- Authentic retro horror tribute.
- Engaging combat, diverse replayable modes.
- Immersive retro visuals and sound.
- Very short, limited main content.
- Excessive difficulty; combat sometimes clunky.
- Weak story and simplistic puzzles.
Emotions
Players felt satisfied by the game's strong value proposition, high quality gameplay, and excellent atmosphere. The effective gunplay, rewarding puzzles, and successful homage to classic survival horror, particularly Resident Evil, contributed significantly to this positive experience. Additionally, replayable extra modes and overall polish enhanced the sense of a well-made, enjoyable indie title.
Enjoyment stemmed from the game's fun, engaging gameplay, and well-crafted horror experience, often described as charming and polished. Players liked the exploration, puzzle-solving, shooting mechanics, and the overall old-school aesthetic. Extra modes, memorable creatures, and well-integrated references further enhanced the fun factor.
Frustration arose from the game's high difficulty, punishing combat, and restrictive movement due to mechanics like a fast-draining stamina bar. Players also struggled with clunky controls, tanky enemies requiring too many headshots, and challenging boss fights that often felt unfair due to resource scarcity and limited mobility. Repetitive challenges and some questionable achievement designs also contributed to this feeling.
Disappointment was primarily caused by the game's short length, perceived lack of originality, and weak or uninteresting main story. Players also cited easy puzzles, uninspired level design, and a feeling that the game didn't live up to its potential or high expectations, sometimes directly copying elements from other games without innovation.
Players appreciated the game's successful homage to classic survival horror, especially Resident Evil, seeing it as a 'love letter' to the genre. The evident developer effort, attention to detail, polished execution, and balanced resource management were highly valued. Its retro style, numerous references, and overall quality for a low price also garnered strong appreciation.
Verdict
Mostly positive
Summary
Positive 90% · Negative 10%. Score: 10 / 100
Positives:
- The game is widely praised as an exceptional 'love letter' to classic survival horror, drawing heavily from iconic titles like Resident Evil (especially RE1) and Silent Hill. It successfully channels a nostalgic atmosphere while integrating its own identity and subtle Lovecraftian elements, offering both familiar tropes and refreshing twists for genre fans.
- The game features satisfying, impactful gunplay with strategic ammo management, varied weapons, and good enemy feedback, contributing to a consistently fun combat experience. Beyond the main campaign, it offers significant replayability through engaging puzzles, multiple difficulty levels, unlockable challenges, and diverse bonus modes (Horde, Dungeon, Randomizer), often introducing new enemy types.
- The game's deliberate retro, low-poly, and PSX-style graphics, combined with its highly effective sound design, are lauded for creating a pervasive sense of dread and an immersive, unsettling atmosphere. This intentional aesthetic choice successfully enhances the horror and tension, proving that atmosphere can triumph over cutting-edge graphical fidelity.
- Players consistently highlight the game's incredibly low price point, often calling it a 'steal' for the amount of content, polish, and enjoyment it provides. It is perceived as offering significantly more value and a more engaging experience than many higher-priced titles, making it highly recommended for its cost, particularly when on sale.
- Despite its indie status and affordable price, the game is frequently praised for its overall polish, smooth performance, and lack of bugs or technical issues. The simple yet captivating plot, tight pacing, and well-designed mechanics contribute to a high-quality feel that often defies expectations for its budget.
Negatives:
- Many players found the game's combat excessively difficult and punishing, citing clunky controls, slow character movement, and enemies that are bullet-sponges. Boss fights were particularly frustrating, often requiring trial-and-error due to instant kills or high damage.
- A significant number of reviews expressed disappointment with the game's short duration, often completable in under two hours, and overall lack of content. Many felt the game ended too quickly, feeling like a mere first chapter, and wished for more campaign gameplay, impacting replayability.
- The narrative was broadly criticized for being weak, uninteresting, or virtually non-existent, offering little character development or world-building. Complementing this, puzzles were often deemed too easy, simplistic, or directly borrowed from other games, failing to provide a meaningful challenge or engaging intellectual component.
- The game's visual quality was noted as poor or not visually appealing by some. Additionally, the soundtrack was often described as ordinary or unmemorable, and the overall horror ambiance was deemed insufficient, with few genuinely scary moments or tension-building elements beyond basic jumpscares.
- Players widely noted the game's heavy reliance on homages and direct copying of elements from classic survival horror titles like Resident Evil and Silent Hill. This led to criticism that the game lacked its own identity, felt like a rehash, and failed to introduce original ideas or innovate within the genre.
Gameplay:
- The game is heavily inspired by classic survival horror titles, particularly Resident Evil 1, adopting its core gameplay loop, setting, and resource management in a first-person perspective. Players awaken in a haunted mansion, solving puzzles and fighting enemies with an old-school aesthetic.
- The main campaign is relatively brief, with most players reporting completion times ranging from 1.5 to 4 hours. This positions the game as a 'bite-sized' experience, often completable in a single sitting, though some noted a slow overall pace.
- Upon completing the main story, the game unlocks several additional modes such as Horde, Randomizer, and a procedurally generated Dungeon Escape. These extra modes, coupled with unlockable infinite weapons, significantly enhance replayability and extend the game's value beyond the short campaign.
- The game offers various difficulty modes, with Hard mode notably reducing resources and increasing enemy challenge, demanding strategic movement and careful ammo conservation. Players found success by learning enemy behaviors and specific boss strategies, which are often discussed in detail.
- A core aspect of gameplay is tight resource management, especially for ammunition, which is vital for survival. Reckless use of supplies can lead to critical failure, often forcing players to conserve ammo, meticulously explore for items, or even restart sections.
Performance:
- Many players report the game runs very well, even on older or less powerful 'potato' PCs, indicating excellent optimization and smooth performance across a range of hardware configurations.
- The game is largely stable, with most players not encountering any bugs, glitches, or major problems. There was a single, isolated report of a game crash during the 'escape dungeon' mode.
- Graphics are generally considered good, although some feedback mentions environments and objects having average detail. A specific technical issue was noted with Vsync, as it limited frame rates to 120 FPS when active, compared to 60 FPS when deactivated.
- Players appreciate that the game has a very small installation footprint, which is beneficial for disk space management and quick downloads.
- Despite positive feedback on low system requirements, at least one reviewer noted that the game can put significant strain on the system, suggesting potential inconsistencies or specific hardware challenges for some users.
Recommendations:
- The game is strongly recommended for fans of old-school survival horror, particularly those who appreciate titles like Resident Evil 1-3, Silent Hill, and Alone in the Dark. It's praised as a nostalgic homage that captures the essence of 90s horror, although some advise managing expectations if looking for a pure, deep survival horror experience.
- Numerous reviewers suggest playing the game on a higher difficulty setting (Hard or Extra Hard) to achieve the most challenging and enjoyable experience, especially for fans familiar with Resident Evil games. However, a few also recommend Normal difficulty for a first playthrough or for those new to the genre.
- Many players expressed a strong desire for the developer to create more games in this style, specifically hoping for a sequel or additional content. This indicates a high level of satisfaction with the developer's work and a wish for continued support and future projects.
- Players noted the game performs well on Steam Deck, suggesting it merits official verification. Additionally, specific graphics settings, such as FOV, motion blur, and pixelation, are recommended by some for an optimal visual experience.
- Some players found the game's achievements to be questionable or poorly implemented. A minority of reviewers suggested that players might find more satisfaction in established classics like Silent Hill 2, Resident Evil 4, Signalis, or Lamentum, implying this game may not fully satisfy all horror fans, based on limited critical feedback.
Miscellaneous:
- There is significant enthusiasm for the developer, Checkmaty, to create more games or a sequel, with players expressing excitement and gratitude for their talent. Many hope for continued content updates, recognizing the quality of this indie title and the developer's often solo effort.
- Players noted that saves from the demo version do not automatically transfer to the full game and require manual file management, which could be improved for convenience.
- A few reviewers mentioned the lack of specific language localizations, such as Japanese, and noted that while some text might be present in a language like Spanish, dialogue is absent.
