Info about ColdSide:

Official game description:
OTHER GAMES FROM ADROVGAMES
===========================
About the Game
==============
**ColdSide** is a psychological horror first-person game. It takes place in an abandoned underground laboratory that studied anomalous phenomena.  
You play as a digger named Chris who decided to investigate this creepy place.  
Features:
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*   Constant tension from the unknown.  
*   Atmospheric music and ambient by Mikko Tarmia (composer Amnesia and Soma)  
*   Realistic graphics. The game’s been made with CryEngine V.  
*   The video game was influenced by the SCP Foundation

Release date: Nov 6, 2020

Categories: Psychological Horror, Walking Simulator, First-Person, Puzzle Solving, Multiple Endings, Exploration, Atmospheric Horror


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price:
  - Community fair range: $8.00 - $12.00
  - Reasoning: The reviews show a mixed but generally positive sentiment. One explicitly calls the game 'not too expensive' and another selects 'Good price', indicating the current base price is acceptable for some. However, other reviewers recommend waiting for a sale, suggesting the full price may be slightly higher than many consider fair. The phrase 'pick it up on sale as doing so helped it make the grade' implies the discounted price is what makes it worthwhile. Therefore, the community likely views a fair base price as one that aligns with typical indie horror pricing, often found at a discount. Considering the consensus that a sale price is worth it and that some see the base as good, a reasonable fair range is between $8 and $12 USD, which reflects the typical lower-to-mid indie pricing where sales are common.
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: 3.0h
  - Story completion: 3.0h
  - Session length: N/A
  - Endgame: N/A
  - Reasoning: Multiple reviews converge on a completion time of roughly 2.2 to 4 hours. The 3.5-hour report with 80% achievements and the 'three to four hours' description support a typical playthrough around 3–3.5 hours, while 2.2 hours represents a faster run. Since the game is story-driven with multiple endings, story completion mirrors overall completion. No evidence addresses typical session length or dedicated endgame time, so those metrics remain null.
- Time-to-fun:
  - Summary: The game is enjoyable from the start, with engaging forward pacing and carefully crafted areas, despite minor late-game repeats and occasional progress-loss friction that do not undermine overall enjoyment.
  - Stance: Fun immediately
  - Anchor: N/A
  - Time to anchor: N/A
  - Friction: Long exploration sessions can result in lost progress, disrupting pacing
  - Unlock drivers: N/A
  - Conditions: Player accepts a linear but consistently varied environment; Player tolerates immersion-preserving design that may punish progress loss
- Player Archetypes:
  - Atmosphere & Story Devotee (buy)
    - Motivation: To immerse themselves in a tense, atmospheric horror narrative and replay levels to catch missed details.
    - Playstyle: Exploratory, slow-paced, savoring environments and story beats.
    - Experience: familiar
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: N/A
    - Reference games: N/A
  - Completionist Achievement Hunter (deep sale)
    - Motivation: To unlock every achievement and fully complete the game, often seeking exploits and workarounds.
    - Playstyle: Goal-driven, methodical, often replaying levels to meet achievement conditions.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: deep sale
    - Labels: N/A
    - Reference games: N/A
  - Horror Genre Connoisseur (buy)
    - Motivation: To experience narrative-driven horror with atmospheric tension, especially if they enjoy cosmic horror or SCP lore.
    - Playstyle: Engages with story and atmosphere, tolerant of reading and slower pacing.
    - Experience: familiar
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: fan of the SCP project
    - Reference games: Blameless; Visage
  - Quality & Value Critic (no buy)
    - Motivation: To find a polished, fair game that respects their time and money, and they are quick to point out flaws.
    - Playstyle: Critical, observant, may play to completion but notes issues.
    - Experience: familiar
    - Purchase stance: no buy
    - Labels: N/A
    - Reference games: N/A


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Graphics highly praised (weight 0.97): Many reviews highlight the game's beautiful and detailed visuals, often calling them stunning or excellent. This strong positive reception suggests graphics are a key strength of the game.
- Effective atmosphere and audio (weight 0.71): The game's atmosphere is enhanced by good lighting, sound design, and music, creating an immersive and tension-filled environment. These elements are consistently praised and contribute to the horror experience.
- Jump scares well-executed (weight 0.62): Players generally appreciate the jump scares, describing them as well-placed, surprising, and not overdone. They contribute positively to the horror experience without becoming annoying.
- Multiple endings based on choices (weight 0.54): The game features several endings influenced by player decisions, offering replayability and meaningful choices. Reviews mention two to four possible endings, highlighting narrative depth.
- Overall positive experience (weight 0.36): Reviews describe the game as a solid, fun, and well-constructed experience that is worth its price. This indicates a generally favorable impression of the game as a whole.
- Engaging story and cutscenes (weight 0.34): The story is described as engaging and immersive, with well-done cutscenes and dialogues that enhance the narrative. This adds to the overall appeal of the game.
- Long and substantial playtime (weight 0.2): The game offers a lengthy playtime, providing good value and a substantial experience. This is appreciated by players looking for a longer horror adventure.
- Gameplay is fun and accessible (weight 0.2): The gameplay is described as fun, simple, and interesting, making it easy for players to engage with. This contributes to the game's overall positive reception.
- Plenty of scares and surprises (weight 0.2): The game is effective at delivering scares and surprises, showing great effort in frightening players. This is a key aspect of the horror experience and is well-received.

Common complaints:
- Lack of voice acting (weight 0.47): Players consistently report that the game has no voice acting in any language, with all dialogue and character interactions presented as text only. This significantly reduces immersion and character engagement.
- Dull and cliché story (weight 0.4): The story is frequently described as boring, cliché, and uninteresting, lacking depth and originality. This fails to engage players emotionally or narratively.
- Game not scary (weight 0.31): Players note that the game is not genuinely scary, often becoming funny or lackluster in horror delivery. This undermines the core genre appeal.
- Confusing story presentation (weight 0.31): The story is often hard to follow due to confusing narrative structures and poor presentation, with key parts omitted or unclear. This leaves players frustrated and disconnected.
- Boring and repetitive gameplay (weight 0.27): The gameplay is described as monotonous, repetitive, and easily boring, with tasks becoming tedious over time. This diminishes long-term player interest and enjoyment.
- Overuse of jump scares (weight 0.27): The game relies heavily on ineffective and repetitive jump scares, which become tiring and lose their impact. This is a common complaint that weakens the horror experience.
- Limited save system at level starts (weight 0.26): The save system only records progress at the start of levels, causing players to replay significant chunks when dying or quitting mid-level. This leads to frustration and repetitive play.
- Footstep sound persists after stopping (weight 0.2): A technical bug causes footstep sounds to continue playing even when the player is idle or turning in place, which is distracting and breaks immersion.
- Movement speed slows with gas mask (weight 0.15): During missions requiring a gas mask, the character's movement is severely slowed, forcing players to walk through mazes while managing inventory. This hampers pacing and fluidity.
- Unoriginal and generic concept (weight 0.15): The game offers nothing new or distinctive within its genre, making it forgettable and lacking a unique selling point. This reduces its appeal to seasoned players.
- Clunky and underdeveloped feel (weight 0.15): The game is criticized for feeling rough, clunky, and underdeveloped, indicating issues with polish and overall execution. This detracts from immersion and playability.
- French language missing (weight 0.14): Players note that the game does not offer French language support, limiting accessibility for French-speaking audiences. This is a significant localization oversight.

Gameplay feedback:
- Horror game with scripted scares (weight 0.9): The game is widely recognized as a horror title featuring frequent scripted scares and jump scares. Players mention a psychological horror experience with a first-person perspective.
- Walking simulator with horror elements (weight 0.68): Players consistently describe the game as a walking simulator with horror and jump scares. The gameplay focuses on exploration and narrative rather than action or combat.
- Choices affect multiple endings (weight 0.58): Player choices, especially in dialogue, influence the story and lead to multiple endings. The number of endings varies from two to three based on player decisions.
- First-person exploration experience (weight 0.56): Players emphasize the first-person perspective and exploration of abandoned locations, particularly an underground laboratory. The game is linear but features environmental changes.
- Puzzle solving gameplay (weight 0.44): The game includes puzzle-solving elements, often described as simple but varied. Puzzles are part of the core gameplay loop, though not overly complex.
- Linear gameplay with chases (weight 0.43): The game is mostly linear, featuring corridor exploration and scripted chase sequences. Players progress through environments, occasionally picking up items and reading notes.
- Explore abandoned underground lab (weight 0.33): The setting is an abandoned underground laboratory for studying anomalies. Players control a character investigating the lab, often as an explorer or researcher.
- No combat, only running (weight 0.25): The game has no combat system; instead, players run from or avoid enemies. Gameplay involves walking or running to escape dangers rather than fighting.
- Story told through notes (weight 0.24): The narrative is delivered through on-screen messages, text notes, and dialogue. Collectibles and achievements add to the exploration and story discovery.
- Simple and easy difficulty (weight 0.14): The game is considered easy in difficulty and simple in mechanics. It focuses on atmosphere and story rather than challenging gameplay.
- Game consists of six chapters (weight 0.14): Players note the game is structured into six chapters, with pacing and environmental changes across the linear progression.

Performance notes:
- Good optimization and performance (weight 0.27): Players report the game runs smoothly, is well optimized, and performs well even on moderate hardware. This positive feedback is prominent in the clusters.
- Frequent crashes and freezes (weight 0.23): Several players experienced game freezes during specific actions like running from monsters or interacting with email, and crashes requiring system restart. These issues disrupt gameplay significantly.
- Long loading times (weight 0.08): Loading times are reported as long, which adds unnecessary waiting and can detract from the overall experience.
- Performance issues exist (weight 0.08): There are various performance issues mentioned, but they are not detailed extensively, suggesting a general dissatisfaction with stability.

Recommendations:
- Game is widely recommended (weight 0.6): Several clusters indicate strong positive recommendations, including outright recommendations and praise for overall worth.
- Great for horror fans (weight 0.52): The game is recommended specifically to horror genre enthusiasts, with emphasis on atmosphere and tension.
- Buy on sale (weight 0.32): Multiple reviewers suggest waiting for a discount before purchasing, indicating the game is not worth full price.
- Worth its price (weight 0.3): Reviewers consider the game fairly priced, providing good value for the cost.
- Scares may disappoint (weight 0.2): Some horror fans find the scares insufficient, and the experience may not be intense enough.
- Good for fear-ready players (weight 0.2): Recommended for players who enjoy confronting fears and exploring dark, mysterious settings.
- Short yet enjoyable (weight 0.2): The game offers a few hours of fun, suitable for short sessions or an evening.
- Not for gameplay-focused players (weight 0.16): Reviewers indicate the game may not satisfy those who prioritize gameplay mechanics or dynamic combat.
- Difficult for casual fans (weight 0.14): The game is hard to recommend unless the player is a dedicated fan of the genre or developer.
- Supports developer (weight 0.14): Some recommend buying as support for the developer, possibly for future projects.
- Beautiful indie gem (weight 0.09): The game is praised as a visually appealing indie title, possibly appealing to art enthusiasts.
- Not for non-horror players (weight 0.09): People who dislike horror will likely hate this game, so it's not for everyone.
- Best atmosphere in SCP games (weight 0.09): Considered the best SCP game in terms of atmosphere, despite other flaws.
- Issues with pacing (weight 0.08): One reviewer notes that the game has pacing issues that some may find tolerable.
- Similar to Metro series (weight 0.08): Fans of the Metro series may find this game interesting due to atmospheric similarities.
- Reading-focused with cheap scares (weight 0.08): The game is text-heavy with low-quality jumpscares, which may not appeal to all horror enthusiasts.

Other player notes:
- Short gameplay duration (weight 0.54): Players consistently report a short playtime, ranging from 2 to 10 hours, with most mentioning approximately three hours. The brevity is a common point of discussion, possibly affecting perceived value.
- Built on CryEngine (weight 0.46): Multiple reviews highlight that the game is developed using CryEngine 5, which is noted as a departure from typical Unity or Unreal horror titles. This engine choice may affect performance and graphical capabilities.
- Similar to previous games (weight 0.41): The gameplay and style are similar to AdroVGames' earlier titles, such as ShadowSide and Investigator. This consistency may appeal to returning players but could also lead to monotony.
- Sole developer achievement (weight 0.37): Reviewers emphasize that the game was developed by a single person, often praising this as a significant achievement. The solo development is seen as impressive given the game's scope and quality.
- Multiple endings available (weight 0.3): The game features multiple levels and alternate endings that depend on player choices. This provides replayability, though some players may not find all endings without multiple playthroughs.
- Soundtrack by Mikko Tarmia (weight 0.25): The soundtrack is composed by Mikko Tarmia, who is known for his work on Amnesia and SOMA. This connection is frequently highlighted as a positive, likely attracting fans of those games.
- Good value for price (weight 0.25): Players note that the game is sold at a low price point relative to its quality, making it a good value. This is a common positive factor in reviews.
- Limited save system (weight 0.23): The game saves only at the start of chapters or levels, though auto-saves occur during play. This can be frustrating if players die or quit mid-level, as they may lose progress within a chapter.
- Certain localizations missing (weight 0.18): The game lacks Polish, French, and Chinese localization, which may limit accessibility for non-English speakers. However, some reviews note that the text and dialogue are minimal, reducing the impact.
- Developed by AdroVGames (weight 0.18): The game is an indie title created by developer AdroVGames, who is also known for other similar games. This establishes the developer's identity and prior work within the genre.
- Chinese updated recently (weight 0.13): Simplified Chinese support was added in a recent update, improving accessibility for Chinese players. This is appreciated, especially given the previous lack of Chinese localization.
- Spanish added recently (weight 0.13): A recent update added Spanish language support, with more languages planned. This indicates an ongoing effort to expand localization reach.
- Turkish language support (weight 0.11): The game includes Turkish language support, which is a positive for Turkish-speaking players. This feature is mentioned as an addition, likely catering to a specific audience.
- Graphics compared to Visage (weight 0.11): The graphical quality is compared to the horror game Visage, suggesting a certain level of visual fidelity. This comparison may help players gauge the game's look and atmosphere.

Emotions:
- Disappointment (weight 0.12): The game failed to meet expectations in story, pacing, and fear factor, with rushed final levels and underdeveloped characters. Clunky controls, uninspired level design, and a lack of scares made the experience tedious rather than thrilling.
- Frustration (weight 0.07): Technical issues, including game-breaking bugs, save system problems, and unclear objectives, hindered progress and forced replays. Repetitive mechanics and confusing puzzles contributed to a generally frustrating experience.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.06): Players appreciated the atmospheric graphics, sound design, and engaging horror elements. The well-executed jump scares and immersive story made the game fun despite its flaws.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.06): The game delivered a solid experience with high-quality graphics, gameplay, and atmosphere at a low price. Players felt it offered good value and content with few bugs.
- Admiration (weight 0.05): Players were impressed by the solo developer's achievement, noting stunning visuals and an immersive atmosphere. The sound design and SCP representation were praised.
- Tension (weight 0.05): The game maintained a constant sense of tension through ambient sound, detailed environments, and effective jump scares. Uncertainty about threats kept players on edge throughout.
- Excitement (weight 0.04): Players found the game thrilling with engaging chase sequences and scares that created adrenaline. The compelling concept and story made it a worthwhile purchase.
- Boredom (weight 0.04): Later parts of the game became dull with repetitive tasks and monotonous locations. The walking simulator feel and scripted chases reduced engagement.
- Fear (weight 0.04): The game succeeded in creating fear through effective jump scares and a haunting atmosphere. Darkness and loneliness, amplified by sound, contributed to the horror.
- Annoyance (weight 0.03): Gameplay annoyances included disappearing interaction prompts, crashes, and poor visibility of items. The save system and hidden elements also frustrated players.
- Appreciation (weight 0.03): Players praised the well-placed jump scares, good graphics, and sound design. The psychological horror and claustrophobic environments were particularly appreciated.
- Impressed (weight 0.02): The visuals, lighting, and level detailing were highly praised. Players were impressed by the developer's use of the CryEngine to create a beautiful and atmospheric game.
- Anxiety (weight 0.02): The game's atmosphere, soundtrack, and constant danger kept players on edge. Sudden sounds and silhouettes maintained a persistent feeling of anxiety.
- Confusion (weight 0.02): Players found the story hard to follow and poorly explained. Some elements, like an unexplained cat sound and inconsistent plot details, contributed to confusion.
- Surprise (weight 0.02): Players were pleasantly surprised by the game's quality, often exceeding their expectations. The developer's previous work and the game's performance were notable positives.
- Interest (weight 0.02): The varied locations and exploration were engaging, and despite a simple story, it remained interesting. Players found the atmosphere compelling even if the narrative was basic.
- Anticipation (weight 0.01): The game created constant dread and unpredictability, and players looked forward to the developer's next project based on this experience.
- Immersion (weight 0.01): The game's atmosphere and pacing allowed players to become fully immersed from start to finish. The consistent tone and environmental storytelling enhanced involvement.
- Fascination (weight 0.01): Enemies like the statue and the immersive atmosphere were captivating. The graphics and soundtrack contributed to a mysterious, beautiful world that fascinated players.
- Anger (weight 0.01): A bug that lost progress by restarting the level upon clicking CONTINUE caused anger, as did being stuck in the starting room due to a glitch.}