Cry of Fear

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.