my eyes deceive

Very trippy and actually had me pretty scared at times. The ending would've been more impactful if it didn't rely on shock to have an impact on the player. Overall pretty good for a free horror game

I don’t think I’ve ever been this conflicted about whether I can recommend a game. On one hand, my eyes deceive is genuinely well made. It’s completely free, it looks good, plays smoothly, and does an incredible job creating an unsettling atmosphere. What impressed me most is that it manages to be genuinely terrifying without relying on jump scares. The horror comes from the atmosphere, the story, the things you slowly realise, and that horrible feeling that something is very, very wrong. The biggest positive: the atmosphere. The game understands that you don't need something jumping at the screen to make you uncomfortable. The quietness, visuals, sound design and gradual unfolding of the story all work together incredibly well. But then we get to the reason I’m so conflicted. Why was this game made? What was the point? I went into this completely blind. I knew practically nothing about it, and I was absolutely NOT prepared for how dark and disturbing it becomes. There are subjects here that I really don't want to spoil, but I would strongly recommend reading the content warning before playing. And honestly… I can't say I enjoyed it. But I can't say I hated it either. It made me feel something. Not fear in the traditional horror game sense, but discomfort, sadness, anger and just an overwhelming sense of “I wish I hadn't seen/heard that.” And perhaps that's exactly what the developer wanted. The game isn't necessarily trying to make you have fun; it's trying to make you uncomfortable and make you think. That makes it incredibly difficult for me to review. As a game, I think it's impressive for what it sets out to do. As an experience, I found it genuinely upsetting. Whether that's a positive or negative is something I'm still not entirely sure about. Would I recommend it? Honestly… I don't know If you're comfortable with extremely dark and disturbing subject matter and want a psychological horror experience that will probably stick with you afterwards, then maybe. If you want something you can actually enjoy playing, absolutely not. This is one of those rare games where finishing it left me less concerned with whether I liked it and more concerned with asking myself why I feel the way I do about it, maybe that's the point.