The environment modeling was decent, but overall the game was very generic the entire way, very baseline walking-sim with no attempt to personalize that cosmic horror. There are so many things you can do with a Lovecraftian universe, so many angles you could take and do something differently, and it feels like there is no imagination in this game, it's like the most baseline cosmic horror thing you could tell. I don't even have very high standards for writing, I liked games like Stars Die, but at least that game did something that was never done before. I don't need the game to have amazing writing, but I want the game to be creative and maybe do your own version of that idea.
Very confused by all the complements that this game is getting (specifically for the narrative), sure there is some subjectivity in how we experience the story based on our experiences, but I never felt like there was any nuance to the writing in this game. The story sounds like the first draft, I am not sure there is a nicer way to put it. Every part of the narrative feels forced on the player, there is barely any room to wonder about what is happening, horrible plot twist at the end, and very unrewarding ending, with a few forgettable characters. With games like these you also want to see cool creature designs, but there were barely any models in this game, like what are you even talking about. You spam the same model all over the game, and another thing that chases you, but also looks similar. Where is the creature design?
There are better ways to make linear narrative games, I think the difference is making sure there is something interesting happening all the time, and maybe if you populated the area with more optional exploration, maybe it would feel nicer to play (I know there are a few optional achievements). I didn't really care because whenever I would try to explore this game, it was always a dead end. You should learn how to reward curiosity.
I have not played your other games, people seem to like them. Maybe you were focusing more on the environment and less on the central narrative. I think there are developers that could take level design like that and do something more fun with it. Maybe you should look into adding some basic platforming sections next time, make it into a bit more of a game, or perhaps do like an open exploration game, something not linear.
[h1]Pros: [/h1]
(+) I think the level design was fine, but there is a difference between having nice locations, and utilizing them, you not using what you created in a compelling way, it's all looks, no substance.
(+) Music was alright, it feels like the mixing is a little off in some locations, could not hear the ambiance sometimes.
[h1]Feedback: [/h1]
- If you making like a linear narrative game, I would encourage you to utilize the dead ends of the locations, and make sure players can still find something interesting in them. Otherwise I walk into one direction for 60 seconds, I find nothing there, and then I walk back for 60 seconds. It feels very cheap, you want to have immersive game, but you not giving the location the substance and that "Visual Storytelling" you talking about.
- The jump scares and other visual events looked too cheap, like that astronaut just warping out of the image, like I get what you going for, but it does not work because it looks very silly. I guess my point is that, if you are going to have moments that should raise tension, you do need to actually animate them and manipulate the sound. Sometimes I was confused, like was that a jump scare? I can't tell.
- There were barely any creatures in the game, only a few models that looked too similar.
[b]Overall Thoughts: 3/10[/b]
Again, I did not play your other games, maybe you made a mistake doing the central narrative, you doing a good job with the visuals and I think maybe you could make a better game if you made the environment more playable, or perhaps if you could explore it more. Perhaps instead of making like a linear narrative, you could make open-exploration game where you get smaller parts of the narrative and have to put it together yourself. The story was just so generic and forced, I have no clue how anyone would find it compelling with any level of critical thinking.
[code]Niche, obscure and underrated games: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/31294838-Hidden-Gem-Discovery/ [/code]
