Gloomwood Review Summary

High replayability and exploration: The game encourages multiple playthroughs with its high replayability and extensive exploration options. Players can tackle challenges in various ways, making each playthrough unique and engaging.

Immersive atmosphere and setting: The game features a dark, gritty, and immersive atmosphere with a Victorian setting. The sound design, lighting, and environmental details contribute to a tense and oppressive experience that players find highly engaging.

Creative and open-ended gameplay: The game offers a variety of creative and open-ended gameplay options. Players can choose different paths, use various tools, and approach challenges in multiple ways, enhancing the overall experience.

Well-designed levels and environments: The game's level design is praised for its attention to detail, interconnected locations, and multiple paths. The environments are meticulously crafted, offering a dense and immersive experience.

Unique art style and visuals: The game features a unique and stylish art style with low-poly aesthetics and impressive visuals. The distinct visual style and meticulous design contribute to the game's charm and identity.

Slow update and development pace: Players are frustrated with the slow pace of updates and development. Major updates are infrequent, and the time between updates is substantial, leading to a perception of glacial development progress.

Lack of content and variety: Players feel that the game lacks sufficient content, including new weapons, enemies, and mechanics. The limited variety in enemies and scenery, as well as the short playtime, contribute to this sentiment.

Stealth mechanics need improvement: The stealth mechanics are disappointing and can be frustrating. Players note that stealth sometimes takes a back seat to other gameplay elements, and enemy AI detection is inconsistent.

Limited save system: The save system is frustrating and lacks autosave, which can lead to loss of progress. Players also report that updates can break save files, forcing them to start over.

Performance and graphical issues: There are performance issues, particularly on older PCs and laptops, as well as graphical issues such as low detail and bugs. Some players experience frame rate issues on platforms like the Steam Deck.

Stealth and combat mechanics: The game integrates well-developed stealth mechanics, allowing players to use light, shadow, and noise to their advantage. Combat is flexible, offering both stealth and direct confrontation approaches with a variety of weapons.

Open world and exploration: The game offers an open-world structure with interconnected labyrinths and multiple pathways. Players are encouraged to explore and discover shortcuts, secrets, and various routes to navigate through the environments.

Complex inventory and resource management: The game features a detailed inventory system that requires strategic management of resources, including limited space and manual handling of items and ammunition. Players need to carefully plan and manage their resources to progress effectively.

Multiple gameplay styles and choices: Players can choose from various gameplay styles, including stealth, combat, and exploration. The game supports different tactics and routes, allowing for a personalized gaming experience.

Survival horror and immersive sim elements: The game blends survival horror with immersive sim elements, creating a tense and engaging atmosphere. Players must manage resources carefully and use the environment to survive.

Solid performance on most hardware: The game generally runs well and smoothly on a variety of hardware, including modest setups and high-end PCs. Performance issues are rare, and many players report a bug-free experience.

Presence of minor bugs: Some players have encountered minor and non-dangerous bugs, including camera movement issues. These bugs are generally rare and do not significantly impact gameplay.

Mixed performance on specific platforms: While the game runs well on platforms like Steam Deck, there are reports of frame rate issues and crashes on certain systems like Linux and some laptops.

Updates causing issues: Certain updates have been reported to break saves and introduce optimization issues. These problems can affect the overall gaming experience.

Occasional stutters: Some players have experienced stutters during gameplay, although these instances appear to be rare.

Highly recommended for fans: The game is highly recommended for fans of various genres, including immersive sims, stealth games, survival horror, and specific series like Thief, Dishonored, and Deus Ex. It is praised for its challenging and atmospheric gameplay, making it a must-buy for enthusiasts of these styles.

Wait for full release: Many reviewers suggest waiting for the full release before buying or playing the game. This is due to potential issues with saves after updates and the expectation of an incomplete experience in its current state.

Save system improvements needed: There are suggestions and hopes for improvements to the save system and inventory management in future updates. These changes are expected to enhance the overall gameplay experience.

Value for money: The game is considered worth its price, especially on sale. It offers a solid experience that justifies the cost, making it a good purchase for interested players.

Specific fan recommendations: The game is particularly recommended for fans of specific elements like mood, presentation, and classic gameplay mechanics. It is also noted for its respect for imagination and hard work.

Steam Deck: The Steam Deck experience for this game is generally positive, but there are notable issues with controller support, performance, and the need for Proton and Linux support. Users have found workarounds for controller support and performance issues, but these require additional effort and technical knowledge.

External guides: The game is praised for its balance between lack of UI and handholding, which enhances immersion and allows for intuitive exploration. However, some users find the lack of guidance frustrating. The continuous updates and new content make it enjoyable to return to the game. There are also mentions of language barriers and the need for better localization for non-English speakers.

Game in Early Access: The game is currently in an Early Access state, which means it is still in development and may have incomplete features or bugs. Players should be aware of this before purchasing.

Pricing concerns mentioned: Some players feel that the current price of 300 rubles is too high, even with a friend pass. They suggest a maximum price of 90-100 rubles would be more appropriate.