Sylvio

Loved the game. It's more of an atmospheric horror and can take some time exploring and finding everything. Though some of the puzzles can have some weird solutions. I loved the voice of the main character. Some of the recorders you find could use subtitles too. The accents sometimes make it hard to hear what they are saying.

I would say that Sylvio 1 is a puzzle game with a spooky theme: it starts out with a few simple environment puzzles, like clearing a blocked path, but quite soon, more complex puzzles of increasing difficulty are introduced. Sound is a major part and analysing what you hear around you is introduced from the start, using your microphone to communicate with what might still be lingering, or gain access to hidden items. Using an old reel to reel player/recorder instead of a modern, digital variant, adds to the spooky vibe as the reels spin up and down. There are no jump scares and the game is more creepy than scary. Communicating with the ghosts can be pretty intense, since you have to listen closely to what they say or else you might miss important clues, and sometimes disturbing or instilling a feeling of unease. The ghosts are more often suggested than shown, but there are times when you have to fight some of them—using one of the best (and possibly also the quirkiest) weapons I’ve seen so far in a game. The story has to be pieced together as you delve deeper, and was pretty interesting with a few twists, albeit a bit “all over the place”. I thought everything connected without any obvious plot-holes, although I haven’t fully pieced everything together yet. Don’t play the game for the story alone, but for everything combined: the developer has squeezed in a lot of great stuff to enjoy and explore. I quite liked how the main protagonist was delivering her lines and thought it made a lot of sense for her not to be loud or pushy. For the other voice actors, I could hear a bit of an accent, which might be immersion breaking if one is extra sensitive to that sort of thing. Sound is mainly provided by the environment, but the game also has a great soundtrack mostly heard when you’re driving between levels, so if you want to take a break and just relax for a while, without leaving the game, you can drive around while listening to the music and, like I did, crashing into trees a lot. Can I recommend Sylvio 1? Yes, definitely, I loved every second of it and I think you would too if you’re into puzzle solving, first person exploration, or sound analysis. On the other hand, if you are obsessed with superrealistic graphics, then you might want to play something else: the game has its own unique style, which I appreciated, but others might not. The crudeness in style is, in my opinion, well compensated by gameplay, atmosphere, soundtrack etc... Full review: https://maskinkultur.com/2017/11/03/review-sylvio-1-2/

The idea of the game is cool. You hunt ghosts, listen to spirits, decode hidden messages and resolve mini puzzles to go to the next stage. Sylvio is just really badly designed and boring, I can't recommend it. First, you can't run, in a world that big it's a massive mistake. You are just wasting my time by making me walk that much and it's incredibly tedious. Second, the gun is tr*sh. You have 2 bullets, one to knock objects over and another that kill spirits. Your gun is powered by gas cans. You don't have magazines on that gun so the last bullet you put in the gun is the one you will shoot first. Do I have to explain what's the problem ? I can't just have 1 magazine for each kinds of ammo, no, I have to shoot the useless bullets and waste gas if the next bullet I shoot is the wrong one. There is bullets and gas cans in the environment but in a game where you can't run it's really lame to go back non stop for resources. Thirdly, it's repetitive, it never try to surprise or diversify the experience to the point I wasn't even feeling like I was playing a horror game. The creep factor isn't there, I just felt like I was listening to records and not interacting directly with spirits, in my opinion this game is a big missed oppurtinity. Stage after stage you are alway doing the same sh*t non stop, it's just the puzzles that change a little bit but that's it. The spirits you are destroying are just clouds and there never is more than 1 coming to attack you, that's laughable. At last the story is fragmented so much I didn't understand anything, at the end I was just like ''Ok, that's it ?''. I understood what everyone said very well but I really didn't get the full picture at all honestly, maybe it was just because I was bored to death or I'm stupid, I don't know. In short, the execution ruin the game completely and the horror in that game just isn't there so it's just really boring and tedious.

Ok, small game and made by what I can see either a small team or one guy. Has a great idea for a horror concept, having a recorder to help decipher ghost messages and see whether or not it's a threat or a story unraveling. I love it a lot, going through everything, playing with audio is so interesting. Going in reverse, slowing it, making it play faster, just a concept I haven't seen yet. One thing to note about it is that the game is primarily puzzles. Little action that means hardly anything, but it's meaningful nonetheless. And with that, the first puzzle is kinda bad to lock the player to the rest of the game, just felt less clear than it should've been. Beyond that, I suggest you keep this game at max volume. Do not change it or adjust it, leave it how it is. Because there was a moment while in an ashy, red forest, I heard what sounded like distant growling in one direction through the recording mic. Thinking it was an easter egg, I followed it and followed it. It kept going on for what felt like 20 minutes until nothing. Not a sound. Pure silence. Not a single ripple, drop, crunch or anything, just the pop from the mic. It sent chills down my spine and I don't think that was intentional.

Evp's in horror have always gotten to me, so a game revolving around them clearly does.

Sylvio is a unique game, and you won't find anything like it on Steam in terms of atmosphere, music or voice acting. It's spooky, but in an introvert way. The environments offer plenty of room for exploration, and the story is told mostly through audio logs. The combat is a bit clunky and the puzzles are sometimes obscure. So you need some patience (and maybe a walkthrough at times). But the experience is definitely worth it!

Más cercano al misterio que al horror puro, Sylvio es una propuesta indie que destaca por una atmósfera increíblemente inmersiva. Aunque su apartado visual denota el paso del tiempo, no llega a sentirse obsoleto. Su jugabilidad es sencilla y el ritmo de la campaña es idóneo, logrando que la experiencia nunca se haga cuesta arriba. Pese a tener una narrativa críptica que exige atención, resulta sumamente intrigante. Es un título muy recomendable para quienes busquen algo genuinamente original, siendo su mayor fortaleza el uso de la manipulación de audio para la resolución de acertijos

Sylvio jest grą indie różniącą się od sporej części horrorów tym, że nie próbuje cię przestraszyć na siłę. W grze tej istnieje nieskomplikowany system walki i jego wykorzystane jest wymagane do przejścia, ale przeciwnicy mogą cię zaskoczyć tylko jeśli się zespawnują obok ciebie. Naraz może istnieć tylko jeden i stan pokonania każdego jest zapisywany, więc na szczęście nie zdarza się to często i trudno jest utknąć. Sama porażka w walce również nie daje powodów, by podskoczyć na krześle. Gra polega na poszukiwaniu śladów bytu duchów z pomocą mikrofonu i przewijania nagrań w poszukiwaniu ukrytych wiadomości. Duchy, jak to mają w zwyczaju, nie dają jasnych odpowiedzi, ale z czasem historia nabiera wyraźniejszego kształtu. Wszystkiemu towarzyszy atmosfera tajemnicy i lekkiego napięcia w próbach zrozumienia co się wydarzyło, a same wiadomości potrafią wzbudzić w niepokój w podświadomości. Polecam grę wszystkim, którzy znają angielski i szukają nastrojowej gry bez obawiania się o tanie sztuczki wzbudzania strachu.