obtuse places that you won't find unless you're searching every nook and cranny. Really makes exploration feel rewarding.
CONS
- The scares. Very few, if any, games scare me. Maybe because I know it isn't real? Maybe because I know it doesn't matter if I get caught by this enemy because I'll be resurrected by the power of autosaves? I don't know for sure, but right around the time I stopped playing is when the first enemies get introduced and they just... weren't intimidating... at all. There is a severe lack of facial animation which really tears down the rest of the visual design, which for the most part is gorgeous.
- The sanity meter. God I hate these kind of mechanics. I recently played Amnesia for the first time and hated having to keep the lights on otherwise my character would go insane. It causes a real disconnect IMO. I have to light all these candles and flip all these switches because my character is scared of the dark. Sanity meters also just feel like artificial and forced scares on the player. "You should be scared because the character is scared. Nah. If anything, stuff like this just really reinforces the fact it's just a video game by making me watching a very "gamey" meter. I should want to turn the lights on because I am scared, not because the game is telling me I should be.
- A lack of combat. No, I'm not expecting to be able to find a gun and shoot every enemy that comes my way. I know this isn't that type of game and that's perfectly fine and I understand that. However, this sort of piggybacks of my previous con; it feels entirely gamey and artificially scary. If I get trapped in a tight corridor with nowhere to go, I just accept my fate, get killed, and reload a save. You should not be wanting to die in a horror game just to get a retry. I should have the ability to at least use simple weapons to defend myself from enemies. Make them unkillable and the weapons have durability. Make melee weapons simply stun them and allow you time to get away. That would be a good compromise IMO. Basically, humans when faced with a threat will fight back. Sure, they may run first, but backed into a corner with their choices are either to fight or die; they will fight. Totally removing this option from a player isn't scary. It's making your game artificially scary.
In Closing
I didn't read any reviews on Steam (mainly because they wouldn't load) and I didn't watch any videos about it. It's October and I was in the mood for a horror game. Multiple people and websites mentioned this as one of the "scariest games ever" and I'm just not seeing it. It plays a lot like Amnesia in a more modern setting with you manually opening doors and solving puzzles and whatnot which sounds like a plus, because it is. But unfortunately, it also plays like Amnesia in that the game is forcing you to be "scared" with a sanity meter, light sources, and zero combat whatsoever. Like I said before, the atmosphere is top notch but the horror gameplay, what I bought it for, just isn't there.
Tl;dr This game just isn't scary at all, and it's over-reliance on making you scared by telling you "You should be scared" is just really lazy and bad design for a horror game.
PROS
- The atmosphere. PT vibes. The opening scene, exploring the desolate house that seems abandoned yet always feels like there is someone else there. Fan-♥♥♥♥♥♥♥-tastic atmosphere.
- Sound design. The sudden bass hitting you in the head, the sounds of distant footsteps creaking the floor, and doors shutting at the other end of the house. Fantastic.
- It's a linear game, but you don't really feel like it is. Sometimes key items are in obtuse places that you won't find unless you're searching every nook and cranny. Really makes exploration feel rewarding.
CONS
- The scares. Very few, if any, games scare me. Maybe because I know it isn't real? Maybe because I know it doesn't matter if I get caught by this enemy because I'll be resurrected by the power of autosaves? I don't know for sure, but right around the time I stopped playing is when the first enemies get introduced and they just... weren't intimidating... at all. There is a severe lack of facial animation which really tears down the rest of the visual design, which for the most part is gorgeous.
- The sanity meter. God I hate these kind of mechanics. I recently played Amnesia for the first time and hated having to keep the lights on otherwise my character would go insane. It causes a real disconnect IMO. I have to light all these candles and flip all these switches because my character is scared of the dark. Sanity meters also just feel like artificial and forced scares on the player. "You should be scared because the character is scared. Nah. If anything, stuff like this just really reinforces the fact it's just a video game by making me watching a very "gamey" meter. I should want to turn the lights on because I am scared, not because the game is telling me I should be.
- A lack of combat. No, I'm not expecting to be able to find a gun and shoot every enemy that comes my way. I know this isn't that type of game and that's perfectly fine and I understand that. However, this sort of piggybacks of my previous con; it feels entirely gamey and artificially scary. If I get trapped in a tight corridor with nowhere to go, I just accept my fate, get killed, and reload a save. You should not be wanting to die in a horror game just to get a retry. I should have the ability to at least use simple weapons to defend myself from enemies. Make them unkillable and the weapons have durability. Make melee weapons simply stun them and allow you time to get away. That would be a good compromise IMO. Basically, humans when faced with a threat will fight back. Sure, they may run first, but backed into a corner with their choices are either to fight or die; they will fight. Totally removing this option from a player isn't scary. It's making your game artificially scary.
In Closing
I didn't read any reviews on Steam (mainly because they wouldn't load) and I didn't watch any videos about it. It's October and I was in the mood for a horror game. Multiple people and websites mentioned this as one of the "scariest games ever" and I'm just not seeing it. It plays a lot like Amnesia in a more modern setting with you manually opening doors and solving puzzles and whatnot which sounds like a plus, because it is. But unfortunately, it also plays like Amnesia in that the game is forcing you to be "scared" with a sanity meter, light sources, and zero combat whatsoever. Like I said before, the atmosphere is top notch but the horror gameplay, what I bought it for, just isn't there.
Tl;dr This game just isn't scary at all, and it's over-reliance on making you scared by telling you "You should be scared" is just really lazy and bad design for a horror game.