Escape Camp Stranded

Honestly way better than I expected. However quite a few bugs that lowkey ruin the experience. The moans after getting bit were lit, but I didn't enjoy getting jumped through walls. Also Groundskeeper key isn't able to be picked up. 6.7/10

Watch my Let's Play here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0i99hXJOxUs Escape Camp Stranded is the first game from this indie developer and, while it is not perfect, it is a surprisingly solid horror experience. The game takes place in a small abandoned summer camp where you find yourself trapped and must search for a way to escape. The setting is simple but works well, and the occasional jumpscares add tension without becoming annoying or overused. One thing I particularly appreciated was the checkpoint system. Dying sends you back to the beginning, but all collected items remain in your inventory. This keeps the challenge intact while avoiding the frustration of having to repeat every single task from scratch. The enemies also help maintain tension, as you cannot simply stand around forever waiting for something to happen. Radios can be used to temporarily get rid of threats, although this mechanic could probably use some balancing since the lack of a cooldown makes certain situations a little too easy. Overall, this is a very respectable first horror game from a new developer. There are definitely mechanics that could be refined, but the foundation is solid and I genuinely enjoyed my time with it. I wish the developer the best of luck with this project and any future games they create. --- [b]Step deeper into the darkness — discover more horror gems and nightmares.[/b] 💀 Follow our curator page: [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45809849-Sanctum-of-Horror/]Sanctum of Horror[/url] 🎮 Watch the horrors unfold live on [url=https://twitch.tv/cobargaming]Twitch[/url] 📺 Full playthroughs & reactions on [url=https://youtube.com/@CobarGaming]YouTube[/url]

A fairly short horror game set on a camp ground that you used to go to with your parents. As a child, you encountered a man; strange, and also not-quite-human. Though everyone you knew was convinced it was just a dream, you felt different. After many nightmares of the place, you eventually return, to try and settle your mind - or confront your demons - once and for all. A number of enemies stalk the campgrounds. You have a number of methods to deal with them; an on-hand torch that freezes them (which depletes its battery), or a radio in the guest house that banishes them for 30 seconds (but isn't portable), giving you some reprieve to explore. A number of puzzles stand between you and your exit. Some are fairly simple find-the-object 'quests', others are more environmental logic, as well as deductive reasoning. None of them are particularly hard, and with the grounds not actually being that big, there's not a huge number of places that the items could be. Of course this is both a benefit and a curse for the game, and where we have to talk about the 'negatives'. It never outstays its welcome, but also feels a little annoyingly short, like it never really gets going before it ends. Given the rather small map area, the 30 second radio boon feels overly generous, and often had me checking osmething out, running back to that building to reset the radio, and repeating. I never really had to use the flashlight, which also has no cooldown (i.e. it recharges the second you stop using it, so there's no reason not to spam use if needed). The graphics are okay, I was able to play it on a fairly old PC setup with no issues on very high (it did chug a little at the beginning), but for a first horror game, don't go in expecting red dead redemption 2. The sounds were decent, though felt like they were a little obvious (certain bunkhoues seem to have certain musical accompaniments) and the transition can be fairly noticeable. While the supernatural theme in the game ties everything together, I feel that some more could have been done to make everything cohesive. Currently it feels that none of the bunkhouses relate to each other (except one multi-puzzle room near the end that was really cool). Lore could be introduced to explain this - something happening in each of the bunkhouses individually for example. I am also a horror game wuss. Most of my time was spent hiding in the safety of the cabin (and jumping whenever the light turned off!). I found it enjoyable, the world made sense, and I figured things out before they were explained in text (i.e. where the big bads 'hideout' was and how it worked). It feels like the basis for something really enjoyable, a tech demo perhaps. Easily worth the money, and the kind of thing that'd get me to play more horror games. I will certainly be interested in playing more games by the developer, and hoping this builds into something larger. Though, just because you manage to get through the puzzles and reach the end doesn't mean you've reached the true ending of the game.

The graphics are what you see in the screenshots and short videos. Personally, I unfortunately had the problem that the game stuttered and had screen tearing quite a bit. I had to set everything to Medium to be able to play smoothly. For my stream, I’d even have to set it to Low and restart the game. But I don’t think it matters that much with these graphics (no front) whether you play on Medium or High. I thought the sound design was okay, though in the second cabin I found the organ music a bit out of place :D You can’t fight the threats you encounter—which is by design. The goal is to solve puzzles (difficulty: Easy), survive, and escape. The story is fine; there’s no surprising ending or “aha” moment. Everything is actually quite clear. The horror comes from the fact that you can be chased and killed. So for a beginner horror game, it’s fine. I recommend improving the game’s performance and making sure the enemies can’t walk through multiple walls to kill you ;) Otherwise, I see the 1 euro as an investment in new horror game developers.