I didn’t get to try the demo on time and suddenly found out about this game. I wasn’t sure whether it was worth buying ‘day 1’ but I went ahead after some research. I’ve completed the game the next day in 5.5 hours according to Steam. It was clearly a very good decision!
It’s the story, setting and characters that are the star of the show. It’s something I haven’t experienced before. When was the last time you played a game with a circus theme and you being an ex-clown with a traumatic experience? All the characters are original with excellent dialogues. It’s not originality for originality’s sake. It all feels natural (except for the bearded lady maybe) and fitting. I personally loved the ending and appreciate it being realistic instead of coming up with something else that might grab your attention more, but loses everything the story was trying to achieve. We need more mature stories that focus on mental health issues or coping with losing loved ones without making it supernatural or fantasy. The game handled all of it flawlessly.
The gameplay is a mix of point and click adventure with survival horror elements. It plays more like a survival horror game in terms of exploration and using items but it’s not as fleshed out when it comes to combat. You mostly explore a big mansion and its surrounding area, looking for clues, trying to solve simple puzzles and open locked doors. This part feels like OG RE a bit. I loved how your journal is used extensively. Whenever you have a semi-important conversation, Ollie writes a journal to give you more info or you get Ollie’s opinion on the matter that is not mentioned in the dialogues. The journal also has a list of important points, kind of a checklist with significant puzzles that need to be cleared to advance the story. The points get crossed when you complete them. You can drop items when your inventory is full and the journal tells you exactly where the items are when you drop them. And lastly you get a simple map that’s not very detailed but you don’t need a detailed one. The areas are easy to remember for how well designed they are.
The fighting is either using one knife you can sharpen or 2 guns. Instead of health you have stress meter that becomes worse when you see enemies or get bitten by rats. You control the stress meter by either praying or drinking tonic. While the combat is not very deep, I do like its inclusion. I prefer having it instead of nothing. But it can get frustrating in certain spots on challenge difficulty if you don’t know how certain things work. Make sure to use guns instead of the knife when you’re dealing with multiple enemies at the same time. Enemies don’t spawn if you’re still inside the area but they can spawn when you re-enter the area etc. I do appreciate the fact you can change the difficulty freely whenever you feel like it. So there is no penalty in giving challenge a try. It’s fun finding the right balance to kill enemies quickly and not becoming tired or too stressed. You can’t do anything for a few seconds when you’re tired, so it can be pretty fatal if you’re wrong with your calculations.
When it comes to flaws, I can think of one mainly but I found out there is an easier way of dealing with it after going through it. There is a baby section right near the end. It was very tedious and almost ruined everything I experienced. I did it without guns but apparently you can use a gun with 2 chests lying nearby. Also when you’re being chased, you don’t need to run. Just make sure you keep walking and you will be fine for the most part. I think it should be made clearer that you can use guns and where they’re placed to avoid gamers ragequitting and hating on the game due to 1 section. Another flaw, though very minor, is probably fleshing out the combat and integrate it more with the rest of the game. More enemy variety, being shown where you’re aiming etc. It is a smaller part of the game though. So it’s not like it was severely needed and aiming worked fine for the most part.
This game is a great accomplishment that made me an instant fan of the developer. I’m very excited what they will do next. I really hope we’ll get more point and click/survival horror games from them. 30% off RRP price is definitely worth it imo.
It’s the story, setting and characters that are the star of the show. It’s something I haven’t experienced before. When was the last time you played a game with a circus theme and you being an ex-clown with a traumatic experience? All the characters are original with excellent dialogues. It’s not originality for originality’s sake. It all feels natural (except for the bearded lady maybe) and fitting. I personally loved the ending and appreciate it being realistic instead of coming up with something else that might grab your attention more, but loses everything the story was trying to achieve. We need more mature stories that focus on mental health issues or coping with losing loved ones without making it supernatural or fantasy. The game handled all of it flawlessly.
The gameplay is a mix of point and click adventure with survival horror elements. It plays more like a survival horror game in terms of exploration and using items but it’s not as fleshed out when it comes to combat. You mostly explore a big mansion and its surrounding area, looking for clues, trying to solve simple puzzles and open locked doors. This part feels like OG RE a bit. I loved how your journal is used extensively. Whenever you have a semi-important conversation, Ollie writes a journal to give you more info or you get Ollie’s opinion on the matter that is not mentioned in the dialogues. The journal also has a list of important points, kind of a checklist with significant puzzles that need to be cleared to advance the story. The points get crossed when you complete them. You can drop items when your inventory is full and the journal tells you exactly where the items are when you drop them. And lastly you get a simple map that’s not very detailed but you don’t need a detailed one. The areas are easy to remember for how well designed they are.
The fighting is either using one knife you can sharpen or 2 guns. Instead of health you have stress meter that becomes worse when you see enemies or get bitten by rats. You control the stress meter by either praying or drinking tonic. While the combat is not very deep, I do like its inclusion. I prefer having it instead of nothing. But it can get frustrating in certain spots on challenge difficulty if you don’t know how certain things work. Make sure to use guns instead of the knife when you’re dealing with multiple enemies at the same time. Enemies don’t spawn if you’re still inside the area but they can spawn when you re-enter the area etc. I do appreciate the fact you can change the difficulty freely whenever you feel like it. So there is no penalty in giving challenge a try. It’s fun finding the right balance to kill enemies quickly and not becoming tired or too stressed. You can’t do anything for a few seconds when you’re tired, so it can be pretty fatal if you’re wrong with your calculations.
When it comes to flaws, I can think of one mainly but I found out there is an easier way of dealing with it after going through it. There is a baby section right near the end. It was very tedious and almost ruined everything I experienced. I did it without guns but apparently you can use a gun with 2 chests lying nearby. Also when you’re being chased, you don’t need to run. Just make sure you keep walking and you will be fine for the most part. I think it should be made clearer that you can use guns and where they’re placed to avoid gamers ragequitting and hating on the game due to 1 section. Another flaw, though very minor, is probably fleshing out the combat and integrate it more with the rest of the game. More enemy variety, being shown where you’re aiming etc. It is a smaller part of the game though. So it’s not like it was severely needed and aiming worked fine for the most part.
This game is a great accomplishment that made me an instant fan of the developer. I’m very excited what they will do next. I really hope we’ll get more point and click/survival horror games from them. 30% off RRP price is definitely worth it imo.