The Pony Factory

Not that much tbh .. 4 / 10

This kind of feels like a mashup of old walking sim Szymanski games, and newer boomer shooter type Szymanski games. But weirdly the FPS parts of this one are the weaker aspect, while the random notes and atmosphere actually come out on top. Perhaps the most striking thing is the colour palette. Really great greyscale tones and good use of lighting make this actually quite a pretty and atmospheric game. The decision to be more tongue-in-cheek with the horror-log aspect works out better than the previous attempts to be serious and dramatic about it, at least for a short experience like this. The thing about it is that it's just not very fun as a shooter. On the normal difficulty the enemies feel unsatisfying, more like hit sponges, and throughout the game they're arranged in ways that feel cheap, like they're just banking on you either not being able to see them in the dark or that they'll surprise you from around a corner and get some free hits in. There's really no variety to the enemies, they all just bum rush you. Hunting around for health and ammo and not being able to see the amount of bullets loaded in your gun are cool things for an imsim, but this is more of a boomer shooter/horror hybrid, so it feels at odds. It's kind of just unfun to play as a result- much better to stick it on casual mode and just enjoy the visuals and the small amount of lore, and finish it before it gets repetitive and boring. Still a lot better than the walking sim games though. It's another one I'd give a neutral rating to, if Steam allowed it, but I'd pick a yes over a no, since I have to.