DEATH PENALTY

Hard as hell! Chill out demons for reals. Sick and fun game 10/10

sure as hell isn't easy.

Just doing my part to help this game grow. I think that even if it follows a similar formula to another game and uses elements of other media (such as SCP), I cannot deny that the artstyle, alongside the incredibly foreboding music and sound design makes this an almost one of a kind experience you can't really get from any other horror game unless you dig deep. Similar to Fear & Hunger but to an even further extent imo; it is VERY punishing and adrenaline-pumping, you're very much incentivised to focus and pay close attention to your surroundings.

The edges have been clipped off...

Follow-up comment: Oh, I’ve completed the "Slaughter" ending in the full version! I killed about 80 enemies in my first run and around 70 in the second; I guess a total of 150 kills is required? The CGs in the full version are even cooler than in the demo! I ​​was initially worried that there were too few save points, but it turns out that after obtaining the recipe in the library, you can not only save at safe beds but also craft your own save items—specifically, the "Pink Blessing Scroll." You can also craft "Silver Blessing Scrolls" to use as currency at the shop; the shop sells a "Shop Card" for 2 copper coins to make future trips back and forth easier. It’s a shame, though, that they don't seem to offer a crystal that lets you learn a spell to cleanse all debuffs. The problem I'm facing now is that, having killed so many enemies, I can no longer examine or destroy corpses—doing so would immediately trigger the ending... I still wanted to explore further; it would be great if you could choose whether or not to proceed to the ending... Oh well, I think I'll take a break for now. -------------------------------------------- Follow-up comment: Wait, I think I’ve figured out why my character has a debuff after respawning. It’s because I destroyed a corpse and stepped on a gun trap before I died... Even though my previous character managed to heal themselves, the status effect applied by those events carried over to the new character. -------------------------------------------- Please excuse the use of machine translation. After actually playing the game, I found there are still many areas needing improvement and aspects that seem inconsistent with the intended design. I will outline them briefly below. Logically, upon the first death, the player should lose all items and respawn in a different area with a different appearance; however, in reality, the player sometimes suffers an immediate "Game Over"—for instance, when killed by 096 or Frank’s "dismemberment" attack. Furthermore, many debuffs persist after respawning, making subsequent exploration an uphill battle... I frequently achieved the "30-kill ending" in the demo, so I attempted to do the same in the full version. Although adjustments to enemies and items made it more difficult, I managed to eliminate all enemies—around 80 of them—before facing "DEATH," and then successfully defeated "DEATH." The Easter egg dialogue seems to assume the player used a Spell Card, yet simply using "Lethal Injection" on "DEATH's" head and surviving for two more turns is actually sufficient to kill it. I also noticed that after respawning, the character's stats remained high despite the loss of equipment; I am curious whether the stat growth gained from kills and corpse destruction carries over between different forms. I continued playing, and thanks to finding the Red and Yellow coins early on, I maintained an aggressive playstyle, hunting down demons. However, at one point during a battle—coinciding with a change in the combat music—the enemy's strength spiked to an absurd level. I went from easily decapitating enemies to being slower than them; my damage output was insufficient to even sever limbs, and I became extremely fragile. This seemed to happen after I had actually achieved 100 kills. I suspect a difficulty-scaling mechanism isn't functioning correctly... Consequently, I cannot continue with my current save file because I simply cannot defeat the enemies. Additionally, I noticed that at this stage, dying triggers a specific story sequence followed by a respawn; however, this didn't trigger when I was knocked down by a direct attack—it only activated when I died from damage-over-time (DOT) effects. Is this a bug? In summary, I am stepping away from the game for now to write this review, as these issues have significantly disrupted the gameplay experience. I hope the update improves these issues. Oh, by the way, I found the "Work of Obscuring" item in the library; it grants permanent stat boosts but doesn't get consumed. Is that a bug?

I was really looking forward to this game after playing the demo but it just isn't good. It seem to be inspired by Fear & Hunger which I took the time to learn and love but here the more I play the more it feel like I have to force myself to find any form of enjoyment. The only motivation is trying to see something new or reaching some kind of ending, conclusion or even lore to keep me hooked. I will try to keep everything as spoiler free as possible even if I mention specific things. Some QoL, bugs and (I can only assume) unintended situations make the game hell. Between getting stuck in a corner because two enemies chased you down and you have no choice but to fight or die. Even after killing one, you immediately get attacked by the second (Dead enemies leave a body that is an obstacle until destroyed. Escaping a battle will give you enough time to destroy said body but you will have to fight again right after, wasting ressources.) Getting stuck in a loop fighting the same "bell" ennemy until you either die and get a gameover or manage to survive. Some sounds seem absolutely random and a lot of them are very loud. Not mentioning the random jumpscare that I feel bring nothing special. Some enemies are just unfair and will one shot you because they not only play before you but all their attacks do half of your life. A lot of rooms are so packed with enemies than fighting almost all of them is inevitable and while it is doable, it is often not rewarding and for a game that seem to encourage sneaking around it just isn't actually based around that. (Enemies are deaf, they need direct line of sight in one of four cardinal direction to spot you. They are twice as fast as you no matter what so being seen mean you get into a fight.) Dying seem to just teleport you elsewhere until you die again and eventually you get a game over. The whole place is a total unsufferable maze. Everything look the same, there is enemies lurking absolutely everywhere. You have no objectives so you do not even have a single clue of where you should be heading. Not even a hint like "Go North" or "Find stairs." The status effects are interesting when it come to finding out what is used to cure each illnesses (Only based on the status image.) but it just feels like a chore when almost every enemy will inflict one until you heal it and your chance to dodge or counter-attack are slim. For a grimdark game it feels like some assets are out of places, some enemies faces are from creepypastas and it ruin the immersion for me while I love the art style.

like fear and hunger without the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ coinflip mechanic /10