Consternation II

Consternation 2 is a 3D retro first person adventure/horror/jumpscare game where you explore a 1990's Wolfenstein style raycaster FPS paper mill, with a slasher/ghost thing that will give you jumpscares. Gameplay consists of negotiating Wolfenstein style levels to find the object, pull the lever, flick the switch, find the exit, bla blah. You're limited by lighting provided only by a torch you have and a nightvision mode that has very limited, irreplaceable batteries. The scary atmosphere is well done, but that's all this has going for it... it's got shallower gameplay and less content than 1992's Wolfenstein 3D (now free and open sourced). From a technical standpoint, this is a big fail. It's been slapped together with GameMaker Studio, the construction kit blight on gaming that's behind so much garbage shovelware glutting Steam. What's amusing about this is that at least this is made using GameMaker Studio's very mediocre raycaster capabilities, which pushes the highly deficient engine to it's natural limits... and as you can see, these limits are a poor comparison to superior games from the mid 1990s. And despite all that, this is still a million times better than the 2D retro pixel platformer garbage that GameMaker Studio is usually associated with. Ouch. In fairness though, it's better than a Raycasting Game Maker asset flip. It does fail on most basic tests for what makes an acceptable PC game... low res assets, no graphics tweaks, no resolution options (you can switch between full screen and windowed, and that's it). Locked controls, so the game may not be accessible for some gamers. This was a sincerely made game, however, made by developers who just lacked the proper talent and resources to create a truly acceptable, modern PC gaming experience. It's not an asset flip, or a cash grab, and that should be taken into consideration. The game is completely free. Nothing speaks more to a developers belief in themselves and their product than making their game available for everyone without remuneration. This is certainly a gesture that shows dedication to the gaming industry. It's a shame in this case that the implementation is below the minimum standards a dedicated PC game should offer to enthusiasts. There's no "maybe" option in Steam, unfortunately, but I hope to see more work from this developer, perhaps as part of a professional game development company that can make full use of their talents without needing to make budget/quality compromises.