A journey through shadow, to Reach the light.

It feels like a school or college project. I didn't enjoy it much at all. There are some interesting ideas here and the game is able to be completed but there are so many things that drag it down. The environment and characters look pretty good, but they can't escape the feeling that they are taken from some model pack. The audio is functional but otherwise not noteworthy, besides the ear splitting whine that the game begins with that I had to take my headphones off for. Apparently the hum heard in the final boss fight is copyrighted too. The real issue with the audio is the obviously AI generated voices. All the voices (all two of them) rhyme every single voice line and just feel weird. The story is whatever, you wake up on a hospital bed being told that something has happened at the facility and you gotta get out, that's about as complex as it gets. The game play is probably the best part but that isn't saying much sadly. There are two guns that can be described as functional and they are used to kill 2 enemy types and a boss. There are forced stealth sections, but the game doesn't tell you that. The first time you have to stealth is when you suddenly show up in a room with a bunch of enemies, there is no indication that you have to stealth you just gotta figure it out. The second time is more obvious but it just ends up being a trail of error until you figure out what to do (what do you mean the first key you get doesn't open the elevator door, you need to use to to open a different door that leads to a key card that opens the door). The game is hard but that is only because if an enemy gets close to you, you are pretty much dead, also the fact the final boss one hits you hit every attack doesn't help. Others have said that ammo is a problem but I only really noticed that in the final boss when the game takes away all your ammo if you die and you have to go around the arena and collect it again. I found a few glitches that messed with the play through, the above mentioned ammo problem is one (unless it is intended?), but I also couldn't go through a door way that was much bigger that my character unless I crouched for some reason. And before you get the gun you have to pick up a key card but when you enter the room text shows 'E to Interact' while you are in the room, you are supposed to pick up the key card on the bed but good luck doing that without a reticle (you don't get it until you get the gun) and if you leave the room without picking up the key card the text stays on screen. Also for some reason the game wanted access to the internet, maybe some default setting from Unreal/Unity? Sadly this game doesn't do it for me, there are some cool ideas here, the cut scenes are pretty seamless from game play and the atmosphere was consistent, I would love to see more from this developer but maybe without the AI voices and more of the environment feeling a bit more alive. There were some nice subtle horror parts that don't use cheap jump scares that I appreciated, it would be cool to see more of those. Anyways, while I don't recommend it I still think if you are looking for some jank indie horror games to play, this could be right up your alley.

There is so much admirable talent in spades here. But a the time of this review, sadly also a lack of proportion between enjoyment and total fustration that diminish the game. Reaching the final boss stage is *very* hard, too many tries and failings, health goes down to zero in a couple seconds and scarce, barely sufficient ammo unless perfect attacks. But the comment is cemented with the final boss: he is seems invincible, a damage sponge, quicker to run to you if hurt near, and jumps 80 meters or more to you when hurt if far: Just falling/getting near you kills you outright. No decreasing health at all but instant death. That amounts to disregard for the player/buyer of the game's chances, a sadic jest. So mantain an obstacle between him and you whenever possible. Luckily the dev designed that when the final boss kills (and he will, many times), you are reborn **but his health stays diminished**, so with patience you can eventually win. Good luck to all ! Disclosure: being 70 y.o. and slow, had to resort to making my C.E. table and a glovepie rapid autofire script I concocted in my desperation to fully savor this unique creation, and read the final long credits (each very well deserved, I'm sure) =)

After starting the game, there is just a white screen with game sound, not responding to any key presses.

Game is definitely on hard mode and there is no difficulty setting which is a good thing imo but i would prefer for it to be in the middle of medium - hard difficulty. (this may be fixed as i see a patch on ammo balancing on 17 june) The final boss is too hard for my liking to the point i have to resort to getting gud. Ammo is hard to spot and need to respawn more, its very dimoralizing to see 0 ammo while the boss is at 90% health. It one hit kill you and the aoe attack is too big and leave little room for mistake, I think a little adjustment on the aoe and dmg would make it a more fun and scary experience. My first play through I manage to sneak through the stages without taking the shotgun and ended up to the final boss just to find out its impossible to beat it with just pistol since the ammo did not respawn. I like that the dialogues rhymes and I played freestyle beat along with it for max vibe. All in all its a fun action adventure experience. w game. https://youtu.be/S8o8__tBjpA?si=sWAwN9bcgh6EdBaF

EDIT: I initially left this game a negative review, that in all honest I feel might have been a little too harsh. While I stand by my critics I probably could have approached it better. Now there was an update made after my review that fixed a lot of my core problems with the game making me return to give it one more try. The game feels much better with the ability to edit fov and with the head bobbing turned way down! So THANK YOU dev for fixing that I appreciate it. Now I did fight the final boss, and beat the game this time so I have a more complete view of the game now. And I got say pretty good overall even if the final boss is kind of unfair. A decent first outing for a solo dev and I wish the best of luck in the future too them. Left My initial thoughts down below/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Now I really hate leaving negative reviews, especially on small indie games, and I only do it when I believe the game can truly improve. Which I do I truly believe there is something here, the potential the dev is showing is outstanding. Now I'm going to leave a list of everything I like and dislike about this game to kind of explain my reasoning What I like: -How the characters talk in rhyme, adds a lot of charm to the game and really makes it stand out. -Having to take your time to aim too get the killing shot. -A nice lonely atmosphere -The design of the Robot enemies, I think they're cool looking. -The level design really sells the whole secret underground lab feel of the game. What I dislike: -AI voice acting, If I'm honest had I known it existed before I bought the game I wouldn't have. I didn't see the disclosure until after I played through the game. Now I know as a solo dev it can be hard to afford a decent VA, but you have options: Do it yourself, ask friends or family, or just add subtitles and no voice. -The camera, it shakes way too much. It makes me feel like I'm drunk with how it shaking even when I'm standing still. It makes aiming take way longer than it should and it gives me slight motion sickness. -Lack of an FOV slider. I'm sorry but when you're making a first person shooter it really should be one of the first features added. It doesn't have to go up to 100 but having to option to raise it to 85 or 90 would be great. -Probably not an intended feature, but losing all of my ammo when reloading the game from death. I've gone from having three full pistol clips and 5 shot gun shells to 0 ammo across the board. -forced stealth, I'm sorry but holding down c because the game decides I need to do that now is annoying. -Enemy attack range is too wide, doesn't matter if they're animation doesn't connect I've been hit, and considering how fast they attack I'm also dead. Neither like or dislike just things I noticed: -Lack of keymapping. Would be nice to have, but isn't really necessary, -Lack of subtitles. Would make following the story easier. I don't want this to be any form of discouragement for the dev, and I hope they succeed in any future projects, but I just reached a point where I wasn't having fun with the game anymore and had to drop it. I will check out any future projects from the dev and will come back to this if it gets more updates but right now I just can't bring myself to recommend this game to anyone.