"Locks" is another one of those games that makes most indie developers look bad... demonstrating that just because you're an indie dev doesn't mean you need to compromise on graphics, or gameplay.
First, of course, we need to know what this is, it's an indie puzzle "platformer" with a dark circus sideshow theme as you control a puppet in a twisted and uncomfortable, surreal puppet show environment. Puzzles involve gimmicks like room rotation, logic switch pulling and so on... controlling and changing the environment to hit the correct conditions to progress beyond each screen.
The visuals here aren't bleeding edge but they are done properly, there's no pixelcrap... it's 3D, drawn decently enough that you're not immediately confronted by the inadequacy of the developer, as is the case with most amateur games on Steam. That's truly laudable and the developer is to be commended for that... but we also are left to wonder why they're not working as part of a professional game development company.
The game itself isn't necessarily winning awards, given the richness of options gamers have on Steam. The puzzles are obtuse to say the least, and while good use of Unreals 2D side scrolling game blueprint was made, this is a frustrating experience for the casual gamers this is aimed at, and there's still a few game breaking bugs in it.
On the upside, the game does feature customisable controls and resolution, so at least some of the basic, minimum requirements have been met. Unfortunately there's a number of other technical defects and shortcomings which contribute to the game being difficult to recommend to gamers.
This looks a lot like it was designed for consoles, but released on Steam instead by mistake. While this is on PC, it has all the hallmarks and deficiencies of a console game, from the clunkier than needed control scheme to the less than cutting edge graphics. There's 10's of thousands of PC games on Steam, and PC gamers deserve only the best. This might not appeal to many gamers due to the lack of PC-centric design. It's unclear why this never made it to the video game console appliances it seems to have been designed for.
The graphics in this game are passable, but could be better. And while it's vital for any game to have impressive visuals (gaming is a visual medium, after all), there's more to a game than just the graphics. To be worth a gamers time and money, the game must match top tier visuals with top tier gameplay, and that's not happening here.
There's a few bugs and softlocks that can be groundbreaking, and the developer hasn't touched this in around 15 months, so those defects will probably not be fixed and this could be considered abandonware. So if you try to play this you might not be able to finish it.
These technical shortcomings push this game below minimum standards for any competently developed modern PC game.
The poor quality of this game is reflected by how many people spent time with it. At the time of this review, SteamDB shows the all-time peak player number was [b]only 16 players[/b]. This is a remarkably low number, and now, the only player activity occurs once or twice a month, presumably someone loading it up to see what it is then quickly uninstalling it. Considering there's over 130 million gamers on Steam and well over 140,000 games for gamers to choose from, the overwhelming lack of interest in this low quality game is to be expected.
Let's talk about pricing and the actual value this has for gamers. Is this game one of the best of the 140,000+ games on Steam?
Locks has the gamer gouging price of $12 USD, for which you could easily get any number of older AAA games.
For comparison, the $12 asking price for this game could get you games like "Dead Cells", "Resident Evil Village" or "Hunt: Showdown". Quality, professionally made games like those are frequently on sale cheaper than this.
Unfortunately Steam reviewers aren't presented with a "Maybe" option... if they did, that's what I'd choose. This isn't a completely bad game, but it's also not one of the best. As always, if you read my review and you can overlook the negatives I've called out, or they just aren't important to you, then by all means go ahead and buy this.
Finally, I'm here to try help save gamers time and money by filtering out the noise and substandard games... there's up to 50 games launched on Steam Direct every day! They aren't all great... most of them suck. If you don't agree with my assessment of the defects in this game, go ahead and buy it... maybe you'll find the same defects I did, maybe not. Even write your own review. Positive or negative, game reviews are here to help other gamers by informing their decisions on what to buy and play.
[quote][b][url=https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/marketing/profile]Profile Features Limited![/url][/b]
Valve have marked this game as "Profile Features Limited" at the time of this review. This is usually caused by poor sales figures and low community acceptance for the game (to date). Until this status changes, this game will not give you +1 to your Game Collector badge count, appear in profile achievements or any other Steam meta-accomplishments, nor can it be displayed in some profile showcases. If these factors are important to you, it may be worth holding off before buying this game.[/quote]
