I actually kinda liked the game, it's a shame it was not developed further as I feel the story had more to offer, only about 45 minutes in total. There were a few nice psychological moments, and I think the narrative had the potential to be good, but it was very low on context, and by context, I don't mean it was vague, I mean there was very little to work with in general, like very dry and limited text lines. So if you decide to make a longer game with a bit more weight to it, I think you could have scratched the lower half of the Silent Hill games. With that said, I enjoyed the weird ending, even though it came a bit too soon, before you could really nail the actual events leading up to it.
The controls and some of the fixed cameras are a little rough, but for an indie game I have seen a lot worse actually, if you placed them with a bit more care, I think you could have much better results. There is no combat or any difficult puzzles, just running away from a few monsters and doing some limited backtracking. The first monster was a bit annoying like you had to bait out his teleports and his constant presence kind of changed the mood of the game, I wish you used him more sparingly. The second monster was actually really cool, if that is the original design I really like it, something about the way it appears and moves.
The visual design was a bit of a mixed experience, but I do like the movement in some of the scenes, the moving house was a really nice touch, as well as the day/night cycle. I kinda wish you focused a bit more on the detail, you know many horror game tend to fall into that trap, not placing enough detail into the environment so they feel a bit cheap, as well as having very dry descriptions on interactions, you should elaborate a bit more so we get a better sense of a real character.
[h1] Pros: [/h1]
(+) I think there were a few nice horror elements, I thought the second monster was very interesting and I only wish the game was a bit longer, at least 2 hours, have a few more locations to run away from him, get a bit more context going. There were some parts of the game that looked nice, like the blood realm, but again, very short game, and I wish you made more locations.
[h1] Feedback: [/h1]
The main thing is that the game was just not long enough, if you designed a few more locations for that blood realm, and have a few more encounters with a second monster like a nemesis vibe, I think you could have made something special.
I would say try to focus on providing a bit more character when you inspect things, the game had some okay visual storytelling, but the actual text was very dry, the house could use more personality and detail, as well as just more unlocked rooms.
Dealing with teleports was a bit annoying, the constant presence of the first dude ruined the immersion, I think you could have made a better experience using him more sparingly.
[b] Overall Thoughts: 5/10 [/b]
There is always a bit of a void for a good psychological game, I think you were on the right path to making one, I got some good vibes when I got to blood realm, but man, the game needed to be longer, I wanted more locations and a bit more care with how you are using the monsters. And if you can do that, I think the game could be really nice. Honestly, I hope you don't give up on it, treat it as a prologue, add more content to it, at least go to 2 hours, add a few rooms with more memories to make the ending more rewarding. I also wish you played around with a second monster more, have another location where he tries to gank you. So yea, not a bad effort, but I need a little more out of the experience.
[code]Niche, obscure and underrated games: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/31294838-Hidden-Gem-Discovery/ [/code]
