Harthorn

Fun short (~2 hours) indie horror game. Not much combat except just one "boss".

This game is adventurous without being tedious. It was indeed spooky. I involuntarily yelped several times.

High production quality, but you wouldn't expect anything less from Vincent Lade. This is the game that' blew up on Youtube a few years back, and I can see why. It's very short, as in maybe 2.5 hours if you seriously take your time, but it doesn't overstay its welcome. The characters are likable and surprisingly well written. It's an enjoyable experience. I have only three things I can criticize the game for: 1) The encounters with the main villain are a joke. The dude can't even see your flashlight or hear you running. He's dramatically slower than you and he loses sight of and forgets about you in mere seconds, lol. I guess it's better than the game being too hard. 2) The main villain himself is a hilariously stupid villain. I don't know if this is on purpose or not, as the game probably isn't meant to be taken too seriously. But I still want to talk about it because it's funny. [spoiler] So, get this: he's locked in the school with the Main Character (MC), according to him, because the locks were changed recently. However, the villain seems to have teleportation powers (multiple times he appears and disappears in such a manner that can only be explained by something akin to teleportation abilities or super speed), and actually does have explosives. He doesn't blow himself a way out despite wanting to blow up the school using the explosives, nor does he teleport out. He instead breaks a window in the first floor girls bathroom, but chickens out of escaping apparently. I guess what must have been a 3 foot fall was just too much of a risk for him. This is when he discovers that the MC is in the building with him. He of course doesn't immediately attack the unarmed and physically inferior MC with his scythe, instead biding his time in wait for the perfect moment to strike. In his genius, the main villain then decides to wait in a supply closet so that he can bum rush the MC in the off chance that the MC goes in there. The MC does, of course, go in the supply closet in order for the story to progress. Once the MC is successfully body slammed into the ground and knocked out cold, the villain throws the MC on a chair and talked down to him. He leaves the MC alive and allows him to escape his non restraints before deciding to hunt for him about ten minutes later. He occasionally teleports directly in front of the MC only to immediately teleport away afterwards, probably as a part of his genius psychological warfare plan. Eventually, the cops get called in on the villain. But how can any measly cop defeat such a genius? He charges an armed cop with his scythe and successfully kills the police officer, likely because of the policeman's storm trooper aim. What does the main villain do after this kill? Well, of course he leaves the police officer's gun on the ground for the MC to grab. While the MC is busy catching up, the main villain apparently sets up an arena of bookshelves, cover, and ammo in the gym in preparation for a final encounter with the MC. He loses the fight, prompting the MC to victoriously run out the building to the police, gun in hand. But don't worry, the main villain has a contingency plan in place. He decides to go full Agent 47, stripping the dead police officer from earlier completely naked and stealing his uniform in order to sneak out (despite every exit being locked) and get away in, presumably, a police car with nobody questioning him. Although the MC shot him at least 3 times, he isn't really too bothered by it. They were only gunshot wounds, after all. Once the main villain gets away, the police chief immediately attempts to shut down all routes out of the city, probably finally understanding who they were dealing with. But it was too late by then. [/spoiler] 3) The game stutters horribly. If you can overlook that it's OK. 4 dollars for a 2 hour game is kind of excessive though, which is why I don't recommend it. Maybe get it on sale if you're that curious. Also note that there is no combat in the game except for the final encounter, nor actual inventory management or even many puzzles. This is not a survival horror game by any stretch of the imagination.