Medium. No story spoilers.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 days, in a playable state, is only playable via the Nintendo DS, any systems with support for DS games, or via emulation of DS hardware. Alternatively, one could simply view the 358/2 days cutscene movie that is packaged with 1.5 remix. Ideally, one playing through the series should probably play the game on a DS of some sort, but the cutscene movie is fine too. Emulation is very possible and easy, but I feel that it's a little annoying to get feeling good, and it will never feel better than simply playing it on native hardware if possible. This game supports 2 player co-op, which I think makes the game more fun, but it is not a requirement.

Although in 1.5/2.5 remixes, it is positioned in between Re:Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts 2, you should not play or watch 358/2 days before playing 2! This game spoils many important aspects of KH2, and is also more enjoyable with the context of KH2.

Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days is the second major spin-off of the Kingdom Hearts franchise, and much like Chain of Memories, it is incredibly important and foundational for the plot. Functioning as a prequel to 2, and also taking place during the events of the first game and Chain of Memories, this game has a lot of importance to the extended plot. The game was exclusively released for the Nintendo DS, and has never received a remake or a remaster in the same way as Chain of Memories or Birth by Sleep. Instead, it was added to 1.5 Remix as a cutscene movie. While this covers most of the story beats, and is arguably more entertaining than the game itself, I do think it isn't quite as good as playing through the game itself despite its flaws. However, if you don't want to sink some teeth and time into this game, I would understand opting to watch the cutscene movie instead.

358/2 days follows Roxas, and as the name suggests, you follow nearly a year's worth of time as Roxas in the Organization XIII, performing and completing missions in order to further their goals. You team up with one other Organization XIII member, which can either be controlled by an AI or a player on another system, and fulfill the tasks to a manner you and the Organization may desire. These missions may vary in objectives, such as scouting out a location, defeating a powerful heartless enemy, etc. This mission structure is designed to allot for shorter play sessions that would be fitting for playing on the go, which differs from prior Kingdom Hearts titles which focused on lengthy exploration and longer challenges such as an Olympus Colosseum cup. This mission structure also has a narrative purpose, your role in the Organization is quite literally a job, and every day gets you new missions to do, and new events to follow in that chronological order.

And much like a job, this game is not necessarily entertaining. Out of all of the handheld releases, this gameplay system is most like the home console experiences, having the command list in which you can attack, use magic, and select an item to use. With the DS' limited buttons, however, this feels awkward at best. Combat in this game is incredibly simplistic, often boiling down to a DPS test with every enemy encounter. The only real dynamic element in action combat is the variable magic uses and the LIMIT system, which allows you to empower yourself once you reach a certain health threshold. You can change your equipment and magic, items and such using a cute little grid system, which expands as you get further in the game. You can trade off space for a weaker item, so that you can equip another potion, you can use differing levels of magic that may, in fact, not be strictly better as it goes from Fire to Firaga for example. You level up by adding, well, level tiles to this grid, which is a sweet little idea for a game like this. I actually do find this to be the most interesting element of gameplay, but in practice it often doesn't feel too good anyways, due to how simplistic the game itself is regardless.

Exploration is limited, both by the DS hardware itself, and the "barriers" sometimes put in place by the Organization so that you stay on target. This doesn't affect the gameplay too much though, as the environments are still nicely designed, and you can always revisit missions from prior days to get any items or bonuses you may have missed. So, while the game is shorter, and maybe doesn't have the same depth as other titles, the game still lets you take your time for completionism if you'd like. This all adds replay value into the game, if you desire to keep playing.

With all of this being said, why do I recommend playing this DS version of the game over watching the cutscene movie? In my opinion, 358/2 Days has one of the strongest narratives and overarching story in the franchise, and I feel that the cutscene movie doesn't convey all of that in a way I find as satisfactory. The significant bump in quality, and having higher quality voice acting is really good, and these are still some of the strongest scenes in the franchise, but the cutscene movie misses some small character details that I think adds up to a lot in the long run. Being able to see the attitude of many of the characters is really intriguing, and having to feel some of these character moments in gameplay is preferable to seeing them in a cutscene movie, at least in my opinion. While I may have a lot to criticize about 358/2 days, mostly just in the gameplay, I wouldn't prefer a 358/2 days without that gameplay, weirdly enough. Play (or watch) 358/2 days for what I think to be one of the strongest narratives the series has to offer, and as stated prior, play it after KH2.

Medium. No story spoilers.

Cry of Fear is a free-to-play standalone mod for Half-Life. Unlike its spiritual predecessor, Afraid of Monsters: Directors Cut, you do not need to install Half-Life to play this game. It is also available to download straight from Steam. Nothing to note regarding performance or fixes, but be wary of crashes.

Cry of Fear is a free-to-play survival horror game that is easy to pick up and play, although it is a larger time commitment than its predecessor. Simon Henriksson is a depressed teenager who is walking home, when a man who seems to have been attacked, gets his attention. Before Simon can call medical services, a car runs him over. While unconscious, you experience vivid nightmare in which you progress by using the camera flash on marked locations, culminating in a sudden scare. Simon comes to, and finds himself in an alleyway, with a text message from his mother asking him to come home. Since he seemed to have already been on the way to doing that, surely he is just on his way and the nightmare is over. Unfortunately for Simon, or the player, it's really just begun.

The systems introduced in this game help it greatly differ from other Half-Life mods including AoM. One feature that this game has and makes great use of is a limited inventory system. Simon can only hold 3 items in his pockets, and 3 more in his bag. This doesn't include ammunition, but this does include key items such as, well, keys, to progress. This can be annoying for some players who may feel they're juggling with limited space, but I think that this helps Cry of Fear a lot, forcing you to manage in a similar vein to a Resident Evil title. Speaking of Resident Evil, this game also has two more things, a somewhat interconnected world where you can revisit some areas to get items that you may want, and a reliance on manual saving at specific locations (in this game, a tape recorder). Both of these work great on paper, and mostly in practice, but it does unfortunately get significantly hampered by the crashes. You are likely to lose a good chunk of progress because the game decided to crash prior to entering an important room, or after a cutscene. This may he something that could be fixed by running the game in XP compatibility mode, but I cannot verify. Regardless, I won't hold this against the game.

Something I will hold against the game is other little frustrating segments. The most dangerous enemy in the game, the Sawrunner, is a sprinting creature with two chainsaws that will rapidly chase after you after you trigger an event, such as walking near a certain area, or picking up an item. This is a really cool way to introduce urgency for chase scenes, and the sound design is great! Unfortunately, I find that these chase sequences are incredibly trial-and-error. You often never have enough stamina to sprint away from them, and they may sometimes simply catch up to you and instantly kill you as a result. Most frustratingly, a later section forces you to run to a house and unlock a door while being chased by a Sawrunner. This is much worse than it sounds, because you have to open the inventory (which doesn't pause the game) while the sawrunner is already likely right on top of you. This segment alone took me about 5 minutes of 20 second tries because the sawrunner would usually catch up before I reach the house. These segments aren't completely frequent, but they're present enough where I find them annoying instead of anything else.

This game's visual elements are very reminiscent of Afraid of Monsters, which is reminiscent of Silent Hill. Since all of these games focus a lot on personal struggle, this works really well I feel. I do love the grimy aesthetic of all of these game's nightmare sequences, which there are several here. Graphically, Cry of Fear is actually quite amazing for what it is. The developers and artists who worked on this game really made the most out of an old engine to get this game to look the way it does. At times, it even looks comparable to a source engine video game, especially with the trickery involving the water effects, or the animations that play for "physics objects" in the environment. The attention to detail is great here.

Once again comparing to AoM, I think the enemy design is overall an improvement over them, but the "Twitchers" from AoM is still the scariest by far. I think my favorite design in this game are the Tallers or the Carcass. Something that is definitely notable about Cry of Fear's monster design is that it all has some direct relevance to Simon's condition, physical and mental. Unfortunately, some of these monster designs also just end up kind of goofy. I think the worst example of this game are the enemies that look like an older woman with spikes for appendages, their walking animation is a little silly and their death animation just feels too on-the-nose, even for a game as blunt in its portrayal as this. The environment and enemy design for the most part is a lot more grounded in a good way.

Cry of Fear also has a ton of jumpscares. While I am not someone who dislikes jumpscares much at all, I think a lot of this game's scares are quite weak. The best scare in the game is the introductory nightmare section. Not just the climax of it, but the flashes of imagery that make you second guess what you just saw. There are also a handful of segments that can be a little haunting, particularly a segment within claustrophobic tunnels, but they are few and far between.

Cry of Fear has four endings, not including a secret joke ending. Unlike AoM which has endings change based on things as small as making a wrong turn, this game has two deliberate choices a player has to make to achieve the endings, which makes seeing them all a lot easier in technicality (although replaying the whole game might be a chore). For a free survival horror game, Cry of Fear is packing lots for a player to dig into. While I think some aspects make the game feel a little weak, or downright frustrating, this is worth playing if you're a fan of Silent Hill especially. Once again, dispel the notion that you will be playing a game with any subtlety whatsoever, this game is very in-your-face, and it is okay for it to be precisely that.

Medium. No story spoilers.

This game is a mod for Half-Life, and is not able to be launched standalone unlike its spiritual successor, Cry of Fear. To install it grab the game from ModDB, you can simply dump the contents of AoMDC into the Half-Life folder (or use an installer it may have come with), restart Steam, and launch the game. As of the Anniversary release of Half-Life, this is fully (or mostly?) functional.

Afraid of Monsters: Directors Cut is a little horror mod that I recommend any fan of horror (especially Silent Hill), and Half-Life, check out. It has a lot of very cool locations to explore, and can be a fun little challenge, even if a little short. The game also unfortunately suffers from a lot of little jank, some of which can hinder player progression. I am not sure if some of this is due to the Half-Life anniversary update, but some of it was definitely in the version(s) prior, namely doors being annoying at times.

The premise of the game is simple. David Leatherhoff is a man in the hospital, presumably in rehabilitation for drug related problems. He enters the restroom to reflect, and finds a bottle of the exact pills he is trying to get clean from. He unfortunately loses his brief battle with himself, takes the pills, and blacks out in the bathroom. After waking up from a nightmare, he finds the hospital, seemingly completely abandoned. In order to get to wherever he wants to be for whatever reason, he must turn the power off to not get electrocuted. Once he does that, he eventually succumbs to the real nightmare, as figures with rapidly twitching heads begin pursuing him and attacking him violently. Your new objective, is to escape the hospital, and survive this onslaught, in search of a safe place.

Afraid of Monsters' opening, while incredibly simple, is the game at it's most effective. I could not pretend that the visual of a faint figure, rapidly twitching and running toward me in a near pitch-black room, didn't immediately terrify me. The kind-of shitty flashlight from Half-Life only really improves this factor to me, as it is very hard to see, and you can only often get glimpses of these enemies at a time.

The main resources the player is fighting for is pills (healing items), batteries for the flashlight, and weaponry or ammunition to fend off various creatures to progress. Most levels involve the player pressing buttons or picking up keys to unlock colored doors to escape their setting, as you will come across many various settings such as a city, a forest, an apartment complex, etc. I think that the hospital is the strongest setting in this game, and it ultimately peaks right at the beginning. Once you leave the hospital, you will find yourself in largely uninteresting areas with the same ultimate goal of escaping this nightmare. I find that these other areas, aside from a few short segments reminiscent of Silent Hill's otherworld, just don't scratch the horror itch in a way that I would like.

While the successor, Cry of Fear, could be interpreted as a survival horror game, Afraid of Monsters is most strictly an action-horror game. Resource management is largely limited to batteries, which don't necessarily have to be managed since the battery can "recharge" for a moment, and there are no real puzzles beyond grabbing an item to use another item. You must simply blast your way through these levels, and I sort of appreciate that on it's own, since it does make playing AoM pretty easy as a sort of "pick it up and finish it" ordeal. Both games are very bluntly portraying the character's personal struggles, and I think both games work that into the games themselves pretty decently.

As for more general cons of the game, I find that the potential for things to get you "stuck" is pretty significant. Most notably, elevators may cause your character to get stuck, and then take damage when the elevator moves again, forcing you to reload a save. I recommend saving often, but especially prior to using an elevator. I found that crouch-jumping just before the arrival of a new floor helped prevent getting stuck. There are other smaller things, such as doors continuously opening and closing, and some unintuitive interactive objects. This game really slows down just before you reach the end, and while it is incredibly short anyways (shorter if you use typical goldsrc movement tech), it can make one feel like they're burning out before they reach the end.

The game has 4 endings, and some endings being pursued can cause you to take a different path to the end, with some differing levels along the way. This does introduce replay value that a player may find valuable, and it also spices up things like Sven Co-Op playthroughs. All of the endings are incredibly predictable regarding this subject matter, but I do like the way they're presented. I encourage you to try this out if you enjoy Silent Hill and/or Half-Life, but don't expect a hidden horror gem, this is just a fun time, and be sure to check out Cry of Fear afterwards.