Stay

Damn...

I did receive a key for this game as a play tester. I enjoyed this game quite a bit. There are definitely highs and lows to the game, and I will convey what I can without spoilers! Pros: - If you like the ps1 era style of graphics, then this game will deliver. The texture and model work was very solid overall giving clear distinction to what everything was without high fidelity, leaving some imagination at play for what stuff was. -The story utilizes heavy themes, and the dev made sure to incorporate the feeling they got from their conversations from victims that were not believed. I personally found that it was done tastefully without bashing you over the head with it. It is clearly there, makes you understand what is happening, and shows that sometimes you are powerless! (There are some moments the game gets a little in your face with the messaging, but I still felt it was appropriate overall) -The game does come with multiple control schemes (tank controls which I prefer) and your more modern analog movement. Both options work well though. (There are some cons to movement though) -The game also uses stationary cameras with dynamic pan and zooms which I thought were well placed for the most part (some cons to this though) -The game length is really solid. I was able to play for about an hour and a half and get most of the endings to the game. I honestly prefer slightly shorter games due to being a busy person. -I like the model of the main character. It was tastefully done without going for that extreme sex appeal or dipping into edge lord territory. -The game does a pretty good job building tension through the writing, game play and general atmosphere. Cons: -I mentioned I was impressed by the amount of control options. there are some issues though, mainly that if you are familiar with the og Resident Evil series or similar games, the controls might not feel as polished to you. Mainly character animation speed not matching players actual movement speed, turning speed feels a bit off (accessibility options for this though), and the player tends to stick to objects more than slide past them, which feels awkward compared to these other games. -The camera was pretty cool overall especially given the option for a 3rd person camera scheme. However the defaults for all the camera options felt like a rough pass for setup. There are accessibility options which if you tweak them yourself, the camera becomes a lot better experience overall. It's nice the options are there though! -There were a few moments where I was stuck in an endless loop of getting game overs due to the randomness the game uses for the main enemy of the game when entering a room. It did kind of match the theme of the game though that sometime you are just powerless in a situation, but in terms of the type of gameplay experience I was expecting from a title like this, it felt a little bit like a slog after the 7th time it happened in a row lol. Once I broke the cycle it was smooth sailing though. -Some of the early game feels a tad bit tedious, in terms of the speed of completing tasks was kinda slow. Felt somewhat like padding, but it wasn't overbearing, so tough it through and you'll get to the really interesting portions of the game! All in all, I enjoyed this title, appreciated that it didn't try to waste my time with extreme padding, or ridiculously hard puzzles. I am also thankful that the dev provided me the chance to play test the game. There were a few bugs I found that are not mentioned in this post (posted in the discord) so if they get around to updating, hopefully those will get patched! I do recommend this game though, its really cheap for the experience you get!