Cry of Fear

Very good survival horror game, especially for FREE. It appeals to fans of the og Resident Evil and more so to Silent Hill fans. What I like about Cry of Fear is how unhinged it is with it's horror. It has many truly terrifying moments which you would not see in a AAA horror game. It manages to be scary without jumpscares. Well okay, there are two instances of a jumpscare in the campaign which should not have been there but otherwise the scares are done well. The general gameplay is your resource managing survival horror with some light puzzles and exploration. Just like the above mentioned classics, the game has unlocks so it's replayable and has extra modes. You get a lot of game time. Maybe even too much. I feel the campaign does have some needless padding. Also your inventory space is a bit too small for my liking, it should have been twice the size. You are often forced to drop your items to make space and then backtrack for them, slowing the game down. So overall, Cry of Fear is something that is worth playing if you're into survival horror. It does have some problems but for free, it's very much worth it.

So far I have a love hate relationship with this game. I really adore its aesthetic. Walking the desolate streets of Stockholm Sweden is an absolute treat. I haven't traveled much outside of the US so its nice to see the sights and architecture from a different country. Coupled with the changing snowy and rainy weather really drives home the horror atmosphere. The gunplay is really solid. Its to be expected seeing as how this was built off a modded Half Life one engine, I just have a soft spot for source games in general. The guns feel realistic. The way you fire and you have to sit still for a second to have your reticle home in. It makes the decision making and feel of combat all the more better. Seeing as this is a survival horror game, puzzles come naturally. I'm only about halfway through the game but the only real true puzzle I saw was the animal statues in the park. More of a nitpick but I would've liked to have seen more. I started off on the hardest difficulty that was avaiable on a fresh install, that being difficult. Ooh boy did I realize just how bad I was at this game. I was stuck in the opening apartment section of the game for 2 hours simply due to the enimes being frustratingly difficult to deal with. I have never seen stronger dual wielding children in my life. They have the swinging force of a bullet train coupled with the striking speed of a professional boxer. Like surely it can't be that hard to just punt one of the little sh*%s out the window right? Ok but in actuality I lowered the gameplay to medium and cruised right along without any problems. The melee combat is a little lackluster but you only have to deal with it for a short period of time before you get the pistol. My real gripe with this game is that it truly shows its age. There's a whole bunch of weird collisions throughtout the game where you simply just get stuck on random pieces of geometry. Its especially annoying during platforming segments where often times you'll just die outright if you miss a jump. Inventory management absolutely blows too. You only get six slots, in actuality 5 because Simon always has to have his phone on him. Sometimes the game will give you multiple key items and you will have just outright drop one of your guns. I am so stubborn in not losing my weapons that I will drop off the key items at one save point and haul back to the previous to grab all my guns. This gets realy tiring as the map is huge. I want to use every gun in this game but it feels like I'm not getting the oppurtunity to do so. On the topic of navigation, I wish there some sort of map or something. I know games nowadays are a little too hand holding with navigation and I like that this game honestly respects the player's inteligence but I feel its just a tadbit too hands off. Last but not least, the ammo management is also a little annoying. Its already a valuable resource and the fact that you have to use the full clip otherwise the bullets go to waste is a hastle. Some people like to make the arguement that its for the sake of realism. I think its really just an oversight. Realism for realism's sake of it is not inherently fun or meaningful. I'm playing this game because I like that there are grotesque super natural monsters to shoot at. Besides the M16 takes up one item slot which is the exact same amount space as the phone or like a pair of keys. I can go on and on about certain gameplay aspects that aren't realistic but you get the point. All in all, this is a really precious game. The only thing holding it back is really just the outdated engine. All of my complaints come from a place of love. I really just want some quality of life changes. Whether it comes in the form of an update or a new game altogether.

no dont groom children nooo

Amazing story and overall great horror game

Honestly an amazing game, I’m absolutely hooked. The gameplay, graphics, and storyline literally everything is perfect for me. If you're unsure about trying the game out, you should definitely give it a try. Easily the best free game on Steam, and honestly my favorite game on steam so far.

Cry of Fear is a phenomenal achievement for FPS Horror games as a mod that utilizes the GoldSrc engine to explore themes of loneliness, depression, and suicide. The ambience and soundtrack sell the despair of the game's setting in Sweden. The nightmare sequences, forest, and apartments are my favorite setpieces as they encapsulate the game's horror within a cramped setting. Gunplay is nice, and animations have details that match the game's aesthetics. Such as the Glock 19 having a proper function of emptying the magazine, with the hammer click and then the gun click. It's small, but it shows attention to detail. Simon also handles guns unlike most FPS protagonists as he would make minor drastic mistakes such as discarding entire mags if you reload partially, which shows his inexperience with firearms since he is young and only a civilian. However, the gameplay has aged a bit, could be the engine, but its also the game design's fault. This is prevalent in the infamous Chapter 4, where you're supposed to backtrack through nearly the entire game to find 2 fuses for a puzzle. This is an example of awful game design as it forces the player to undergo a simple task stretched into a sloggish, messy roundabout process of going through nearly the entire map to find them. It just sucks, Chapter 4's tedious and awfully paced design nearly brings down the amazing quality of the other seven chapters. 8/10 Cry of Fear made me cry out of fear at its ambience, aesthetics, and detail. Though Chapter 4 and aged game design turn this game into the Yawn of Apathy in some parts of the game.

While i like this game and a lot, i would not recommend it to others, the hand to hand combat is specially not very fun, the attack animation of the enemies are not synced correctly and they deal damage before the animation ends, the horror elements while interesting and likeable, are somewhat superficial at presenting their symbolism and unless you watch or read an explanation they aren't presented properly. The graphics are absolutely gorgeous for a Gold Source game and the atmosphere is well built, some of the levels and puzzles are a bit weird from a design standpoint and. Some of them get very tedious after a second playthrough. A diamond in the rough, a little overrated but still a very good game and even with its flaws makes an unforgettable experience.