This review contains spoilers
Nobody told me this was the Dark Souls of survival horror beforehand.
The game pretty much hates you. They make several design choices that is intended to make you as weak as possible. The game is scary and disturbing as shit (thanks to a really good atmosphere), and when it's not being scary, the levels all do things to make the experience worse. On Chapter 3, if you walk across one of the houses' porch, the game just kills you with a booby trap. Seriously, no warning, no tips. It's just trial and error. Sprint has its own gauge and runs out super quickly. If you're out of resources but decide to power through the game anyway, the game screws you the fuck over. If you're too scared to loot and explore the levels, too fucking bad, you have to if you want to survive. In Chapter 11, there's a giant fish in your way in a flooded city. You successfully evade it for the entire hour-long mission AND DO YOU KNOW HOW YOU ARE REWARDED??? YOU HAVE TO FIGHT THE FUCKER NOW, WITH LITTLE TO NO RESOURCES BY THE END. The game never lets up on the tension and horror and make you feel just as traumatized as the characters. Despite the frustrations you encounter, it all feels like it was done intentionally. This game is not a power fantasy and wanted to remind the player that despite having a bunch of tools and weapons and wits at your disposal, you still ain't shit. And for that, it has my respect.
Now, let's talk about the negatives, because for every design choice in this game that works to its advantage, there are design choices that work to the game's detriment as well. The combat actually fucking sucks. It overstays its welcome and anytime this game turns into a shooting gallery, it's just terrible. The shooting isn't very good, the movement is way too clunky, and there are way too many enemies in an arena that's mostly a singular path, which means there's not a lot of cover. If there isn't a lot of cover and the game requires you to move around, the movement needs to be super responsive, and it isn't. It's way too slow and the game should stick to being more like Resident Evil and less like Gears of War. On top of that, the story is super fucking bland. I praised how the game makes you feel like you're in their shoes, but it loses me when I'm reminded I don't care about these characters. Sebastian is a bland character whose backstory is cooler than his actual personality. Joseph just kinda becomes a hopeless character and...that's really it. He's just kinda hopeless and starts losing his mind and then just dips out of the script. Kidman would've been interesting but we learn literally nothing about her other than "something isn't right about her". The STEM scientist just dumps a bunch of exposition and then lets the villain kill him instead of moving out of his way. You never really learn what's going on outside of "you're in a simulation that's inside the mind of a psychopath", which sounds cool, but once it's revealed they don't do anything with it narratively. The psychopath in question is Ruvik, who's the main antagonist and has a super cliche backstory that's only saved by some of the voice acting. And almost all of the story is behind the notes in the game you can collect, and if you miss them, the game doesn't ever tell you what's going on, which is just not a very good way to tell a story. And the fact that some of the questions are only answered in the DLCs is just wild to me. Paying money to understand what really happened is not a very good move. Finally, fuck the brain puzzle. I AM FOLLOWING THE FUCKING INSTRUCTIONS. I LITERALLY PUT THE LASER ON THE SPOT AND IT DIDN'T WORK BECAUSE IT WASN'T SPECIFIC ENOUGH. ON TOP OF THAT, EVERY TIME YOU MISS, IT DEPLETES YOUR FUCKING HEALTH. WHAAAAAAAT. WHO'S FUCKING IDEA WAS THIS? They sometimes took the "we hate the player" idea of the game a little too far, and this part was a prime example.
All in all, I do like the atmosphere and some of the bosses. I also kind of like the ending of the game. The whole idea that Sebastian also doesn't know what's going on at the end and the implication that whatever happened freed Ruvik was pretty dope. Other than that, and some memorable moments, the rest of the game was pretty lackluster. Still enough here to like if you like survival horror, but not enough to be more than just okay.
The game pretty much hates you. They make several design choices that is intended to make you as weak as possible. The game is scary and disturbing as shit (thanks to a really good atmosphere), and when it's not being scary, the levels all do things to make the experience worse. On Chapter 3, if you walk across one of the houses' porch, the game just kills you with a booby trap. Seriously, no warning, no tips. It's just trial and error. Sprint has its own gauge and runs out super quickly. If you're out of resources but decide to power through the game anyway, the game screws you the fuck over. If you're too scared to loot and explore the levels, too fucking bad, you have to if you want to survive. In Chapter 11, there's a giant fish in your way in a flooded city. You successfully evade it for the entire hour-long mission AND DO YOU KNOW HOW YOU ARE REWARDED??? YOU HAVE TO FIGHT THE FUCKER NOW, WITH LITTLE TO NO RESOURCES BY THE END. The game never lets up on the tension and horror and make you feel just as traumatized as the characters. Despite the frustrations you encounter, it all feels like it was done intentionally. This game is not a power fantasy and wanted to remind the player that despite having a bunch of tools and weapons and wits at your disposal, you still ain't shit. And for that, it has my respect.
Now, let's talk about the negatives, because for every design choice in this game that works to its advantage, there are design choices that work to the game's detriment as well. The combat actually fucking sucks. It overstays its welcome and anytime this game turns into a shooting gallery, it's just terrible. The shooting isn't very good, the movement is way too clunky, and there are way too many enemies in an arena that's mostly a singular path, which means there's not a lot of cover. If there isn't a lot of cover and the game requires you to move around, the movement needs to be super responsive, and it isn't. It's way too slow and the game should stick to being more like Resident Evil and less like Gears of War. On top of that, the story is super fucking bland. I praised how the game makes you feel like you're in their shoes, but it loses me when I'm reminded I don't care about these characters. Sebastian is a bland character whose backstory is cooler than his actual personality. Joseph just kinda becomes a hopeless character and...that's really it. He's just kinda hopeless and starts losing his mind and then just dips out of the script. Kidman would've been interesting but we learn literally nothing about her other than "something isn't right about her". The STEM scientist just dumps a bunch of exposition and then lets the villain kill him instead of moving out of his way. You never really learn what's going on outside of "you're in a simulation that's inside the mind of a psychopath", which sounds cool, but once it's revealed they don't do anything with it narratively. The psychopath in question is Ruvik, who's the main antagonist and has a super cliche backstory that's only saved by some of the voice acting. And almost all of the story is behind the notes in the game you can collect, and if you miss them, the game doesn't ever tell you what's going on, which is just not a very good way to tell a story. And the fact that some of the questions are only answered in the DLCs is just wild to me. Paying money to understand what really happened is not a very good move. Finally, fuck the brain puzzle. I AM FOLLOWING THE FUCKING INSTRUCTIONS. I LITERALLY PUT THE LASER ON THE SPOT AND IT DIDN'T WORK BECAUSE IT WASN'T SPECIFIC ENOUGH. ON TOP OF THAT, EVERY TIME YOU MISS, IT DEPLETES YOUR FUCKING HEALTH. WHAAAAAAAT. WHO'S FUCKING IDEA WAS THIS? They sometimes took the "we hate the player" idea of the game a little too far, and this part was a prime example.
All in all, I do like the atmosphere and some of the bosses. I also kind of like the ending of the game. The whole idea that Sebastian also doesn't know what's going on at the end and the implication that whatever happened freed Ruvik was pretty dope. Other than that, and some memorable moments, the rest of the game was pretty lackluster. Still enough here to like if you like survival horror, but not enough to be more than just okay.