this game is like several different things of varying quality wrestling for the spotlight, it is the mixed bag of mixed bags. when its good, it is DAMN good, like oh my god, must-play survival horror right here... and when its bad, its legit one of the worst things ive ever played.
even tonally, it can never quite settle on anything. sometimes it wants to be a somewhat more grounded horror with an air of supernatural horror, and then sometimes you'll be flying on a clock in a storm as if it were the opening of bayonetta, and sometimes you'll be arguing about destiny with a campy villain while he flips around everywhere. and dont even get me started on the ron weasely lookalike turning the game into something resembling a disney sitcom for a cutscene. this game really has no set tone.
but thats just the cutscenes, theres maybe an hour of em total, how is the gameplay you may ask
well
it starts out good. its atmospheric, you explore around a place, maybe encountering a ghost and trying to offer its corpse something so it can stop scaring you. but then eventually you encounter the boss of the area, but instead of having a boss fight, it just starts chasing you through the level as you're trying to do puzzles. and when the puzzles are easy enough to figure out, this is when the game is at its peak. this is the part where i cant get enough of it and legit want more. if you like your resident evils, your dino crisis, your silent hills then you'll love...most this game. it actually does feel like what the hookman version of re4 would have been and i wouldnt be surprised if this was one of the various games that spawned from re4's development. but the puzzles and navigation does get far more annoying as the game goes on. particularly in the castle with the titular scissorman and the even more TITular scissorwoman. have fun running around in circles for 20 minutes until you cave and look at a guide and realize "i was supposed to notice THAT?" but it's not really a deal breaker, and im sure if you plan on replaying the game you wouldnt have that same problem.
oh and before i get further, i have to point out that this is a fixed camera game without tank controls. maybe that will interest some, but by god i hate having the camera change so often when i just want to walk forward but the direction controls will either lock to where im going, making me skid into a wall or it'll make me 180 into the monster... i really wish this game at least had the option for tank controls where i wouldnt have to worry about that...
as for the...OTHER part of the game...
the boss fights
the bosses are actually another example of the tonal shift you experience in this game, as it goes from "OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD" panicking as you narrowly avoid death from this unavoidable enemy chasing you, even when you escape him, he could be around any corner or bust through any door... and then you get the over the top cutscene with them doing goofy shit, you undergo a magical girl transformation sequence where you get a bow and get this insane boss intro card where you see his stats
now that is not the bad part.
the bad part comes in the actual gameplay, where the closest comparison i have is... devil may cry 2 bosses but you have to stand in place to shoot and you have to hold a charge for 6 seconds before you can shoot and its just a game of who can stun lock who first. the boss will either be the most infuriating sonuvabitch you've fought against in a game or an absolute joke. and if you're lucky you'll trigger a super special move that takes out like 60% of his health bar. otherwise you're stuck trickling away his health with your reagular charged arrows, doing 3-8% of his health with every shot depending on the arrows charge level. and do yourself a favor and save all your damn special arrows that you find around levels. it sounds miserable doing bosses without them (and it is!) but by god they are all necessary for the final boss. even with savestates and my reserve of ammo, he is an absolute bitch. these bosses legit kill the damn game, not just "holding back" what would be an absolute classic, but actively ruining it. i love this game as much as i hate it, and it legit pains me to say that i don't think i'll ever be replaying it
i will say though, this game got a laugh out of me when you go to hell and its a damn sewer level
even tonally, it can never quite settle on anything. sometimes it wants to be a somewhat more grounded horror with an air of supernatural horror, and then sometimes you'll be flying on a clock in a storm as if it were the opening of bayonetta, and sometimes you'll be arguing about destiny with a campy villain while he flips around everywhere. and dont even get me started on the ron weasely lookalike turning the game into something resembling a disney sitcom for a cutscene. this game really has no set tone.
but thats just the cutscenes, theres maybe an hour of em total, how is the gameplay you may ask
well
it starts out good. its atmospheric, you explore around a place, maybe encountering a ghost and trying to offer its corpse something so it can stop scaring you. but then eventually you encounter the boss of the area, but instead of having a boss fight, it just starts chasing you through the level as you're trying to do puzzles. and when the puzzles are easy enough to figure out, this is when the game is at its peak. this is the part where i cant get enough of it and legit want more. if you like your resident evils, your dino crisis, your silent hills then you'll love...most this game. it actually does feel like what the hookman version of re4 would have been and i wouldnt be surprised if this was one of the various games that spawned from re4's development. but the puzzles and navigation does get far more annoying as the game goes on. particularly in the castle with the titular scissorman and the even more TITular scissorwoman. have fun running around in circles for 20 minutes until you cave and look at a guide and realize "i was supposed to notice THAT?" but it's not really a deal breaker, and im sure if you plan on replaying the game you wouldnt have that same problem.
oh and before i get further, i have to point out that this is a fixed camera game without tank controls. maybe that will interest some, but by god i hate having the camera change so often when i just want to walk forward but the direction controls will either lock to where im going, making me skid into a wall or it'll make me 180 into the monster... i really wish this game at least had the option for tank controls where i wouldnt have to worry about that...
as for the...OTHER part of the game...
the boss fights
the bosses are actually another example of the tonal shift you experience in this game, as it goes from "OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD" panicking as you narrowly avoid death from this unavoidable enemy chasing you, even when you escape him, he could be around any corner or bust through any door... and then you get the over the top cutscene with them doing goofy shit, you undergo a magical girl transformation sequence where you get a bow and get this insane boss intro card where you see his stats
now that is not the bad part.
the bad part comes in the actual gameplay, where the closest comparison i have is... devil may cry 2 bosses but you have to stand in place to shoot and you have to hold a charge for 6 seconds before you can shoot and its just a game of who can stun lock who first. the boss will either be the most infuriating sonuvabitch you've fought against in a game or an absolute joke. and if you're lucky you'll trigger a super special move that takes out like 60% of his health bar. otherwise you're stuck trickling away his health with your reagular charged arrows, doing 3-8% of his health with every shot depending on the arrows charge level. and do yourself a favor and save all your damn special arrows that you find around levels. it sounds miserable doing bosses without them (and it is!) but by god they are all necessary for the final boss. even with savestates and my reserve of ammo, he is an absolute bitch. these bosses legit kill the damn game, not just "holding back" what would be an absolute classic, but actively ruining it. i love this game as much as i hate it, and it legit pains me to say that i don't think i'll ever be replaying it
i will say though, this game got a laugh out of me when you go to hell and its a damn sewer level