Скорошни рецензии на DeadeGuard98

https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2928743254

Here's The Thing:
You are an ordinary rat, let’s call you “B-rat”, a lucky-enough rodent who manages to seek shelter from a full-on snowstorm. You are just about to count your blessings, but soon regrets the decision because as it turns out, there’s also a maniac on the loose! Let’s hope they’re a vegetarian or a pacifist~


Before I officially begin, I just want to disclose that I am so worn out from reviewing games, and back-to-back mind you, that are obvious “clones” of other prominent titles. Whether it be in terms of gameplay style, appearance, story, or even all three… But man, some of them do it so well! Like today’s review!! Okay, that’s all-



If you have encountered Little Nightmares (LN) prior to this, then you can skip the review entirely! Because it’s LN in the flesh… except it’s that of a rat’s. What does this amount to? Scurrying in a wholly 3D environment, hightailing it from a Debilitas-lookalike along with some other hostile critters, and getting around obstacle courses of not-so-effective traps like a lab rat- HEY!

Identical to LN, just no stealth whatsoever, there are collectibles as well in the form of delicious cheese sneakily tucked away by other less lucky rodent relatives or… predecessors? Nabbing them grants you an equally *cheesy* reward; achievements! Should you perish, you’ll either respawn pretty close to where you got offed, or maybe you take on the role of a different rat? They all look the same to me, I’m not a rat-cist…! Besides, the checkpoints are as frequent as bad dreams, so you’re in good hands!

With just a singular outcome, the whole rat race of an escape will last two hours at most! True to the LN spirit, there’s even an achievement for the crazily devoted players which requires finishing the game without any deaths! No other notable replay value aside from achievements, unless you count going in to admire that little pudgy face and its tiny series of steps~

TIPS:
1) The achievements hint as to where the cheeses can be found!


If it’s not obvious by my last sentence- I don’t know whether to embrace B-rat in my palms, tear its face off, or skin it alive… all out of love & cuteness! With the most adorable idle animation ever- it’s literally just a rat being and acting like a rat, but…mmm! Someone keep it away from me.

For real though, the graphics weren’t lacking in any way! The three main chapters, each with their own standout set pieces didn’t come off “level-esque” at all, in fact they added to the overall artificial sensation. The same vibe you would get coming from a controlled environment! A dank and long-abandoned basement, a “shop” floor with a bunch of kennels in disuse and yet no dogs, and a still tidy and perfectly working laboratory!?

The audio design fared better than I had hoped for especially with Silent Hill industrial sounds. Also, atmospheric filler tracks, tailor-made themes, and grating sound effects all very reminiscent of that damned franchise casually inserted like it’s no biggie! That is just messed up, consider me a fan~


Following in the footsteps of a certain- wait, what am I doing? You know we’re talking about LN still…! Yes, it employs an unhealthy amount of implicit storytelling whereby it conveys both past as well as present events (what the heck, future as well) by immersing you in its grime, parading its horrific environments, and not even a single word is uttered in the 1.5 hour adventure. I know we’re working with animals here and how it is a given that it’s impossible for them to even speak a vowel, but come on, that’s pretty impressive~
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2928742465


The horror doesn’t simply rely on and take advantage of the “little vulnerable being in a big bad world” setup. Correction, it did, but it opted for something way smaller; a defenseless rat! And by that logic, everything seen from its piercing round eyes will appear to be more magnified in size! Granted, the plot is animal rights centric, which is bound to have you shed a tear or two to the average viewer.

And even open entire floodgates of sympathy to those who may have a pet hamster or something similar. However, the real gut punch came from me (and on some level, people) not being able to relate to what the rat’s gone through! And would anyone truly care about the state in which a rat ends up? They’re disease-carrying vermin, and treated as pest!

Remember the implicit storytelling I mentioned? This is only conjecture, but if you inspect the protagonist B-rat carefully, like at any time during exploration. You’ll notice its appearance yield some clues that point out how it may actually be an escaped test subject from the very same abominable grounds you’re forced to secure an exit out of. It’s not like the rat can just adjust its whiskers and tell us what’s happened to it! And that breaks my heart so much… I will never look at a rat in the same way. Lastly, there’s probably a sequel incoming, y’know, due to the LN comparison~



You would think for a game that emulates LN in just about every way; it would be a no-brainer for it to go the extra mile in order to capture the same quality of camerawork & gameplay. But sadly, that’s not the case, for we are stuck with stuffy, almost “pinched out” close-up shots, and unhelpful angles that make depth perception an ordeal! It made sense for Six, because she was wearing a hood (and other strange face coverings). Here? Not so much! Not at all!!

It's slightly more tolerable when you play with a gamepad, what with the right analog stick dedicated to panning the camera. On keyboard though, it's just so silly, since it's never explicitly made clear anywhere that the arrow keys actually perform the very same function of shifting the camera! Not in the "controls", nor at any point in the game for that matter. So, anyway, one full playthrough later- I tried to make up for lost time, and long story short I ended up getting nauseous anyway…

Another thing, I feel I am obligated to expose is the jump strength. I’m telling you, regardless of how much pressure you exert, or how much you actually need to get over a small gap, B-rat will jump like a puppeteer is stringing it along at full force… Lastly, the darkness is an unadjustable nightmare, and the inconsistently out-of-focus backgrounds have you get your hopes up for nothing when you discover, time-and-time again, that you cannot go past a certain area!


x Various instances of the rat model walking on air, and the animations becoming janky.
x Clipping issues that bypasses the need to even get around obstacles. Just jump over!


~ More than a few not-very-obvious invisible walls…


https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2928741537

Last Words?
Morose & tragic TAIL that makes for a spot-on horror short, but I’ll settle for a game too. While it finds the cheese from being in the same vein as Little Nightmares, it winds up in its own hole~

Shoutout to

Indie Gems,

for GEMME-ing a key! Follow them here right now for more well, y’know~

https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2926456176

Here's The Thing:
You step into the role of… Huh, maybe you can’t think clearly with that blinding light shining in your direction. You could be a sailor, some dude on vacation; heck, you could even be an escaped convict who commandeered someone’s sailboat! But that detail don’t matter because the light is shooting beams your way that will most likely topple you-



Trust me, I’m just as tired of comparing games, but I don’t see any way around it. So, visualize a 1st-person iteration of Resident Evil (RE) capturing every nook and cranny of the survival horror recipe down to every intricate detail; keys with motifs, shortcuts and scarce supplies to be weeded out, and eccentric puzzles.

It also metamorphoses into RE4 by being action-oriented, as in to say it is never short on actual I-kid-you-not challenge, and sweet holey goodness of an arsenal! Packing one mean serving of throwbacks; you’ll be roundhouse kicked back into 2006 with discretionarily rewarding target ranges, a merchant substitute with lines you won’t be a stranger to, shimmery loot dangling on ceilings, and- list goes on…

Strange that despite having free rein in movement, it felt like a rail shooter at times as I kept getting backed into a corner due to my overestimating the stamina system and constantly pounced by such unpredictable encounters, whom may as well be yet another pair of formidable foes… The inability to aim down sight certainly complicated things, but it becomes second nature, though it never ceases to be an oddity. There’s an optional yet highly recommended “interactive” map whereby you can manually mark, label, pin, or draw crude icons to represent points of interest. Let’s see how many times you forget to update the map, bwahaha!

My playthrough clocked in at about 12.5 billion hours, that’s after unearthing both ends; the meh one, and the true one, the latter of which required more legwork but ultimately more worth it! Still much too short for you masochist? Give the coveted “nightmare” mode a whirl. It comes with a giant new stalker creature, 10x the enemy and body count, and more nasty things~


I’m beyond pleased by the general view that it has to offer- though I do feel obligated to declare that the environments are intensely enthused by RE1’s eminent mansion and its close quarters dread, the bloodcurdling castle portion from RE4 alongside its cult vibes, all while said glory basks in the glow of the lighthouse and unreal glares posed by The Evil Within (TEW). Come on, “Beacon Manor”!?

Say you have noticed caricatures of said scenes, witnessing them in the first person utterly & bafflingly changes it all! Almost like the dev wanted to sway you with nostalgia and lower your guard throughout… Monster designs reek of, once more, the two RE titles brought up including a golem Regenerator, a not-yet-grown Hunter, there’s even a Tyrant-ish boss enemy, and of course, other unusual creatures making you welp for you never know when they’ll decide to make an appearance!

The sound design is properly dressed for the occasion, proportionately reassuring as it is threatening! Just to offer you a taste, there’s a Claire De Lune save theme- which despite the hell you’re put through in TEW, it remains comforting and a safe haven to lose yourself in. Quite a few tracks are present, though reserved for key moments like boss fights and VIP rooms. You’ll spend a huge portion of time listening to the sound of silence, audio cues that will warn you of whatever enemies are in the vicinity, and when they start to approach you~


Ain’t much to the story as it deliberately doesn’t tell you much besides the really pivotal specifics. Surrounding the island and manor in as much mystery and unease as possible, to which it succeeds give or take… If you’ve read up to here, then you can hazard a guess as to what I’ll say- CORRECT, the story too, took a few pointers from TEW in terms of ambiance, RE when it comes to progression, segments of No One Lives Under the Lighthouse, and yadda yadda!

Is it scary… How about without a frigging doubt!? I can’t for the life of me believe it, but it was like playing every single one of those games I cited for the first time again! The fear lies in both knowing (or so you think you know) moments and not realizing soon enough that just about anything goes in this place. Expect a roster of beings that do not blend into the same universe, a handful of bits where you’ll cuss at the developer for doing such a tremendous job, and also at yourself for your stupidity~
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2926458694



The sole justifiable nag I’ve got would single-handedly boil down to the “story”. Mind you, I have observed worse and shakier attempts such as Starless, Predator and Wreck and The Delivery Man, where the main gimmick is that they’d lift the setting or gameplay from more established other works while adding very little (or rather not well) of their own ideas… Having said that, the problem lies in its thinly veiled storytelling, leaving far too much to supposition.

Take the intro, which tells you nothing about the main character (he/she/it is even unnamed), already drains most of your sympathy. Then the more telling signs of neglect like “who built the puzzles”, “why is the merchant helping you”, “where is this game going”; you know, all the makeshift fashioning and then shoehorning of a plot much, MUCH after the entire game has already been built and hoping it sticks the landing. Which is a great shame because it has all the makings for an interesting albeit slightly mad world. In fact, if anything, both Dead Beacon & Cannibal Abduction are excellent case studies that nostalgic trips shouldn’t just amount to clones~


x Enemies will suddenly be like “NOPE” and revert to what they were doing. Even in mid-tussle.
x I should be thankful, but the detection radius of each enemy is highly sporadic, even when they’re looking directly at you.


~ Certain terrain will appear level but will get all bumpy when you walk on them!
~ You will climb/vault over certain tall objects by accident. Say, when assaulted by an enemy or walking towards them at an angle.
~ Took me three quarters through to realize that shortcuts can be assigned to weapons; maybe automatically assign them when you pick up a weapon?
~ No designated floor map for the lab?
~ Erasing markings proves difficult for close together text… [interactive map]


https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2926457716

Last Words?
Masterful 1st-person survival horror that illuminates, encapsulates, and embodies what’s missing from today’s landscape. Ardent design. Tongue-in-cheek references. You almost condone its fading plot~

Shoutout to

Indie Gems,

for GEMME-ing a key! Follow them here right now for more well, y’know~

https://youtu.be/IWsrBUCEnfk


Here's The Thing:
You are “CLN-1”, though not for long as you’re one of many fellow clone colonists AND would-be-victims onboard the Yggdrasil Ark. Something- or someone, has woken you up from cryostasis and it’s on you to get your colony on the right course~



I’ll call it now, but no other aspect of Starless can match the caliber of enjoyment that its survival horror gameplay supplies! Essentially a top-down 2.5D version of Alien Isolation! The crisp & highly strategic action centers around you either sneaking past, hauling butt, breaking line of sight, or gunning down (yay) nasty foreign bodies as well as armed automatons. Furthermore, the randomly wandering threats can detect you both visually and audibly, so do be mindful of your clomping around!

The learning curve is quite daunting yet giddying, because you start out as good as naked what with you relying solely on your chicken legs. Steadily, however, you deck out that arsenal of teleporters, noisemakers, illumination devices, firearms, and traps… if you can uncover them. And while you do come into a range of electronics fairly quick, they are the lesser versions and therefore more unreliable; you may want to rethink using them or risk being weighed down. While devoid of puzzles, there are still obstacles to get around mostly in the form of your peskily draining energy bar shared by all your tech and timed switches.

The latter of which you must be within range of for 4-5 seconds to unlock ammunition, notes, and door mechanisms. Not unlike the insufferable wait of trying to save in Alien Isolation…! And speaking of, progress is saved constantly here and what that means is every blunder, which often results in death, will count towards the undesired outcome of jeopardizing your colonization mission! To be exact, you have 250 lives / colonists- I’ll let that sink in… 3 hours is what it took me to reach New Earth! Endings-wise, I’d say there are two in total, including outcomes branching of said two but with slight variations and some wrong ends~


TIPS:
1) Some gizmos can stun the enemies when timed *just* right!


The visuals are how I imagined an animated version of Alien would be like and it comes in a close second as to what makes Starless so attractive. There’s a clean and polished look to every element of the interface; the seamless visualization of the airlock pathways from within the shuttle, the live feed of vital indicators broadcasted to you after you dock, and even the text is of a neutral blue tone…

Despite us pretty much exploring its world in an obfuscated manner and never getting to see many close-ups of anything, save for when you awaken from anabiosis or death is but inches away; I kind of preferred it that way because some things can only be left to the imagination! In fact, and ironically enough, the game shines the brightest when you’re staggering in the dark corridors clinging onto your shambling memory!

Musically, not much to write Earth about, but there are a library of sci-fi sound effects including those of a phaser, beep-boop, whirring machinery, growls, and many more! Most of which have unnerving echoes that freeze you for a split screen while they scramble and rattle your lizard brain. I have a faint suspicion of there being a full-blown OST, but they’re on the muted region and in-keeping to the background~


Ok, approaching uncharted and spotty territory here, but I must first point out that I can see the vision with which this game set out to be. A story vastly inspired by several Alien films, paying homage to them, but one which made the hearty decision to strike out on its own- even if it doesn’t know exactly where it is that it’s heading or how to handle everything it’s got.

The scariest thing about it is that a significant chunk of the series of events which led up to the explosion remained a giant blur by the end! But also, while the “alien organisms” pose great danger, the biggest danger of all originated pre-outbreak… or so it goes, I mean we don’t even know much of these creatures to begin with. Given time, the 250 lives become a mere statistic in the probability of the colony’s survival~

https://youtu.be/x2bauhq9s5k



Gameplay grievances include, firstly, how the threats have 20-20 vision and can react to the sight of you just as well in overpowering darkness as they do in normal room lighting…! I suppose it could be seen as a testament of the creatures’ excellent eyesight, but it presents an unfair and aggravating advantage over you!

Furthermore, sounds played pivotal roles in Alien Isolation, making all the difference between an early death and a delayed one. But the xenos here didn’t really make all that much noise, much to the detriment of what could’ve been one of their extra charms; and, again, turns the darker sections into zones of senseless demises!

I wasn’t fond of how the motion tracker or wall detector were equipped at all times and automatically in use, sapping your already very precious energy reserves. I would rather have them be switched on-off at the flick of a designated key~
https://youtu.be/pxUOUaxQ4bA


On the matter of “plot”, Predator and Wreck immediately comes to mind, for it too was deeply bewitched by the Alien franchise and ended up falling short. Both artificially created these situations that are nothing but caricatures and simulations of the “Alien (1979)” experience, except this one did it slightly better, not to forget engaging!

But between fitting in as many references to Alien whether they be passing mentions or in-your-face about them; the unnecessarily convoluted and riddled-with-holes story doesn’t simply take a backseat, it establishes a whole settlement there! No lie, the “endings” amount to just a sketch of a scenery and a few sentences (which we already know) then boom back to main menu! Yet they expect us to play this multiple times!?


As much as the three Arks were well-designed and differentiated, it became rapidly and abundantly clear to me that they were more “levels” in design as opposed to proper level design, and didn’t make an ounce of sense in terms of layout…

While the horror initially stemmed from the creatures, that soon gets worn out due to how boring they were, and with no staying traits or quirky behavior whatsoever… They just goofy! Displaced purely by a fear of progress loss instead, becoming a very mechanical cat-and-mouse without any elements of real surprise anymore~


x Holding two directional keys will make you run in place!
x The xenomorphs (let’s be real) will end chases by themselves because of their AI.


~ The absence of an options menu makes me depressed…
~ Note-reading becomes disabled when piloting the shuttle?
~ Tasered enemies will go rabid and seek you out even when you’re in-hiding!?


Last Words?
Ultimate Alien fanservice, at least in terms of steely gameplay & appetizing visuals. They say stars align, but not the case here, as there weren’t many to begin with. Also, the story is a black hole~

Shoutout to

Indie Gems,

for GEMME-ing a key! Follow them here right now for more well, y’know~

https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2918340203

Here's The Thing:
You step into the part of Henry, who is cruising down the highway about to let off some steam away from the clutches of your parents! When suddenly… your car breaks down- but luckily a good Samaritan stops to help you, and lo behold; a mechanic! He offers to tow your car to his lovely home of Tucker Farm, and asks that you fix up his wardrobe while he works on the vehicle. And they lived happily ever after! The end… of you~



Handles and pans out very similarly to Tomás’ last title The Night of The Scissors (NOTS) with the ensemble of 3rd-person, partially fixed camera angles, and outrunning a killer while totally defenseless! But not identical for there are limited inventory spaces, even more scarce VHS tapes for you to save your progress, a toolbox to act as your storage, and a giving stamina bar to always keep at the back of your mind as you flail your limbs about praying not to bump into a wall…

There are more mini obstacles to overcome like locating keys as well as other important items or figuring out how to get around the house efficiently; all of which require a keen eye and curious mind! Of course, there’s also the elephant in the house- a sack headed psycho wielding a cleaver(?) who will trip you up with his relentless and almost scripted appearances!

Your time with the farmily will be brief, at just about two hours minimum, but it will be long-lasting racking you some therapy bills… I’m just pulling your leg, well, a leg! Two endings await you at the finish line and there’s a hard mode just because so your stay could extend to three hours, tops~


Uhuhu here comes my favorite part- I was just gushing all over the visuals of this game! Why? Isn’t it obvious, it is THE Sawyer house in grim and glorious spiritual successor fashion. As you strut down the hallway and steps, you start replaying scenes from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre series in your head, because how could you not; so, you are really only setting yourself up for the worst anticipatory moments that may or may not come true…!

I absolutely adore and dreaded how the areas all connected with one another like a farm pen. Each of which tell a frightening tale of their own, and is far from being just a plain ol’ “room”. The tightening foyer overlooked by a voyeuristically punitive top-down perspective, the basement with its already palpable and preconceived notions, which serve to only cripple you with fear before swallowing you whole, a dining room that eats away at you until you want no more, and then some.

This time around there is a fleshier and more succulent score, which may at first give off extremely “random” if not foreign track choices and instill hesitance on your part; when really it makes perfect sense. The “spotted by the killer” alert accompanied by a pained groan-moan never fails to pierce my eardrums, jelly my legs, and shatter my spine…


Reading up to this point, you’re probably thinking… okay, the story is a Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) “clone” and you’d be dead wrong! Sure, it does indeed dice some bits, I’m talking just a faint caricature of the premise, it draws further inspiration instead from Resident Evil 7’s Baker Family in terms of behavior and self-control, before then segueing somewhere far away to something unexpected! The film Nailbiter (2013) also comes to mind, actually. For that, it’s a pretty original & shocking take despite the initial TCM-derived plot!

I marveled at the fact that it entirely stomped over my predictions- it’s a rare feat for a game! Think of Cannibal Abduction (CA) as ripping off and bearing Leatherface’s mug, but proceeds to go about its personal business. At the same time, it always pays proper tribute to its idol while being 100% comfortable in its own skin! That’s largely missing from a bunch of its peers that disproportionately and stubbornly put their eggs in just the basket marked “nostalgia not copy-cat” alone~


Just like NOTS, a great deal of the horror comes from the central antagonist’s traits! Whereas previously it was triggered by a pair of scissors snipping away excitedly; here you are given a heads up of a few seconds (and sometimes none whatsoever) before you’re ambushed…! It’s the “stealthy giant” trope and I delighted at that realization, come on, the 1974 Leatherface did that remarkably what with his suddenness and bashing the head of his victims in before they even have a fraction of a moment to blink!

If you’re lucky- I mean cautious, you will pick up on the killer treading lightly and so you promptly plot out an escape route or hide accordingly. More often than not, you will be startled and jumpy- frequently too I might add. The developer’s achieved something phenomenal here because the killer AI doesn’t just aimlessly patrol the house, he does so with intent and conviction, which led me to even believe his encounters are scripted… aren’t they!? You could rely on the amount of onscreen static, but they failed me several times and I lost my head when I walked in a room. Props as well for giving players a grace period when it comes to tension, properly building atmosphere before sicking a bloodthirsty wacko on them!

That, and getting acquainted with the baddies were completely absent in NOTS! When it comes to endings- both NOTS and now CA prove the creator likes himself some unresolvedness and ones that are simultaneously bittersweet; TCM is a fan of that too, and I think so do I! Lastly, just like the movies, CA is a stark reminder that perhaps it’s okay to not be so trusting and accepting help from people you don’t know that well, or at all, now that I think back on it! But it’s too late for that lesson now, innit~
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2918339125



This one is a mixed bag of issues. The first is that of the killer who, as I’ve said was so light on his feet, he’ll put a cat to shame! It’s almost as if he just gets teleported around the house. Now, I could picture a few players raging over this- but not me, I liked that it was reminiscent of signature Leatherface; plus, it kept me on my toes. Secondly, I dunno why it bothered me but it did… the voice acting is only available in the opening and ending cutscenes. In that case, you might as well not have them at all?

Lastly, there’s a possibility that hell will be given towards one of the puzzles whose mechanism displays the same text “I wonder if that did anything” whether you did it right or not. The resulting thing that gets unlocked from said interaction was also amateurly hinted at causing me to replay the end several times~


x Sprinting into a closet will have you sprinting out as well… only occurs sometimes.


~ The differences between “Normal” & “hard” difficulty are quite negligible… The former should be more forgiving.


https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2918341832

Last Words?
While it may wear the face of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, it carves and pummels its own brutal path…! A threateningly towering presence populated by silence & disgust throughout. Will RIB you a new one~

https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2917300160

Here's The Thing:
You assume the role of the unknown and disposable relative of the deceased, I mean, considering you show up much later than the rest of the attendants… You pay your respects to dear ol' Aunt "what's her face" for a bit before deciding it’s time to go; but then the door slams shut! Unexplainable things begin to take place, and you exclaim “so long as it’s not my place”. Now, can you go find a way out of death?



It’s impossible to talk about this title without first bringing up the dev’s debut Undiscovered House which practically boasts the exact same formula as well as progression of jumpscares + mild puzzles. Unlike that game, however, which succumbed to an early grave for being an empty & unjustifiable title (but which has since been heavily patched, albeit much too late if you ask me…) whose payoff wasn’t worth the time.

This time, it took on a more moderate approach by highlighting the scary parts that worked very well the first time around despite still making identical mistakes... more on that later. The scares hit hard and will literally wake even the dead, with some mad interesting setups that you may have seen before, but still worth the price of admission! The Funeral should last about an hour of your lifespan, tops, and with but one canonical ending~


A round of applause to the dev for sporting some mighty fine original assets, which truly do add to the significance of and ambiance behind the funeral home setting! While it’s a shame the first stage wasn’t longer, at least the amount of screentime allotted to each of the four levels are about the same. The highlight for me would be either the, again, dreadfully painful reminder of fleetingness that is the funeral parlor or the frailty that is the human body mirrored in the dusky mine shaft!

The sound design is a bit of a misnomer because as much as you picture death to be like loud and in-your-face; which it does, but only when it needs to be a.k.a. the jumpscares! Most of the time, it opts for quasi-quietness instead, almost as if drowned out… unless the default audio slider was simply set to low. Even then, I’m convinced it was a design choice~
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2917300608


The story is certainly… umm, unique? This is usually the part where I handpick a couple of parallels from both film & game media but I’m at an utter loss for words! The best and closest (but even then I’m pushing the envelope) I can do is The Corpse of Anna Fritz (2015) and The Mortuary Assistant (2022) buried hand-in-hand! It presents its own brand of unnecessarily complex storytelling with excessive room for you to theorize that I am not real big on… It was much worse in Undiscovered House (2021), so there’s a silver lining!

What is the most harrowing part about Funeral? It’d have to be the incongruity between the store page and the final product. Oh, and I mean that in a good way! The former gives off the impression of a psychological horror playing out supernaturally; but it wasn’t… not really? I don’t even know at this point. Death is a certainty, that we know, but it’s ever shrouded in mystery~



I guess it’s true what they say- death really is just endless black… This isn’t merely a dig just at this game alone, rather it’s directed to the horror genre in general! Seriously, cut it out people, or are some of you actually bats?! But yes, back to the task at hand; it can get unbelievably dark when you’re expected to go rooting around for teeny tiny objects! Were they going for scary or just conjuring up ways to torture-irritate the players?


Believe it or not, I’ve never faulted a game for a particular sequence, I tend to isolate and target a con only when a pattern of similar flaws gets exhibited, and it’s when there’s enough of it that I do declare “you’re on my list”… However, to have the entire final act (lava area) miss the mark completely is a rarity! You get to have a lay of the land during what suddenly becomes an odd and mini-platforming segment, whereby stepping on the molten spots amount to an instant kill! That and factor in the testily spaced checkpoints as well as a bunch of jogging around; snooze fest!

And the thing that truly MAGMA blood boil!? There’s this one cue near the end that tells you to “run”, so you must be thinking that naturally you’d head *AWAY* from the danger, right? Nope- you’re supposed to push past the three floating burning skulls. What happened was I took the three assailants with me on a joyride that lasted 10 minutes, back to the starting point, and then watched as they awkwardly pursue me… I blame it on poor player direction! Also, you are invincible to the threats anyways (I think they weren’t really programmed to do anything), so I don’t get the whole appeal of that one section… at all!

Finally, the “unresolved” vibes and feelings of great ambiguity to the ending was a massive letdown. The voiced character anti-climatically turns into a mute by the end, when really, she should’ve explained what the frig just went down! The fact that the game saves progress level by level does nothing to ease your triggered state- so, unless you were recording the session or streaming, you must replay the level to see that cutscene again. Honestly, I’d rather go to hell~


I see that I am not alone on this, where the items have this annoying tendency to “vanish” when they’re actually there…? And with the already scathing darkness in certain locations, you’ll think that your mind is playing tricks on you! Or, you’re going crazy!? Both fun options. Furthermore, I think there were a fair number of instances where the game wasn’t properly optimized.

But take what I, someone with a potato and not at all familiar on the tech lingo, say with a grain of sodium! It’s either (a) because of the awful graphic presets, like even on “medium”, the FOV becomes super spotty; on “high” the textures pop in, pop out, and objects stutter. OR (b) the dev forgot to put down all the programming and that’s why we see glimpses of different iterations to the same scene at times~


x Prompt to pick up object appears well before you open the drawer.
x “Key required” text shows even after unlocked!
x Funny chase + encounter in the last level.

~ Underutilized voiceover, I forgot it was present! I know loads of horror titles do the “bare minimal” approach too, but here, its absence is like a looming shadow.
~ Unflattering menu.
~ Limited options.


https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2917300957

Last Words?
Greatly improves upon its predecessor, yet at times seems to be holding a funeral for itself, know what I mean? Story proves to be a challenge still but deadly jumpscares really make you feel alive~

https://youtu.be/Z-Niyo4F1AA

Here's The Thing:
A recent breakup led you, Sophie McAdams, to rediscover yourself and try out new things! Fortunately, Island Outlast, that groundbreaking yet relatively foreign reality game show is hiring new cast members… to survive? Or was it to be the last eligible bachelor-bachelorette?? Point is, peoples’ hearts will be eaten out one way or another~


Couldn’t reach the end because of a missing event, and after I relayed the issue to the dev- my progress regressed! Too worn out to replay the whole thing…



Have you ever pictured how Dying Light would be like as a 2D side scroller? Well, with Project:Solace you don’t have to do much imagining- because that’s precisely what it is! It takes the open world formula from those titles, alongside their slew of side quests, condensing and flattening them to a fine powder of designated levels that you frequent for farming supplies such as ammunition, junk (currency), food stuffs, and whatnot.

While it may be much smaller in scale and arguably more linear, the game distracts you off that reality by nudging you to backtrack just the right amount to open a door you had no means earlier on, help out a wayward survivor or two whom may be in a bind, learning of the island’s secrets, and taking the plunge by undertaking sudden death game modes for great rewards! See? It really is Dead Island, just with the graphics cranked way low and the combat simplified to a few swipes!

That said, it slipped in an unexpected amount of shrewdness by having upgrade benches and crafting systems, the kind you’d find in The Last of Us! The insane verticality to both the games mentioned is replaced by an illusorily challenge-free platforming. So, if you really think about it, you’re not really missing out on a lot; it’s an earnest budget stand-in for the AAA zombie games! A completionist fight for survival should last roughly 5 hours~


The pixel art is one of the most ravishing I’ve ever seen in the minimalist sense! Equally breathtaking regardless of character sprites or environments… The latter featuring so many rapid yet timely backdrop changes, although they were the few usual suspects; a dusky cave, snowy mountain, idyllic forest, run-down city, relaxing beach, and so on.

Game gets away with them too because of its theatricality & artificiality. Oops, I’ve said too much! Props simply must be handed to the dev as well for the impeccably mundane sound design with an assortment of effects and utterances that don’t ever miss a beat! The tracks fit like a glove, being rousing but never overpowering your senses~

https://youtu.be/OD-KR06xqAk

Just want to preface this pro by posing to you a SINGLE question- how differently can you frame a zombie-based plot? I mean, like, especially in this day and age…!? I gave it a break because of how fun it wound up being! I for one, dug the Wrong Turn 2 clashes with the Dawn of The Dead (2004) from the initial promise of a lucrative, if not entertaining reality show.

To slowly getting acquainted with the relatively diverse ensemble, each having their respective surprisingly well thought out backstories (if they live to see the day that is), before they’re then thrust into the ultimate test of endurance. The so-called background to the “project” is all on there, stashed on PC terminals behind locked doors, but I wasn’t as invested in them. Nevertheless, glad to know a dev doesn’t skimp on details for once~


The scariest parts can be divided into two main stages. Starting with the disconcerting red flags in the beginning of participating in- or rather, putting into writing even, something you’re NOT clear on the details just cause you jumped at the mention of “cash prizes”! People still get easily scammed to this day, so is that terrifying or what!!?

And ending with two lessons that you learn in pretty much every game/movie that has zombies in it, but somehow conveniently forget at every turn! (1) People are expendable; as in skills can be picked up fairly easily. (2) Not everyone will make it… Shocking, I know- I’ll give you a moment. My mistake, actually they can, but good luck with that~



In every level, there’s almost a guarantee, whereby at least one or at most two specific spots in a particular area will give Sophie a hard time… Either the edge of the floor will give way just a fraction of a second earlier than indicated (whereas the floor hadn't really ended yet, visually) and she falls to receive damage; OR, she will get sucked in to a certain surface, and her character sprite locked in a freefall animation… This caused me to have to big brain energy scenarios and question every single one of her next move, and subsequent footing. It’s bad enough resources are already scarce, but I can’t even trust the terrain- which will often times mean the difference between life and death!? Poppycock!

Call me crazy, or maybe it’s a cognitive bias spurned on by me having lost virtually all of my survivors… BUT, does Sophie’s (or any of the other survivor's for that matter) reach improve and her hits connect better when she’s facing the right side? I realize this is gonna sound like me being a total baby about dying tons, and possible can’t accept that I suck at the game, but I just had to mention it~


Here’s where I just lost it, no ifs or buts about it! The mechanics of the game- slippery slope I know, don’t make a shred of sense…! For instance, the shared health pool between survivors for the individual assignments, like, what even is that!? How does one survivor succumbing to mortality equate to critical health for the next one that you select to step up and undertake the task!? It’s an annoyance, and let’s not forget ludicrous handicap, is what that was; compelling you to revisit previous locations to grind for supplies that have low to below average drop rates.

The other is the aiming (for guns) which is just counterintuitive in every way possible. You simply face forward and pray for the best… really!? Hope that the shot in which you eyeballed does not just fly past the enemies and miss them by a hair! You can’t manipulate the angle whatsoever, not even a little bit, and it’s just like if you have a full body cast on~


x Infinite item drop from the swarmers… Just leave and re-enter the area.
x Crashed when I tried to revisit one of the labs!
x It’s possible to get softlocked during the very first upgrade.
x Stuck in the uneven terrain.
x Invisible wall from where a metal block USED to be!
x Some enemies drop to their death when they reach the edge, but others will levitate!!


~ The control scheme is absolute trash! And they cannot be remapped…
~ Your shield could be fully recharged from when you last save the game- but reload, and it’ll be drained!
~ More than a few prominent misspellings.
~ Game has you bond with survivors, but when one dies... everyone be like "WHO DAT"?


https://youtu.be/IltQWQ5raIE

Last Words?
Gifted horror side scroller never got its spot in the limelight with its finicky platforming & unaired grievances… But peek behind the curtain- you just might be wowed by this truly indie project~

Here's The Thing:
Take on the role of “You”, one of two lighthouse keepers, and work toward getting that light back on! Or rather, that’s what the game would have had you do if your partner John did not spot a ship that inexplicably appeared from the fog. Overnight attempts to get in contact with the crew have either fallen on deaf ears or worse…! It’s up to you to find out~



There I was, just about ready to roll my eyes- since I rarely, if ever, check out the trailer before playing a game. It seemed to be yet another No One Lives Under The Lighthouse (NOUL) replica… but I was wrong, kinda, so yay! It gradually makes way for a 1st-person survival horror to take its place! In fact, it's remarkably similar to Resident Evil, except combat is entirely voluntary- and only if you can find the firearm stashed away somewhere!

What you’ll do for 85% (or as I’ve said, 100%) of the game is the survival bit; chuck bottles full of whiskey at enemies to intoxicate, I mean- stun or interrupt their actions, memorize locations in order to navigate a creaky ship without a map, solve a few decent intuitive puzzles, and don’t get cornered/whipped to death! Not gonna lie, I was fearing for my life as I was one big hapless and lost infant, what with being dogged around and I felt as though I didn’t have a moment to gather my mental faculties… but it’ll pass!

Two hours of sniveling, panting, and eurekas later, you’ll be greeted by two outcomes at the end of your voyage. One of them will be bad and the other good; not that it will matter once you see your result screen! Tell me, how do you beat a game and still get a “F” ranking, that’s what I want to know~
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2909884858

I actually have a major row with the spotty visual style and too-itty-bitty pixels that looks as if a squid exploded all up in my face… But I’ll push through for now- because it is every bit as distinctive as it is obscured. Unless the gunk got to me too, I didn’t see a credits screen listing the assets used, hence that must mean original assets baby! Let’s see, there was the solitary and misunderstood lighthouse in the very beginning, a warm homely cabin, a giant water vessel surrounded by fog, mystique and who knows what else!?

Don’t even get me started on the insides of the beast, or a whole mess of stomach-churning darkness will spill out and envelope you, squeezy intestines for walls, and the creatures that lurk within… well somewhere. Also, don’t mistake the at first ambient sound design to be any indicator of mercifulness! Once you get on board, it’s “hello nautical mystery”, “welcome horrors from within the deep”, and a staple-sounding yet coaxing save room theme. But you already knew that~


If you fancy a truly Lovecraftian plot that embarked as your stereotypically eerie seafaring plight, then you’ve come to be dead in the water at the right place! It’s only partially roused by NOUL, and more reminiscent of Endless Dogwatch actually. But I guess that little comparison doesn’t really help anyone- good, just how I intended it! Just know that the events, the predicaments, and the pitfalls were set into motion long before you got involved… or was it after? I’m all loaded with booze~


The scariest part of this game? It’d have to be the introduction segment where you trade off death by boredom to another unknown kind… I’m not so clear on the job description of a lighthouse keeper and whether it entails going off to the rescue of ships- I reckon it does, and that’s why I salute this individual who risks his life in the line of duty! If it were actually me, I think I would’ve been a deserter!

The horror doesn’t end there though, the ship itself is crawling with those mollusk-like beings out for your blood, or other nefarious purposes. The way they dash after you the moment their gaze comes upon you! Shaking them off takes real know-how, otherwise they could just as easily overpower and outnumber you…

Lastly, the ending itself leaves an affective afternote, for what is to become of the leftovers that are the now-mindless, but presumably were the previous crew? Won’t you be unleashing more suffering on whichever port it is you’d dastardly land? That, and God knows what else that you haven’t run into in the ship’s hold… since it's ever so colossal! There’s just as much known as there is unknown, that fact will keep me awake a few nights~
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2909883755



This con eviscerates the game for its shallow combat, which I’m sure was the point. But when translated to a game, it transforms into a predefined experience with no wriggle room whatsoever for experimentation! There are many instances where you’re not rewarded for your ingenuity, with the most transparent being, the whiskey bottles; when tossed, they stop the squirmy creatures for what- 2 seconds? You can’t even pass through the enemies during this stun, and sometimes their interrupted attacks connect anyway!

It's only later on that you find out they’re supposed to be used alongside the flare gun for maximum lethal effect, but chances are you already drunk yourself to death… literally! You can’t douse multiple enemies with a single bottle even though they’re clumped together, AND you can’t line them up to take them down with a single flare. I get it, I’m expecting too much for $4 bucks. Heck, I’d even accept just being able to throw the bottles at their feet to make them slip, or lose their balance to give me time to escape!


I touched on the visuals briefly, but it’s very blurry, even by pixel art/PS1 standards… more like a filter whose goal is to impede your vision! No settings to speak of, to even tone it down, or anything really- neither brightness nor sound, not even a tinge! The enemy animations are very restricted and for some reason, the damage dealt to you vary considerably~
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2909886556

x An enemy stuck in the environment, I think? Or just a cool & menacing “bug”.
x Don’t hold “shift” after you leave an area- you’ll be trapped in invisible walls until you let go of it.
x Reloading to an earlier save after solving certain puzzles will cause them to not get reset (which made “speedrunner” achievement possible in 1 playthrough).
x Game randomly crashes 50% of the time… But only during launch; never during any other point.


~ “Ending 2” could use more direction and context. You’re just expected to know what to do…
~ Some typos “sabatoge” and a few others I can’t recall.
~ No disclaimers as to what each difficulty poses to you!
~ Font style is a head-twister!



Last Words?
For something with no name, sure is a notably familiar survival horror! An unexpected find not free of its stalls in appearances & performances… And yet it still triumphed in making a name for itself~

Here's The Thing:
You first play as ??, who is en route with his partners to a crime scene that was radioed in. You are reluctant, but your teammates and their macho games, choose to investigate the sus graveyard instead. 48 hours later, you play as Rachel, who must clean up the mess you get from disobeying a direct order~


(1) I was very excited to play this, but I knew something was up when the devs first delayed the game by months, AND kept radio silence on their progress. (2) I gave them two weeks to fix things, but the game is still as broken and in a sorry state as before. (3), I’m convinced most of the reviews were bought or unreasonable; this game shouldn’t have gotten a “very positive” rating. Only the negative reviews (mine included) + a minority of the positives + those who finished it, tell the whole truth~



To call it gameplay would be a disservice to games out there, but I must label it something! It’s a very bare-bones 3rd person survival horror, the likes of RE Operation Raccoon City, only worse… but we’ll get to that! Anyway, the shooter parts are functional albeit simplistic; literally all you do is grab some guns, outflank zombies, bang a few times, reload said guns, and chase down objective markers.

Now the parts I liked- you can sprint forwards & backwards as you aimed down sight, that was something, and it suited the action which could get rather frenetic! It came off like a so-good-it’s-bad (but really it’s just bad) b-movie that was very rigid in its pacing. There was also… its brevity, although believe me, it felt longer than it actually was. Not much else to point out, except it’s a one-off experience that should last upwards of 2.5 hours and with no new game+ or anything of that sort. Praise the higher power for that~

TIPS:
1) Holster your gun first before picking up things and doing other stuff.


When it comes to visuals, I’ve never been really picky but- with the exception of the environments and iffy textures, it fared pretty well especially for a b-game! A handful of location changes, snazzy cutscenes to hold your gaze, and… yeah! Sure, some character models look ridiculously alike and you go through the same few enemies quicker than overnight pizza. However, it never occurred to me that I should gouge my eyes out or anything as a result of them. I mean, the rest of the game took care of that!

The team makes no attempt to hide their fanaticism of Resident Evil; a character looks like Raymond from Revelations, three others were named after people from that series, and the story oozes of the 2002 live action movie but also The Evil Within in plot structure! The “zombieness” screams The Walking Dead and The Last of Us. That said, the premise itself is novel-ish, not that it has much to say~



It sounds as if I’m faulting this title due to its overreliance on cutscenes & loading screens (CLS), but it’s mainly directed at its cunning snail-paced intro where nothing worthwhile happens. Playing out like a drawn-out movie, only they have you control the character just for the sake of having even the slightest feel of agency… with the actual gameplay only popping off 40-50 minutes in.

It would’ve been fine if it’s confined to just the start, but these “non-game sections” are scattered across its whole length. Often requiring little to no input besides picking up a single item, talking to ONE person or killing one/two enemy; before another CLS takes over! So, my god, why!? I’ll tell you why, it knows that if it showcased its meatier bits early on, nobody would stick around... It’s no coincidence that the progression goes from “polished af” to, “chipped-off polish”, and finally "no polish whatsoever"~
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2908267873


The gunplay is in desperate need of a massive overhaul, because what you aim at WON’T necessarily be what you fire at! Multiple enemies charge at you at the same time? Bullets ricochet everywhere except where you want it to land. These moments worsened by the jittery locomotion that is the whirlwind of frustration posed by the player character, hopped-up-on-sugar enemies, and uncooperative camera!

The mechanics are also all seemingly against you, what with there being no accurate health gauge, no quick weapon swap, prompting comes and goes, and how the game cannot tell apart headshots from grazes by treating them the same yet indiscernible…
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2908265939


This next one is a conglomerate of cons, the first being the environments, which was varied and rosy up until the budget depleted. Then sections of the very same underground lab-prison were cut-and-pasted to disastrous effect becoming one giant unrecognizable mess!

The voice-acting wasn’t too terrible- if you’re hearing-impaired that is. The weirdest part? The more capable voice talents took on secondary roles; whereas the leads either got stuck with thick accents or not knowing which words to enunciate. It’s possible the team badly spliced together lines to fit the animations of the lips. Super funny overall, until you must relive certain conversations over and over…

This adaptation of the notorious Russian Sleep Experiment lasted approximately 5 minutes and two exposition bombs, with the rest of the game simply existing so you have something to “survive”! I’m already dreading as to how the sequel will hope to pick things up~


I don’t usually factor bugs in the scoring, but I don’t see any way around it for this title. Half the time, the bugs are either game-breaking, which amounts to restarting a past checkpoint, or aggravating to the highest degree that you just want to self-lobotomize.

Let’s face facts, it’ll take a saint to get through this without spamming-pounding on the “E” key, and making fists as you puff out red smoke… The audacity of the devs to originally price this at 20+ bucks (now ¼ of that) when it wasn’t even playtested is the biggest crime here~


x Many times where I just up-and-died for no reason…
x Catapulted out of a moving elevator. RIP. Restart!
x Interaction prompts don’t work. Spam and pray they trigger.
x Limbs and entire bodies of dead undead flagellate.
x Philip(?) will get stuck (becoming unavailable to help you) somewhere if you backtrack.
x Some parts/enemies weren’t even programmed?
x Enemies (and player character) can climb the most ridiculous things if you press space.
x Bathroom stall limbo.
x Various instances of full-on floating objects, partially touching ones, and textures caressing each other.
x The rest can be found in the comments~


~ More saves needed.
~ Typos in the subtitles; even the “to be continieu”. Some Russian text left untranslated.
~ AI-controlled partners all walk in the same way & rhythm.
~ Some objects’ prompts and icons get reused.
~ Gun gets holstered when you drop a few feet.
~ Missing sound effects.
~ Ammo reserves text competes with the closed captions.
~ Crouch delay.


https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2908269831

Last Words?
Survival horror that’s more b-movie zombie flick interspersed with morsels of interactivity. Fun got shot early on, story left for dead by the middle, and the end- everything about it was below par~

https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2901310735

Here's The Thing:
You are just plain old you, who must have dozed off in front of the tv, seeing as you were rudely awakened by a thump coming from upstairs. Your pet kiwi, Santiago, pushes you to check it out and so you did! What do you find!!? A wizard who has been transformed into a frog, and I hope you at least had your morning coffee or afternoon siesta because you’re about to be taken for a ride~



The goal is straightforward, whereby you must help a frog gather the necessary ingredients, or so he claims, in order to concoct a potion which turns him back into a wizard! You’ll swap pleasantries and off-kilter remarks, before dispatching you on short fetch quests with apt enough yet broad descriptions as to what he needs. Then once you got it, or you think you do; toss whatever you have right into the fizzling mystical cauldron and observe what happens!

It could be an undesirable effect, a jab at your intelligence or just pure comedy! If you’re unsure and don’t know how to feel about being ordered around by a creature you could just as easily turn into soup; then go talk to Santiago instead for some commentary, snide chatter and let’s call it advice… The potion brewing workshop shouldn’t take all that long, I’d say between 12 to 30+ minutes, what with give or take 3 endings, each of which will ultimately determine your callous and hapless fate~


I wasn’t bothered that I was trapped to only traipsing around the house and turning everything upside down, because not only did this fact hold an ironic significance, the house is a dreamboat; pretty, with no shortage of natural light, and homely top to bottom! The art style is evocative of the delightfully colorful 3D adventure platformers designed for kids, even though it’s not quite that, not even close…

The best part, for me, has got to be the version of the house at the end. The polar opposite to everything I described just a few lines ago! And who can forget to mention Diego, the insanely adorable and animated frog! The star of this lovely twisted show… Whom you can adorn with a stache, if that’s what you’re into. But really, all that’s missing is him strapping on a top hat and tuxedo, that’s what I’d do to make him even more irresistibly jaunty!

The air is filled with a contagiously chirpy tune from the get go that obviously nothing is out of the ordinary and it’s yet another beautiful day! However, a few wrong moves, you’ll watch it get torn apart bit by bit- with a creepy and paranoid-laced track to slither in and take its place… The little cheery and high-pitched sound effects to the interface nestled me like a babe wrapped in a security blanket until it didn’t~


At the risk of sounding like Seinfeld, it’s a story about nothing… well, I mean, it may as well be about nothing really! Because, as with the former, “nothing” can just as easily turn out to be everything! A mundane fetch quest wrapped into a search for meanings and answers. Hearing a frog go on and on about being wrongfully transformed into one harken me back to classic children’s books and that memory left a glimmer in my ageing eyes...

So, to then have it undergo dark twists and turns like it’s nothing out of the ordinary was, interesting, to say the least; and a psychopath at most! I have no idea how it managed, but it did, and leaving behind no holes as to why this fateful encounter took place. Like why certain animals that shouldn’t be speaking, actually spoke and as a matter of fact, carried entire conversations!

Typically, this section is where I mention movies that have plots resembling the reviewed game, but I’m blanking long and hard for this one… con-FROG-ingratulations! The closest I can do, and this would already be pushing it, Alice in Wonderland! To sum up, the story was magnificently well-crafted and not an afterthought, already more than I can say for most~


The horror in this game is not very discernible, because it’s intentionally locked away and its malice dressed as a wholesome family-friendly adventure. That which appears as if it’s always about five seconds away from churning out a moral for its story! However, it couldn’t be any further from that façade, and that scares me… similar to learning that your quiet friend at school can talk up a storm back home!

This brings me to the matter of “trust”, my second point; why we are so quick and ready to trust people, let alone chattering animals? Was it just because they asked us nicely!? Did you just so happen to be in a good mood at the day of being the recipient of said request?? OR maybe it’s because TBC…!?

Last but not least, it’s relatively effortless to just go along with something, you’ll find that your brain stops processing information, and your capacity to ask questions is banished to a pond somewhere! But can that even a good thing? Well, it really depends, for there is a very fine line between spontaneity & stupidity, and as it turns out that line is a frog’s tongue…
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2901311129



Really minute things that would have belonged in the “nitpicks” section but I gotta talk about something here! Firstly, the absence of a brightness slider means that it will either be just a tinge overexposed in the well-lit areas or be darker than what my future holds in the demonic realm. The latter also applies just about whenever the lights are left off…

The other thing which warrants a dishonorable mention is the controls, or more accurately lack thereof! No rebinding of keys made available, and yes I know how that sounds since there are literally three keys to work with. But still, having “E” as a magical elixir to interact, pick up and throw any objects on hand actually stirs more annoyances than on paper…!


x All eaten up by Diego, I think!


~ Not many options to tweak.
~ The openable drawers and cabinets serve no purpose.


https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2901311803

Last Words?
Not only was it fetching & free, it had me going on a mini sugar rush that’s anything but! Its unsuspecting plot, goofy mascots, and contrasting mood extremes are its greatest ingredients. Be-RIBBIT~

https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2898983879

Here's The Thing:
You are Thomas Chan, an average joe happily married to Zoey, who's away vacationing for reasons open to interpretation. During her absence, you develop enormous discomfort and misery. Your whole body immobilized and your eyes dart to movement in the corner. Like a waking dream, yet you’re 100% conscious as sinister beings approach your bed. What happens from there rests on you~


Let it be known that I was heavily involved when in comes to the proofreading, playtesting and feedbacking of the game, in the months leading to its release! However, I’m more than capable of reviewing it fairly, and I hope you'll be able to tell as much~



Gameplay is straight up your routine horror walking simulator where you get a flashlight, interact with a few things, locate keys, and pretty much get through the ordeal that may or may not leave you tossing and turning. Recent examples that bear this same formula include Born Into Fear, The Hotel, and Charon’s Staircase!

However, two exceptional characteristics to Sleep Paralysis (SP) have it stand out from its peers. Firstly, the limelight never strays away from the well-meaning story it conveys through narrations, recollections, and notes. So much so that the scares almost feel secondary… Secondly, its emphasis on choice, and of making the right call, yet it doesn’t come off that way? Instead, each feel like they do nothing but they contribute and correspond to the end you’ll arrive at! For instance, passing out when you’re exposed to too many stressors or making do with 1 light source!

Unless I’m mid-REM, in which case please pinch me, I would say that SP has about 2.5 hours’ worth of playtime with two outcomes. Both can be quickly attained too, thanks to the flexible save system. But I found that playing it from scratch a second time gave me insights and I noticed an immaculate amount of details that I hadn’t the first time around~


Brushing aside the fact that the assets were store-bought, if not we’d be at this all day… And just focus on how imaginatively utilized everything was! The independent levels didn’t appear as such, as each had a mini arc to shed light on with some overlapping fragments.. of what? You tell me! There’s the dingy warehouse with many sets of eyes from a movie that Thomas watched; the butt sore of a plane ride with its bumpiness and dipping brightness, which changed his outlook on life; a dungeon with “subjugation” written all over its brick walls and pockets of darkness, and then some more I’m not gonna spoil. Point is, each area stood for something decisive!

I envied Thomas’ home, which acted as the anchor point and place of solace, when conscious anyway… Not much to elaborate on the scoring, for it sounded like standard filler music which was arranged to PS’ advantage. Selected tracks mainly oscillated between three contrasting but supplementing moods, namely the untroubled calming lullaby. Then the unnervingly mysterious and relaxing or as I like to call it “research phase” music sets in! Before finally, a full-on ominous ensemble filled with strings and hisses encroaching the foot of your bed~


The half-educational and fully horrifying plot easily takes the cake if you're assessing its hottest selling point. Why? Well, horror games that revolve entirely around “sleep paralyses” are few and far between, with it being more of an established thing acted out in films. Regardless of being explicitly cited in Mara (2018) or loosely hinted at à la A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).

Tons of said films go wrong in the ceaseless shifts in perspective, something SP never breaks character and therefore more personal, as it should be. The rate in which the events progressed was remarkable, with the protagonist first utterly foreign to the affliction before proceeding to dread when the next one triggers. It’s imperative to note that SP movies typically resolve themselves by going the one route (I won’t reveal what). But SP explores all equally believable and plausible options, with a wickedly inspirational moral that’s more often than not sappy when said aloud, but not this time~


My first ever SP episode befell me when I was overseas in the UK. I was riddled with anxiety as it’s the only other country I’ve ever visited much less lived alone for the first time. Twas a night like any other and funnily enough, I didn’t have any dreams in the 4 months I was there… Then it came to me one night-

So sure that I was awake, since my eyes were wide open, but something was off. I couldn’t budge, my body tighter than usual and it hit me- someone’s(?) arms had been wrapped around me, hugging me and I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t turn to see who it was, but I could feel them excitedly and heavily panting down my neck! By that point, I was even sure that an intruder had broken in my room and was violating a drugged & helpless me. I cried until I came to, and I woke up screaming bloody murder.

Why I went to the trouble of painstakingly recounting my personal experience, is precisely because SP captured that “trapped between two states” so effectively; was it a dream or reality? Was I awake or asleep!? Since the environment you’re forced to witness is 100% identical to your bedroom, you won’t be able to tell… apart from the extra animate being lurking.

What’s most traumatizing is that the developer really hit the books in order to give the scares real weight by including actual symptoms as prevalently seen and documented amongst SP sufferers! It’s still a question mark as to why SPs occur in real life, but they’ve been associated with underlying mental illnesses, stress, and taking certain substances; which, once again, persuasively inserted into SP as well!
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2898984913


The most visible flaw would have to be its non-mainstream approach to horror, and by that, I’m referring to the dev’s insurmountable exercising of self-restraint in scaring the bejesus out of you! With moments where you have to "read into" stuff yourself, instead of having your work cut out! In the spirit of capturing the way we dream; you navigate this vague world while not wholly lucid of what you encounter and whether your actions even matter...

They're part of SP’s intellectual charms but also hint at the skill level of a still fresh-faced developer. The latter of which encompasses examples like stuttering objects, lack of animations, and mobility qualms. Which too could work in its favor by giving off restless vibes, so I’m wavering~


x New ones emerge; I’ve caught & relayed most!


~ Mistimed sounds or overshot audible range.
~ Many things misinterpreted as bugs...


https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2898986417

Last Words?
A sleeper hit of a “health horror” debut! It may not conventionally rattle your bones, and some of it’s underwhelming… But the concept, disorder in which it is based on, suffices in enfeebling you~