[review wip]
Although may look a bit dated for some, this game still stands tall to be one of the most significant indie horror games, though there are some invoked mechanics that do not actually exist, meant as a psychological provokation to fool the player into thinking something worse could happen, but despite that, it's been a really interesting ride into the early 2010s, because there are some things that apparently you can't find easily in horror games that are made in the next decade. More than a straightforward horror experience, this is more of a immersive ride into a dreadful castle with simulated psychological effects of the protagonist, one of the best visual components i enjoyed in this game. The story around the second half of the game may get predictable towards the end due to the premise, but it's better than nothing. The cutscenes are all in real-time, just as the whole game, so no static cutscenes or anything like that. It has bit of its flaws, of course, for having PS2-era ish graphics, but being a player who used to play lots of old PC games it definitely suited me the same.
There is also a one-shot short expansion called Justine which is separate from the main game's story, presenting itself as a side story taking place in the same time period. I'll make a review of it once i'll beat it one day because of its inability to save the game, even if its length should actually manage to fit in, for example, a nightly play session.
I'd recommend to get into this if you want to know how horror indie games were done in its earlier years (exception of Slender, being an example of an once popular phenomenon but awfully developed game just to attract attention), but if you want a more curated horror title that stands out for being creative with its choices, then probably this isn't for you because of its more traditional approach. Though, i'd give 4.5 stars because this game is kept alive in its next years thanks to its Custom Story mod support which allows you to create your own mods using the game's engine toolkit, allowing yourself to unleash your imagination and imagining yourself working on DLCs.
Although may look a bit dated for some, this game still stands tall to be one of the most significant indie horror games, though there are some invoked mechanics that do not actually exist, meant as a psychological provokation to fool the player into thinking something worse could happen, but despite that, it's been a really interesting ride into the early 2010s, because there are some things that apparently you can't find easily in horror games that are made in the next decade. More than a straightforward horror experience, this is more of a immersive ride into a dreadful castle with simulated psychological effects of the protagonist, one of the best visual components i enjoyed in this game. The story around the second half of the game may get predictable towards the end due to the premise, but it's better than nothing. The cutscenes are all in real-time, just as the whole game, so no static cutscenes or anything like that. It has bit of its flaws, of course, for having PS2-era ish graphics, but being a player who used to play lots of old PC games it definitely suited me the same.
There is also a one-shot short expansion called Justine which is separate from the main game's story, presenting itself as a side story taking place in the same time period. I'll make a review of it once i'll beat it one day because of its inability to save the game, even if its length should actually manage to fit in, for example, a nightly play session.
I'd recommend to get into this if you want to know how horror indie games were done in its earlier years (exception of Slender, being an example of an once popular phenomenon but awfully developed game just to attract attention), but if you want a more curated horror title that stands out for being creative with its choices, then probably this isn't for you because of its more traditional approach. Though, i'd give 4.5 stars because this game is kept alive in its next years thanks to its Custom Story mod support which allows you to create your own mods using the game's engine toolkit, allowing yourself to unleash your imagination and imagining yourself working on DLCs.