Judgement: Recommended
View review on Steam
Experienced on Oculus Rift
Oh wow, this game was terrifying! To be fair though it's the first horror game I've played in VR, and while I enjoy the occasional horror game I don't consider myself a 'fan' of the genre. As far as whether I recommend it, that's a bit difficult. If you're a veteran horror fan you may find the faults a bit many, but I don't think it's *bad*. Overall for an indie title it's quite well done. I'm not sure how it would compare if you're not playing in VR though. Despite the many flaws I quite enjoyed it.
Pros:
- Very scary, partly due to the immersiveness of VR
- There are a few puzzles but they are fairly easy. Some may consider this a con, but given that the main point of the game is to be scary I'm inclined to think it's good.
- The jumpscares are well done and well placed. At first I wasn't a fan - it seemed like an easier way to be scary than perfecting a creepy atmosphere. As I played though I realized part of the reason for the tension was that I didn't know when the next one was coming. They aren't terribly frequent, and the game is all the better for it.
- Interesting story. As long as you're paying attention and exploring to find notes, the story unfolds in quite an interesting manner and at a good pace.
Cons:
- Despite my above compliment about the story, it left me with at least one significant question at the end, which seemed like a missed opportunity to make it longer.
- No support for motion controllers - you can use them but they act like regular controllers. I didn't find this a big deal, but some people may not like it.
- Buggy achievements - the collect the ducks and armour achievements both didn't pop up for me when they should have
- There's a lock you have to open that won't turn if you use the Oculus Touch controllers. I had to switch to a 360 controller, which brings me to my next complaint.
- How the hell do you switch controllers? It took me a while to figure this out. The options menu shows the control layout for all supported controls, but you can't choose what to use; it was by trial and error I found out you have to restart the game and start it with the controller you want to.
- Only 2 hours of playtime, which doesn't seem like much for the price.
- There are parts of the game (e.g. the 2 parts with the crows in the cave) that didn't seem to serve any purpose
- There were two parts you went through where some notes and scenes were repeated, which seemed to serve primarily as an explanation/refresher for what's happening in case you missed/forgot the notes. Given that the whole point of the game is exploration, and it's not very long so you're not likely to forget, I don't think these parts were necessary.
Verdict: 7/10
Oh wow, this game was terrifying! To be fair though it's the first horror game I've played in VR, and while I enjoy the occasional horror game I don't consider myself a 'fan' of the genre. As far as whether I recommend it, that's a bit difficult. If you're a veteran horror fan you may find the faults a bit many, but I don't think it's *bad*. Overall for an indie title it's quite well done. I'm not sure how it would compare if you're not playing in VR though. Despite the many flaws I quite enjoyed it.
Pros:
- Very scary, partly due to the immersiveness of VR
- There are a few puzzles but they are fairly easy. Some may consider this a con, but given that the main point of the game is to be scary I'm inclined to think it's good.
- The jumpscares are well done and well placed. At first I wasn't a fan - it seemed like an easier way to be scary than perfecting a creepy atmosphere. As I played though I realized part of the reason for the tension was that I didn't know when the next one was coming. They aren't terribly frequent, and the game is all the better for it.
- Interesting story. As long as you're paying attention and exploring to find notes, the story unfolds in quite an interesting manner and at a good pace.
Cons:
- Despite my above compliment about the story, it left me with at least one significant question at the end, which seemed like a missed opportunity to make it longer.
- No support for motion controllers - you can use them but they act like regular controllers. I didn't find this a big deal, but some people may not like it.
- Buggy achievements - the collect the ducks and armour achievements both didn't pop up for me when they should have
- There's a lock you have to open that won't turn if you use the Oculus Touch controllers. I had to switch to a 360 controller, which brings me to my next complaint.
- How the hell do you switch controllers? It took me a while to figure this out. The options menu shows the control layout for all supported controls, but you can't choose what to use; it was by trial and error I found out you have to restart the game and start it with the controller you want to.
- Only 2 hours of playtime, which doesn't seem like much for the price.
- There are parts of the game (e.g. the 2 parts with the crows in the cave) that didn't seem to serve any purpose
- There were two parts you went through where some notes and scenes were repeated, which seemed to serve primarily as an explanation/refresher for what's happening in case you missed/forgot the notes. Given that the whole point of the game is exploration, and it's not very long so you're not likely to forget, I don't think these parts were necessary.
Verdict: 7/10
Review posted on 13/03/2019, 08:41:00.