This was a weird one. This game had me annoyed within the first minute. I pressed on but quickly was disappointed. What happens in the first 60 seconds that got me so annoyed? The game throws 10 jump scares at you, one after the other. All the cliches are there: the can rolling down the hallway seemingly from nowhere. The shadowy figure leaning around a corner but when you turn said corner, there is nothing there. And also the random door you walk by just as it explodes with banging noises. All the cliches of horror games are united here. Imagine you sitting somewhere and friend sneaks up on you and goes "Boo!". That startles you, that is a jump scare, a timeless classic. Now imagine that friend standing in front of your eyes reaching his arms out and going "Boo, Boo, Boo, Boo, Boo, Boo, Boo, ..." for a minute. That isn't scary that is annoying. That's what this game feels like.
Honestly, for a second I thought this game was a parody of horror games. Overdoing it much like a Scary Movie. My honest advice to the dev: make the game wink at the player so we know it's supposed to be a parody game and then this game could be a stroke of genius. It could be a satire of horror game tropes, much like The Stanley Parable is a satire of gaming tropes in general. I'm afraid the developer was trying to genuinely make a scary game so let me give my genuine criticism: You need to remove at least 75% of the jumpscares. You need to allow the player time to breathe. The 10 minutes spent walking around in a game like Amnesia is necessary so the jumpscare at the end of it is effective.
This game is stuck in limbo between being so corny it works as a parody and a genuine attempt at horror that is just way overdone with trying to scare the player every 10 seconds.
Honestly, for a second I thought this game was a parody of horror games. Overdoing it much like a Scary Movie. My honest advice to the dev: make the game wink at the player so we know it's supposed to be a parody game and then this game could be a stroke of genius. It could be a satire of horror game tropes, much like The Stanley Parable is a satire of gaming tropes in general. I'm afraid the developer was trying to genuinely make a scary game so let me give my genuine criticism: You need to remove at least 75% of the jumpscares. You need to allow the player time to breathe. The 10 minutes spent walking around in a game like Amnesia is necessary so the jumpscare at the end of it is effective.
This game is stuck in limbo between being so corny it works as a parody and a genuine attempt at horror that is just way overdone with trying to scare the player every 10 seconds.