[b]My score: 4.5/10
⭐ TL;DR:[/b] A clunky and visually unpleasant underwater “horror photography” game that wastes your time far more than it scares or intrigues you.
🟥 [b]NOTE:[/b] From what I understand, this game was made by a very small team in a very short amount of time as part of a competition. While I’m aware of the limitations that situation can bring, I also believe the game should have been polished further before release — yes, even if it’s free.
[h2]Overview[/h2]
When reviewing a free game, I’m usually fairly generous. When there’s no money involved, what I value the most is whether a game respects your time and actually feels worth playing, regardless of how long or short the experience is.
Blood Orange, unfortunately, is obnoxious from start to finish.
Officially, it’s a pixel-art, horror-themed underwater photography game. In practice, it’s a clunky mess with an extremely boring and eye-straining color palette, an inconsistent (and frankly ugly) art style, and a simplistic, cheesy narrative about coping with loss and depression.
Still, as I said earlier, I could forgive most of that if the game respected the player’s time. It really doesn’t.
The biggest offender for me was the protagonist’s movement: painfully slow, constantly interrupted by a bizarre “stumble” animation that forces the character into a couple of tiny unavoidable hops every few steps. I understand they were trying to simulate underwater movement, but it feels absolutely awful to control.
[h2]One Thing I Liked / One Thing I Didn’t[/h2]
✔️ [b]Liked:[/b] I’m honestly forcing myself to find something here. I guess the sound design is decent enough.
✖️ [b]Didn’t:[/b] For a photography game, there are only like 4-5 fish to photograph. Unfortunately, the awful plot quickly takes center stage instead.
[h2]Key Points[/h2]
[*][h3]DIFFICULTY:[/h3] It’s a complete snooze-fest.
[*][h3]PRESENTATION:[/h3] Everything is orange. EVERYTHING. (Except for one random blue door that looks ridiculous in contrast.) And this is a game set underwater. Who thought this was a good idea?
[*][h3]STORY:[/h3] A pretentious and trivial metaphor for depression. Because the protagonist [i]sinks into the depths[/i] of sadness, or something.
[*][h3]GAMEPLAY/GAMEPLAY LOOP:[/h3] Top-down exploration with occasional interactions and multiple-choice dialogue.
[*][h3]TECHNICAL POLISH:[/h3] I’ve read about a few minor bugs here and there, but personally I didn’t encounter any.
[*][h3]MONEYxCONTENT VALUE:[/h3] Sadly, it’s a pass from me. But hey, it’s free, so you might still want to give it a try regardless. There are also a couple of endings to unlock if you’re a completionist, which some players may see as added value. The game is still extremely short, though — in about an hour and a half you’ll have seen everything there is to see... in orange, of course.
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