I found "The Cat Lady" better, but this game is pretty good still, and was a pioneer!
Actually a very good prequel to The Cat Lady, which I didn't finish for some reason. I can't remember too much about it to be honest, the game seemed quite chaotic to me. It looked really great though, very disgusting and the atmosphere got me too. I'll play it again sometime.
ǟռɖ ȶɦɛռ ֆɦɛ ɢօȶ ǟʟʟ աɛɨʀɖ...
Oops I played them out of order! Oh well!
This is by far the clear weakest of the trilogy for me. Kinda wild to me that people prefer this over Lorelai or even Cat Lady. The story was insanely weak and felt poorly written in comparison to the others in the trilogy. I think the writing does a bad job of getting you to care about any characters or anything thats happening to them... besides Agnes. Agnes is my queen, I love her sm. I also don't really understand why we're telling the story of the mental turmoil of a woman (Ivy) through the eyes of a man (John) like, idk if its just the writing but it doesn't really work for me. It feels repetitive and like they have to smack John in the head with the same information over and over, never getting anywhere. And the reason's why John needs to take the actions that he does in the game feels so contrived and a bit cliche, just everything was so odd and not always in a cute way.
Idk, it was just so hard to feel attached to anybody in this one. Not bad by far, and the gameplay was still really fun for the point and click genre. But overall this game just doesn't work for me.
I will say though, I love the upped gore factor of this one, compared to the other ones in the trilogy??? Downfall was BRUTAL. And I loved it lol.
Also it would be irresponsible of me to not mention the VA in this game.... its not great. It's not great at all, even by the standards of their other games. I'm so sorry yall it was just so comically bad, I burst into laughter FREQUENTLY bc of the weird delivery of specifically John's lines.
Oops I played them out of order! Oh well!
This is by far the clear weakest of the trilogy for me. Kinda wild to me that people prefer this over Lorelai or even Cat Lady. The story was insanely weak and felt poorly written in comparison to the others in the trilogy. I think the writing does a bad job of getting you to care about any characters or anything thats happening to them... besides Agnes. Agnes is my queen, I love her sm. I also don't really understand why we're telling the story of the mental turmoil of a woman (Ivy) through the eyes of a man (John) like, idk if its just the writing but it doesn't really work for me. It feels repetitive and like they have to smack John in the head with the same information over and over, never getting anywhere. And the reason's why John needs to take the actions that he does in the game feels so contrived and a bit cliche, just everything was so odd and not always in a cute way.
Idk, it was just so hard to feel attached to anybody in this one. Not bad by far, and the gameplay was still really fun for the point and click genre. But overall this game just doesn't work for me.
I will say though, I love the upped gore factor of this one, compared to the other ones in the trilogy??? Downfall was BRUTAL. And I loved it lol.
Also it would be irresponsible of me to not mention the VA in this game.... its not great. It's not great at all, even by the standards of their other games. I'm so sorry yall it was just so comically bad, I burst into laughter FREQUENTLY bc of the weird delivery of specifically John's lines.
[Main Story]
**
A game that explores the depths of human emotion and raw relationships as the player paves the way through the unimaginable horrors hidden in a seemingly tranquil hotel.
The player wears the skin of Joe Davis who as a child knows ivy already had feeding problems, being marked by a terrible event with his brother.
It has been several years since this event. Joe finds ivy, falls in love and gets married. But over time their relationship gradually gets cold and Joe wants to save his marriage.
One of the things the player can look at is the monochromatic color palette that Dev used to create his characters and game scenarios, combining the ambient sound with the lighting and soundtrack making a great combination. Given that certain vivid colors like red from a bow or jewel, sky blue reminds you that the palette is not just black and white.
There are times when the player will notice the lights turn off, there are whispers, scratches or suspenseful scenes such as the ax man approaching slowly, leaving a brief tension in the player.
As you progress through the game, you may see some slightly disturbing images, such as open wounds, dismembered body parts, etc. that may not be in everyone's stomach.
The various lighting levels that exist in the game can somewhat change the mood of the player. Like going through a corridor with several windows where rays of light illuminate the entire room around the player, for example.
Much of the horror of the game can be seen through the various conversations with the hotel characters. The various options that exist in the game as the player progresses in the game begin to become a difficult choice of how Joe should express himself. Through various dialogues the player may or may not realize Joe's level of mental health.
You should explore a relationship that is about to end, where each party knows exactly how to hurt each other by saying painful things or treating silence.
There is a hint of black humor in some of Joe's conversations, such as in a place where death is on the line and each participant adds some humor and underlying threat.
Each choice you made will affect the end of the game. These decisions the player may notice a small light, like a flash on the screen.
All the choices I made were all based on the good side of Joe and the ones that made the most sense in that field. Even though Ivy always upset. In the end I missed only 2 skulls to have 100% in the game.
The voices of the characters are not all bad in my opinion, like that of Agnes who conveys relaxation and positivism, Joe himself who conveys love, anger, frustration and sadness in his voice and Ivy with her voice always sad and tired.
There are several characters the player will meet at the hotel like the 4 Sophie, the idiot of Harrison, the doctor z experimenting with crazy socks, The Queen of Maggots (who also appears in the cat lady) with her terrifying voice and susen of the cat lady game.
There are several puzzles to make throughout the game to keep up with the story, but nothing too complicated.
**
A game that explores the depths of human emotion and raw relationships as the player paves the way through the unimaginable horrors hidden in a seemingly tranquil hotel.
The player wears the skin of Joe Davis who as a child knows ivy already had feeding problems, being marked by a terrible event with his brother.
It has been several years since this event. Joe finds ivy, falls in love and gets married. But over time their relationship gradually gets cold and Joe wants to save his marriage.
One of the things the player can look at is the monochromatic color palette that Dev used to create his characters and game scenarios, combining the ambient sound with the lighting and soundtrack making a great combination. Given that certain vivid colors like red from a bow or jewel, sky blue reminds you that the palette is not just black and white.
There are times when the player will notice the lights turn off, there are whispers, scratches or suspenseful scenes such as the ax man approaching slowly, leaving a brief tension in the player.
As you progress through the game, you may see some slightly disturbing images, such as open wounds, dismembered body parts, etc. that may not be in everyone's stomach.
The various lighting levels that exist in the game can somewhat change the mood of the player. Like going through a corridor with several windows where rays of light illuminate the entire room around the player, for example.
Much of the horror of the game can be seen through the various conversations with the hotel characters. The various options that exist in the game as the player progresses in the game begin to become a difficult choice of how Joe should express himself. Through various dialogues the player may or may not realize Joe's level of mental health.
You should explore a relationship that is about to end, where each party knows exactly how to hurt each other by saying painful things or treating silence.
There is a hint of black humor in some of Joe's conversations, such as in a place where death is on the line and each participant adds some humor and underlying threat.
Each choice you made will affect the end of the game. These decisions the player may notice a small light, like a flash on the screen.
All the choices I made were all based on the good side of Joe and the ones that made the most sense in that field. Even though Ivy always upset. In the end I missed only 2 skulls to have 100% in the game.
The voices of the characters are not all bad in my opinion, like that of Agnes who conveys relaxation and positivism, Joe himself who conveys love, anger, frustration and sadness in his voice and Ivy with her voice always sad and tired.
There are several characters the player will meet at the hotel like the 4 Sophie, the idiot of Harrison, the doctor z experimenting with crazy socks, The Queen of Maggots (who also appears in the cat lady) with her terrifying voice and susen of the cat lady game.
There are several puzzles to make throughout the game to keep up with the story, but nothing too complicated.
well that's just sad, he only wanted to be with his wife :(((
This review contains spoilers
Downfall is a "Where’s my wife?" point and click horror game developed by Harvester Games, the same dev who developed The Cat Lady previously, a game I viewed as an art piece that deals with mental health/depression. In my research, Downfall originally started as a 2009 indie game, before it was retooled into an entry in the “Devil Came Through Here” trilogy released after Cat Lady. If you were curious about the original, the steam version also comes with the 2009 version of the game, though I didn’t touch it this time (though maybe one day).
I’ll start off with the story: you play as a man named Joe Davis (for those who remember he makes a cameo in Cat Lady as the neighbor towards the end as well as a huge Stephen King fan) who goes to the small hotel of Quiet Haven with his wife Ivy for a quick getaway. However, after a rather gut wrenching argument (after being given different beds as a sort of symbolic gesture of growing apart), you wake up to find that she disappeared, and Joe resolves to find her. The game clearly has reverence for Silent Hill (specifically the second one) from a reference to their “special place”, to the name Quiet Haven sounding flipped for Silent Hill and even the finding wife part, the developers we’re an obvious fan of the game (as are most of us) and it clearly influenced the game’s direction.
Before the hotel though, there’s a prologue where you play as Joe when he was a kid where he first met Ivy (with foreshadowing of her illness of course) on the same day where his younger brother Robbie died opening up a random cache of grenades hidden in a construction site, dying in an extremely graphic yet strangely funny tone (only due to the circumstance of random grenades). Flash forward and Joe meets Ivy in the future where they get married before the relationship takes a rocky road and this romantic getaway trip was supposed to be a rekindling of sorts. After the disappearance comb through the hotel, dealing with all sorts of gore as you’re told you have to kill off a “monster” named Sophie, or more specifically four different versions of her, each of which are symbolic of Ivy herself and her various characteristics and insecurities, which later come ahead as it’s revealed that she has extreme self conscious issues and an eating disorder, none of which we’re truly explained persay during the game or given much depth as far as I’m aware but not everything needs that I suppose.
Going throughout the hotel and its various floors you’ll find characters such as The Manageress (a seductive woman with eyes for Joe), Dr. Z (a mad scientist who’s trying to revive a corpse Frankenstein style), Agnes (the corpse who later comes to life and you play as her a couple of times), as you seek to kill each of the Sophies and rescue your wife. There are also two returning characters from Cat Lady: Susan Ashworth (towards the last five minutes or so) and The Queen of Maggots, the overarching main antagonist of the trilogy.
With this in mind, a lot of things are revealed: since Joe’s brother died, his mom killed herself and the dad blamed Joe for the entire mess; this mixed with Ivy’s anorexia sent him spiraling into madness. In real life, Joe was actually “The Sixth Parasite”, and had gone insane trying to help his wife. The getaway trip wasn’t real, Dr. Z (who was a nazi in the original version) is his therapist (only learned from Cat Lady), and that he had actually been killing people as the Axeman murderer (who was chasing Joe through the game). The ending depends on certain dialogue you choose throughout the game (which are tallied in skulls, 27 in all. If you have all 27 it’s the best, between 0-27 it’s normal and 0 is the bad ending) and for the most part while most of the dialogue feels stressful and like you make the wrong choices each time, I ended up getting the good ending with the help of a guide (also in general just be a decent human being and you should be ok I think).
How does it feel in the grand scheme of things? For me personally, it’s unsure because while I haven’t played the original game it felt like that game could’ve been a sort of fan homage project which then got lots of stuff sort of retro-fitted in. That being said, it works for the most part but I feel like there’s a couple of times where you could tell it was sort of Frankensteined (the irony of it with Dr. Z of course) together with semi-obvious symbolism, with the interconnected Cat Lady stuff being the most jarring stuff. The characters for the most part are ok, Agnes being a standout for her bubbly personality (though my friend who I streamed for hated her at first). The coffin sequence is also a standout for how dark it gets though the appearance of a certain actor’s history did take me out of it a bit once I learned what they did in real life but I can’t say that’s the dev’s fault.
Here is where I’ll go into gameplay style and the rest of it, as it’s rather short; it’s mostly just the point and click fare, with numerous dialogue options to determine the ending later on; you collect objects for later puzzles, which are a tad bit randomized on each playthrough but are simple enough to solve. Basically if you liked Cat Lady’s gameplay, there’s more of it. Graphically the game has the same sort of style that The Cat Lady does, lot’s of dark and shadowy imagery, maybe with a tad bit wider range of colors as well as surreal looking 3D animations as you walk to and from certain areas in the game. The voice acting ranges from person to person with most of the voice cast being Youtubers or friends of the main dev, so it may not be the best and most immersive as the mic quality tends to change too (with the childhood voice acting being one of the stranger parts to me). However, this didn’t detract at all from the game’s quality and strangely enhanced the surrealist nature of it all to be honest. The music also, like The Cat Lady, slaps though can be used in the strangest locations leading to an uneven tone that confused me more than unnerved and sounded like it should’ve been in Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines instead.
Overall, how do I feel about Downfall? After having this for years along with The Cat Lady, I could say that compared to the former that I like this a tad bit less. Whilst not a lot of things could live up to the former, as its own thing I feel like it’s kind of mashed together and doesn’t have the same impact that it should emotionally or thematically. I could see glimpses of heartwarming stuff I REALLY liked (the emotional scenes between Joe and Ivy of course) but some moments are kind of distracting, derivative or unintentionally funny (like kitchen cooking with out of place music) and overall it's hard for me to describe my feelings for this game other than mildly positive, even setting aside the original quality of The Cat Lady along with steam characters are limited as usual. However, that being said I still like this game and think that it’s worth a play, even if only to at least get the general gist of how you feel about it's thematic handling, and it was also a lot shorter for me so that helped (just keep in mind it’s definitely violent, has a lot of depressing themes and could have some triggers). One day I’ll sit down and try to record behind the scenes stuff and post the links but for now here are some things to look into.
https://www.walkthroughking.com/text/downfallredux.aspx
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VideoGame/Downfall2009
https://devilcamethroughhere.fandom.com/wiki/Downfall:_Redux
From Steam Reviews: https://steamcommunity.com/id/gamemast15r/recommended/
I’ll start off with the story: you play as a man named Joe Davis (for those who remember he makes a cameo in Cat Lady as the neighbor towards the end as well as a huge Stephen King fan) who goes to the small hotel of Quiet Haven with his wife Ivy for a quick getaway. However, after a rather gut wrenching argument (after being given different beds as a sort of symbolic gesture of growing apart), you wake up to find that she disappeared, and Joe resolves to find her. The game clearly has reverence for Silent Hill (specifically the second one) from a reference to their “special place”, to the name Quiet Haven sounding flipped for Silent Hill and even the finding wife part, the developers we’re an obvious fan of the game (as are most of us) and it clearly influenced the game’s direction.
Before the hotel though, there’s a prologue where you play as Joe when he was a kid where he first met Ivy (with foreshadowing of her illness of course) on the same day where his younger brother Robbie died opening up a random cache of grenades hidden in a construction site, dying in an extremely graphic yet strangely funny tone (only due to the circumstance of random grenades). Flash forward and Joe meets Ivy in the future where they get married before the relationship takes a rocky road and this romantic getaway trip was supposed to be a rekindling of sorts. After the disappearance comb through the hotel, dealing with all sorts of gore as you’re told you have to kill off a “monster” named Sophie, or more specifically four different versions of her, each of which are symbolic of Ivy herself and her various characteristics and insecurities, which later come ahead as it’s revealed that she has extreme self conscious issues and an eating disorder, none of which we’re truly explained persay during the game or given much depth as far as I’m aware but not everything needs that I suppose.
Going throughout the hotel and its various floors you’ll find characters such as The Manageress (a seductive woman with eyes for Joe), Dr. Z (a mad scientist who’s trying to revive a corpse Frankenstein style), Agnes (the corpse who later comes to life and you play as her a couple of times), as you seek to kill each of the Sophies and rescue your wife. There are also two returning characters from Cat Lady: Susan Ashworth (towards the last five minutes or so) and The Queen of Maggots, the overarching main antagonist of the trilogy.
With this in mind, a lot of things are revealed: since Joe’s brother died, his mom killed herself and the dad blamed Joe for the entire mess; this mixed with Ivy’s anorexia sent him spiraling into madness. In real life, Joe was actually “The Sixth Parasite”, and had gone insane trying to help his wife. The getaway trip wasn’t real, Dr. Z (who was a nazi in the original version) is his therapist (only learned from Cat Lady), and that he had actually been killing people as the Axeman murderer (who was chasing Joe through the game). The ending depends on certain dialogue you choose throughout the game (which are tallied in skulls, 27 in all. If you have all 27 it’s the best, between 0-27 it’s normal and 0 is the bad ending) and for the most part while most of the dialogue feels stressful and like you make the wrong choices each time, I ended up getting the good ending with the help of a guide (also in general just be a decent human being and you should be ok I think).
How does it feel in the grand scheme of things? For me personally, it’s unsure because while I haven’t played the original game it felt like that game could’ve been a sort of fan homage project which then got lots of stuff sort of retro-fitted in. That being said, it works for the most part but I feel like there’s a couple of times where you could tell it was sort of Frankensteined (the irony of it with Dr. Z of course) together with semi-obvious symbolism, with the interconnected Cat Lady stuff being the most jarring stuff. The characters for the most part are ok, Agnes being a standout for her bubbly personality (though my friend who I streamed for hated her at first). The coffin sequence is also a standout for how dark it gets though the appearance of a certain actor’s history did take me out of it a bit once I learned what they did in real life but I can’t say that’s the dev’s fault.
Here is where I’ll go into gameplay style and the rest of it, as it’s rather short; it’s mostly just the point and click fare, with numerous dialogue options to determine the ending later on; you collect objects for later puzzles, which are a tad bit randomized on each playthrough but are simple enough to solve. Basically if you liked Cat Lady’s gameplay, there’s more of it. Graphically the game has the same sort of style that The Cat Lady does, lot’s of dark and shadowy imagery, maybe with a tad bit wider range of colors as well as surreal looking 3D animations as you walk to and from certain areas in the game. The voice acting ranges from person to person with most of the voice cast being Youtubers or friends of the main dev, so it may not be the best and most immersive as the mic quality tends to change too (with the childhood voice acting being one of the stranger parts to me). However, this didn’t detract at all from the game’s quality and strangely enhanced the surrealist nature of it all to be honest. The music also, like The Cat Lady, slaps though can be used in the strangest locations leading to an uneven tone that confused me more than unnerved and sounded like it should’ve been in Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines instead.
Overall, how do I feel about Downfall? After having this for years along with The Cat Lady, I could say that compared to the former that I like this a tad bit less. Whilst not a lot of things could live up to the former, as its own thing I feel like it’s kind of mashed together and doesn’t have the same impact that it should emotionally or thematically. I could see glimpses of heartwarming stuff I REALLY liked (the emotional scenes between Joe and Ivy of course) but some moments are kind of distracting, derivative or unintentionally funny (like kitchen cooking with out of place music) and overall it's hard for me to describe my feelings for this game other than mildly positive, even setting aside the original quality of The Cat Lady along with steam characters are limited as usual. However, that being said I still like this game and think that it’s worth a play, even if only to at least get the general gist of how you feel about it's thematic handling, and it was also a lot shorter for me so that helped (just keep in mind it’s definitely violent, has a lot of depressing themes and could have some triggers). One day I’ll sit down and try to record behind the scenes stuff and post the links but for now here are some things to look into.
https://www.walkthroughking.com/text/downfallredux.aspx
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VideoGame/Downfall2009
https://devilcamethroughhere.fandom.com/wiki/Downfall:_Redux
From Steam Reviews: https://steamcommunity.com/id/gamemast15r/recommended/
remake do primeiro jogo da empresa, originalmente um point and click, agora mais parecido com o the cat lady, a historia é doente pra cacete
this game is fucked up. rly good though and much more playable than the original, but if you enjoyed it you might like a playthrough of the original as well.
A short but decent game. Story may have a few issues but it was an interesting narrative displayed with wonderfully designed graphics.
Nowhere near as good as The Cat Lady but still pretty engrossing in its own right. I did come out of the game pretty confused though, so I don’t think the story was told as effectively as it should’ve been. The vibes are immaculate and carry the game pretty far though, so it’s tough to dislike.
Definitely the weakest story wise in the trilogy, but the actual exploring and puzzles are fun.
average
While I prefer The Cat Lady, another great entry by the developers.
super!!! kocham grać psycholem jebanym!!!
the enhanced edition is significantly better than the og, and improves upon some of the issues of the cat lady such as the walking speed/animations as well. it didn't really have a draw for me story-wise especially after how much the cat lady resonated with me, but it was an interesting horror game experience. i just didn't know what to make of fat bodies being presented as smth monstrous ngl... and also susan's implied fate >:(
My Very Short Review:
https://www.tiktok.com/@gameludens
https://www.tiktok.com/@gameludens
Just like The Cat Lady the game takes its subject with amazing tones.
But also like The Cat Lady the game is not for everyone because of it's novel aspect.
But also like The Cat Lady the game is not for everyone because of it's novel aspect.