I've recently realised I have a soft spot in my heart for indie horror games. I've worked my way through Ib, Mad Father, and Witch's House. I took a break for a while, but Spring Break rolled around, I had some time, and I'd just gotten my paycheck. So I got myself an account, and started browsing through the indie section.
I really wasn't sure about this game, since it only had one review, and I couldn't really find any information on it other than the description, but I figured $5 wasn't going to kill me, so I went ahead and got it.
I can say, without any sort of hesitation, that it was worth five bucks.
The story is interesting and just the right amount of macabre. There aren't as many jump scares as you might expect, but there's a lot of psychological horror. The characters are all different from what I expected, and this family certainly isn't what we might think of as loving. But it's interesting to see them battle between trusting each other and letting their suspicion run wild.
I'm also a fan of the whole 'fear' system. The main character is afraid of the dark, and as you travel through the enormous mansion with a very limited field of vision, his fear gauge will go down. If it isn't replenished by lighting matches or eating chocolate, he'll begin panicking, and will ignore your directions and run in a random direction for a time. Of course, lighting a match alerts the murderer to your location if he is in the same room. It makes the game just challenging enough to keep you on edge as you make your way, trying to keep your family safe and get out.
I've finished one playthrough, and I have to say, the ending I got definitely surprised me. I'm pretty sure I got the bad ending though, so I'll have to try again, it would seem.
I'm always long winded, but I'll go ahead and list the pros and cons from my experience:
Pros:
Interesting plot
Frequent plot twists (I don't know if that's the right word to use, but there are a lot of very surprising events that change the way you think about things)
Simple gameplay, but not boring.
Multiple endings
A lot of player decisions that ultimately change the outcome
A good blend of the visual novel and rpg genre
The Korean voice acting is actually very good
Cons:
The most glaring one is some shoddy translations. The mistakes are pretty frequent, but they don't interfere with the ability to understand, so they aren't a huge issue. But those that can't stand grammar/spelling errors should beware.
The characters can, at times, be incredibly unlikable. Minhyuk is very self-depreciating, and most of his siblings are manipulative jerkwads. But it plays into the story, so it's forgivable.
There was an occasional glitch, particularly on the second floor for me. A few times I was seen by the murderer, but he would not follow me to other maps, and I could not hide. Yet he'd be waiting for me to return to the map where he first saw me, and continue chasing. I had to load my games a few times because of this. But it's not too hard to overcome.
Some of the puzzles aren't well explained. You are given vague directions and just kind of have to push buttons and hope. There was one that involved moving a bunch of stones to the right that I'm still not sure how to do, I just kept messing around until it worked. But you can eventually get it, even if you just mess around for a while.
For me, it was a fun game, and I'll likely play again soon to try and get the true ending. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone that is a fan of the indie horror rpgs.
