Chasing Static

I was engaged with the game at the beginning, but it quickly goes downhill. The long radio conversation almost put me to sleep. But hey, a new tool, finally something interesting, I thought... new tool that allows you to mindlessly run around trying to catch some signals. And the reward? Each time, an unskippable meaningless flashback-dialog by random NPCs. Maybe I didn't play enough for the narrative to shape itself into something concrete, but there is no hook for me to wait for it.

It was... ok. Atmospheric and at times suspenseful, but too much time was spent walking back and forth through large, bland, repetitive environments looking for items. The story wasn't terribly original (something escaped from a research facility, oh my!) and many aspects were never explained by the end. There are better horror walking simulators to play, such as Layers of Fear, Homesick, and The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.

solid horror experience with really good writing and atmosphere. it really has only one main issue, which is that it's often frustratingly vague about where you need to go in order to progress the story. i had no idea there was even a fast-travel system because i unknowingly left the area that teaches you this for last (which would've saved me a lot of tediousness while replaying for completion). i wish there were some more hints besides chasing the titular static, but outside of that it's definitely worth a try.

Is this the Dark Souls of narrative adventure games? It isn't that extreme, but there is an inscrutability to this game that you may or may not find appealing. I am someone that usually prefers to have a game hold my hand a bit. I like a quest log and a map and an objective marker. You will find nothing of the sort here in Chasing Static, and that is completely on purpose; you really can tackle your tasks in any order that you would like, and there are several places to get key items. That is an interesting level of freedom, and I understand why the game would forego conveniences like objective markers in order to encourage the player to find their own path. Once you get your bearings and grasp what it is that you are supposed to be doing, and once you start to learn the landscape and stop getting lost in the sprawling wilderness, this game really turns into something special. I have enormous admiration for games that can feel spooky and unnerving without having to resort to putting the player in mortal danger. As far as I can tell, there is no fail state in this game; nothing is ever going to get you and make you reload your save. And yet it is extremely creepy, atmospheric, and mysterious. There is a surprising amount of depth here; when I finished the game and got what I thought to be a pretty satisfying ending, I was surprised to find out that not only are there other endings but there are entire mechanics to the game that I never engaged with. I am not exactly eager to dive right back in from the start right away to see what I missed, but it is nice to know that there is a lot more here than meets the eye. An inscrutable game that does not hold your hand and possesses many secrets for the industrious player. Maybe this is the Dark Souls of narrative adventures / walking sims!

Chasing Static is a standout title and a must play for lovers of horror, narrative and puzzle games. It's basically a survival horror game, but with less combat and more storytelling + puzzle solving. The visual and audio design are top notch - rich with dark atmosphere and environmental storytelling. The voice acting and story are both well above average for horror games as well. Overall, it's an extremely polished and compelling game - there are several secrets and alternate endings to discover too! (edit: ignore the "1 hour" playtime on this review, it took me more like 3-4 but Steam didn't log them for some reason)

Well I'ts a bit sad, that you cant give a neutral judgement, because I find it unfair to dislike it when its only 3 people making the game. Because it is a nice enough story, it looks good if you like retro games, and the chasing static mechanic was nice, but also not very developed or used to its full potential. I think it's cool that it was in Wales, even tho that was only mentioned once - sad, because it's cool to have different countries in horror games, that are not Murica. But it wasn't a horror game either. More like a creepy atmospheric walking simulator with a okay-ish paranormal story. Sadly the ending was quite lackluster, because it does the same thing many indie games do: Explaining the story in the outro video instead of showing the background story etc. in the game itself :/ that's always very lame. But still, its ok for what it is.

Это квест/survival (у меня не было врагов от слова совсем. Да, можно и так проходить). Он сразу кидает вас в загадочный, непонятный, околонаучный водоворот событий. Пытается напугать, запутать, впечатлить, заинтриговать. И у него это, кстати, здорово получается. Прохождение короткое, концовок - больше одной. Много бегаем, читаем записки, общаемся с загадочной тётенькой. Пугаемся, канешн. Графика очень помогает в этом. Хоть и пиксельная, но такая атмосферная!

The game is okay. Voice actors did a pretty good job and I like the graphics style. The story didn't really grab me, even though it had some neat ideas that didn't seem like they got fleshed out. The Welsh? setting was pretty thin and inconsistent. Several times I missed one single item and ended up in walking simulator hell searching everywhere for what I missed. There was one single time an enemy came at me and I had to use the weapon thingy that didn't really get explained. One single enemy. I'm gonna try Hollowbody but I can't say I recommend this one. Also, the protagonist was whiny and I couldn't pet the sheep.

A short chilling adventure that leaves the player wanting to dive back in after the credits roll. Worth the purchase and kept me on my toes until the end of the game.

Brilliant!