i was really looking forward to this game when i first read an article covering it and then saw the demo, because it's so rare to see a promising vietnamese horror game! now that the full game is out, i was admittedly left a little disappointed with what i saw. however, i feel really hopeful for future vietnamese horror games, because i really liked the ideas this game is based upon!

the main problems thần trùng suffers from are slow pacing and an occasional lack of clues on what the player needs to do next. the game doesn't to be so fast that it feels overwhelming, but it could have been just a little better paced if they cut down some of the exploration time. i personally think that if more protag monologue was added (such as "i wonder if anything has changed..."), it would be a little less frustrating to figure out what the player needs to do next.

thần trùng has a lot of jumpscares, with many of them admittedly coming off as cheesy. however, i read someone's comment saying that none of the ghosts were ever hostile toward the player, that the most they really do is run at you. they went on to say that northern vietnamese people (the team is northern vietnamese iirc) believe that benevolent ghosts don't speak human language, and as a result they're perceived as scary when they're only trying to communicate with us, which admittedly adds a bit more of a somber tone to the game. i thought that was such a unique idea to explore, as when most horror games involve ghosts, the ghosts are presented as actively working against the player.

again, thần trùng came with a lot of interesting ideas and i hope to see this team make even better games in the future. even though the game wasn't anything amazing, being based heavily on vietnamese spiritual beliefs made it really memorable for me compared to other titles. i'm really looking forward to seeing how the horror game scene in vietnam will grow, and i hope to see amazing gems come out of it!