(time played: 8hrs, 52m)
(ending got: The Counter-Ritual)

I don't know if I've played a game that's such a mishmash of styles like this one. Some features are constant and decent – reconstructing crime scenes, the skill points system – while others feel very sparsely used and/or useless – the occasional audio logs, and being able to rotate items. I'm particularly salty about the latter, since I turned every single item around and never once saw something of note on the back. Also, a small note; very disappointing to have lockpicking in a game and then make it automatic instead of a real mechanic. Still, the mishmash of features – and story – is charming, but not very engaging.

The cutscenes are all extremely goofy except for maybe one, and the character model animations are very jank. My favorites being Sanders getting thrown around in the air and instead of the classic telekenisis unnatural bones break, he just sort of... had blood spurt in the general direction of his head and then died? And Cat saying she was bleeding out without there being a single scratch on her model.

A couple parts were very annoying – namely the first scene with the Shambler and that infinite door puzzle near the end – but other than that, the gameplay is okay. Reconstructing crime scenes blinds you every time you both enter and leave, and can be a little confusing when you don't know where you're supposed to be looking. I like that in the "semi-open world" sections you have multiple ways to tackle a problem; the asylum section as Pierce being the best example of this.

By far, this game's strength is in its atmosphere and its conversations. All the locations look appropriately eerie, and I love the aesthetic. I only wish we got to see more of Darkwater's general landscape instead of just the docks area. It wasn't very scary except for some sections that genuinely freaked me out. The conversations are pretty well crafted in that you aren't stuck listening to someone speak for too long – they give you a dialogue option fairly often. And having unlockable choices based on what you find and what you have skill points in was cool.

Chapter 5 marks when the story starts to go off the rails in a questionable way. I think the intro of this game is strong, with the spooky vision, poking around Pierce's office to get a feel for his character, and meeting Sarah's father. Darkwater has a great air of mystery at first, and I was very interested in Cat's storyline and the conversation I overheard about the asylum. But once you actually get admitted to the asylum, it takes a turn. The mystery surrounding Darkwater is dampened and it feels like it's just going through the motions of a typical cult story. Especially once you find out Sarah's actually alive. Somehow, it becomes simultaneously confusing and incredibly clear. I understood what was happening but not necessarily why. The character's motivations felt scattered – mainly Charles Hawkins – and the answers to previous questions not fully explained. Not to mention Cat's involvement in the story is a lot smaller than I expected it to be, and Fitzroy and Chief West aren't much of twist villains/sudden threats when you barely see them all game.

I got the Counter Ritual ending, which looking at the official list of endings, seems to be the most lackluster. But they all have one common thread – what about the dad? Like, in the ending where Pierce lives and makes it back, does he just say he didn't solve the case or does he explain to this man his daughter actually wasn't dead but now she is? Or what about the ending where Cthulhu gets summoned and everyone kills each other?

This game just feels like it lost its plot, with the beginning not really connecting to the end. There are such interesting plot threads but they're overtaken by the game one upping itself. Like, okay, now people are being experimented on illegally by an immoral doctor with an accent? And then now everyone is turning into zombies? For some reason?

Although I do talk so negatively about it, plus the fact that it made me extremely nauseous, I don't regret playing it and I'd even recommend it just for the experience. At the very least, it's better than The Sinking City, lol.

I appreciate them for trying something new, but god, the new exploration gameplay was so boring. In moderation, it's fine, if a bit lacking, but having exploration after exploration after exploration really ruined the tension and pacing. Especially since they got rid of the fixed camera. Which, yes, the fixed camera was annoying at times, but it felt like a staple of the series. The absence of it, plus the changed exploration really made it not feel like a Dark Pictures Game.

Another factor on that note was the seeming lack of choices. In a choice-based game. There were so many instances where I expected a QTE, only for there to be none. It was so drastic that when they finally did give me a QTE, I failed it because I almost entirely forgot they were a mechanic in the first place. There was also a lack of dialogue choices – multiple conversations happened in full without a single choice option. It made the story feel very railroaded, and I have to wonder how much my choices actually altered.

In terms of an ensemble, the characters were a lot better here than in the previous games. I usually only truly like one or two out of the cast and keep the rest alive out of obligation, but only a few scenes in and I liked the whole group. Charlie went kind of downhill for me (the blood trail scene,,,,,,,,) but I was very happy to see some lesbians!!! On the subject of Kate, I wish they showed more than they told with her. All the characters were constantly calling her vain, but outside of her flashlight being her hand mirror (which is a great writing choice lol), I didn't really see it. And the whole thing with her friend and her survivor's guilt was something I really wanted to see fleshed out more. I saw the slasher vibes in this game, and it would have been cool for them to lean into that and Kate being a final girl.

Easily the best part of the story was the serial killer plotline. Particularly, the interviews between Munday and Sherman; the reveal of Morello pretending to be Du'Met; and all the backstory tidbits for Munday. Honestly, I felt myself caring more about the clues than the murder house, Saw traps situation going on. Maybe I just didn't get them in my playthrough, but I would've loved to see some flashbacks or more of a direct, verbal confrontation with Du'Met. Just. More of him in general.

Also, I feel like more could've been done with the animatronics. Especially in the beginning, where nothing scary happened for like three hours. I think it'd be interesting if we saw more of helper animatronics, like the bartender. And have them 'glitching' out and providing some minor tension in the slow introductory parts at the start of the game. Plus, since Supermassive Games love their plot twists so much, they could've done another ghost/haunting fakeout lol.

This one was so hard to rate because while there's stuff I like or even really enjoy, and the finale is perfect (big slasher vibes and great action), the beginning is literally so unplayable. I can't see myself willingly replaying it, and can you really rate something high if the first segments suck so bad you couldn't even force yourself to do it again?

All in all, the usual missed opportunity I see from Supermassive Games; a genuinely compelling serial killer storyline/backstory that will probably live rent-free in my head for a while; and that slasher finale and epilogue,,,,, <3

okay i've said that i don't think supermassive games will ever surpass until dawn, but they rlly knocked it out of the park with this one!!!

the pacing was great, it really doesn't waste time in getting to the action. i was on edge basically the entire time, and the fight/chase scenes were perfect. that fakeout with the eclipse at the end????? amazing. and the interview was such a nice epilogue, so much better than the previous games. especially when the metal music kicked in at the end lmao

jason n salim my beloveds <3

i feel like i always have more 2 say abt the games i don't like vs the games i do like 😭

silly review;
fear street 1666 x silent hill

serious review;
Kind of drags for the first two hours or so, but once the action really gets started, it's great. The chase scenes had good tension and were suitably terrifying, and they were made even better by the dynamic of rapidly switching between the characters. I liked the monster designs, especially Daniel's and John's.

I'm gonna be honest, I didn't care much for the witch trials storyline, but that's just personal preference. It didn't help that it wasn't really wrapped up – was I right about the priest or was it actually Mary? – and the twist at the end kind of ruins it all. Like, was it even real?

And speaking of the twist, although I enjoyed it, it does kind of retcon the story in a bad way. It makes the deaths feel pointless and the whole witch trial thing a lot more confusing.

The traits system is cool. I'm usually pretty good at these games, but I lost most of the characters this run. I maintain that Angela's death was so not my fault – why don't they give you a choice to shoot or not 😭 – but John's and Taylor's were definitely on me.

A big step up from Man of Medan for multiple reasons, and the dialogue is leagues better. But it does still ring as unrealistic in a few scenes, namely after deaths. Like they moved on from Angela's 'death' WAY too fast.

Overall, the action scenes were great, the witch trial stuff was mostly boring, and it was a lot better than people said it was.

edit: also can we talk abt how weird it is that tanya n dennis were siblings but taylor n daniel had a romance 😵‍💫 like idc if they were adopted that's still so weird right. especially if it's supposed to be some kind of hallucination of andrew's – why is he hallucinating his siblings dating??? 😭

I had very low expectations going in, but it actually turned out better than I expected. Still, it definitely has it's problems.

The first thing you notice is how bad the voice-acting is. For the main cast, it wasn't too bad and the dialogue is so fast that you barely get enough time to even notice the acting. But with the characters in the opening, it was seriously laughably bad; enough to really ruin the tension for that section.

What I find worse than the acting, though, is the dialogue. It's quite clunky and at times, incredibly unrealistic. The characters don't really react to their situation how real people would. It's not helped by how fast the dialogue is, which dampens the emotion behind the lines and is hard to keep up with at times.

I will say, I did like the atmosphere. Wandering around the ship genuinely felt tense and unsettling, especially later in the game where they really lean into the ghost story jumpscares. And as a big fan of the BioShock games, I loved the setting of a dilaptated, abandoned ship from the late 40's. The scene where there's music playing in the distance and you get chased by the pin-up girl is great – I wish they did more scenes taking advantage of the era like that.

I played on Challenging, and it did genuinely feel challenging. The QTEs and timed choices went by very fast, and although the heartbeat sensor itself wasn't too hard, the fear of messing it up made each scene using it appropriately tense.

The story itself is interesting, but definitely could have been fleshed out a lot more. I like that (spoilers for Until Dawn) it was the reverse of the twist in UD – a supernatural threat that turns out to just be a scientific threat instead of a killer that turns out to be a supernatural threat. I thought it was a fun little nod to their previous game, and I like that they didn't just repeat what they did with UD.

A lot of the clues (or as it's referred to in-game, 'secrets') felt pretty useless. It was just a bunch of stuff you can already inferr just by playing, and didn't really offer up much new information. When the characters use them to piece things together, instead of feeling like a big, satisfying reveal, it just felt like a bland retelling of what I already realized an hour ago. And maybe I just missed some clues, but it felt like the story was incomplete? Like, what was up with the demon-summoning book and church? The 'monster' skeleton in the coffin? Were those just red herrings or hallucinations? Because I feel like they should've had more weight. Not to mention, there was never a conclusion to Alex wanting to propose to Julia, or Fliss seemingly being a criminal.

Easily the most disappointing was the ending. After the encounter with the two-headed monster, I assumed there was more to do. It was a good chase scene, but nothing that felt like a finale. Argubably, the chase scenes before it were a lot more stressful and longer. But then the ending abruptly triggered. Followed by a very awkward, anti-climatic 'interview' section. Maybe they thought it'd be too much like UD, but I think they should've had an actual interview take place. Or, at the very least, a proper epilogue – maybe the character's lives months/years after? I will say, though, that I liked the post-credit scene. It was a bit confusing for me – as lots of things in this game were – but it was still a good watch.

This isn't even mentioning all the weird, little things such as loading screens in awkward places; the QTE animations skipping and making it look like Conrad was teleporting during his chase section with the pin-up girl; and, the dialogue being delayed/skipping.

Overall, it was kind of buggy, had okay characters (Brad and Fliss were my favs!) and an incomplete story with a anticlimatic ending, but a genuinely scary and unsettling atmosphere.

(rating based on the campaign. i played exactly none of the multiplayer.)

love a good brainwashing twist. and the fact that you get to choose to be evil, as well as pick your villain speech. i also think its cool that you get to chose your own backstory and traits. altho i understand why you cant choose your callsign, i wish you couldve, simply bcs i already have a cool one picked out and nothing about 'bell' speaks to me (surprising for a guy that would go by any name in the planet).

i chose the 'bad' end first, then the good one. and was entirely appalled bcs where was the good ending for bell 😭 adler is my #1 opp