Fear The Void

While confusing, the gameplay itself was comprehensive enough. The enemy designs were quite creative and true to the theme, and the level designs were streamlined enough to let a player know where one should go without making it too obvious. The controls and interactions were responsive, without any complicated bits. At its core, the game is solid. I will recommend this game for the sake of the developers and their commendable efforts. They were clearly going somewhere with this, and it shows. The efforts are there for sure. The team did not waste any of their talent here. I am quite excited to see where this team goes from here. Now- the game around the solid foundation was not without certain discomfort and inconvenience. The story elements were almost negligible. It felt as if the dialogues were trying to portray and express something, but the way they were delivered without context made them feel almost flaccid. Simply put: the story did not excite me. The branching story paths make me want to replay the game, not because I am curious about where the story will go but because I am simply curious about what happens on a different path. And without a conclusive ending, the whole thing feels rather unsatisfying. The intro did show quite a lot about this game, especially on how it could be clearer on what players are supposed to do. There are visual guides, but it's either too small or easy to brush over in a time-constrained situation. And when it comes to making "choices" with the NPCs, it really was not made clear what a player should be doing, especially more so when the dialogue choices do not matter. It felt as if the game was playtested within the developers' circles, to which the directives would have been clear. The horror elements were... let's say, not scary but frustrating. The enemies felt like they functioned less on vision but proximity, automatically gravitating towards the player regardless of direction. This made the threat feel less of a danger and more of a frustration. The visuals and the sound effects were not very helpful, either. Even though it successfully instilled a sense of unease, it did not reach the point of anxiety-inducing. Grammar and vocabulary could use more work. Dialogues do not sound human or fluent at times, and some sentences here and there are either too long or worded in a weird way. This would have been a much better game with about 500 to 600 more megabytes of content that allowed the game to take some time or a better enemy pathfinding/logic, visuals and atmosphere, and sound design.

Oh boy, this is some good stuff! I see why this game might not be for everyone, I see why some people might not like it. But, because of my strictly personal tastes, I simply LOVED every second of it. Fear The Void is a delightful marriage between two things I have always liked immensely: Silent Hill and H.P. Lovecraft. The atmosphere, the characters, the crispy PS2-like graphics, and most of all the absurd and horrifying creatures reminded me of the former, while the story, the lore and the cosmological themes reminded me of the latter. I totally did not expect this appearantly simple game to touch HEAVY themes like [spoiler] the nature of reality, religion, and even the meaning of life! [/spoiler] I have always been deeply fascinated by such themes, so I was immediately captured by the elegant way through which the devs managed to mix them with science fiction and mythology, all filtered through the gloomy and decadent visuals of Silent Hill. And speaking of sheer gameplay, I enjoyed that too! The game focuses on puzzles and survival sections. The puzzles are very well balanced, neither too trivial, nor too cryptic. The survival sections, well.... let's say they are a matter of taste. They primarily involve the study of the enemies' patterns: at first the enemies will surprise you, again and again, but once you understand how they move around, they'll never touch you again. Personally I liked this formula, I enjoy the games that reward experience, but I understand it might not be everyone's cup of tea. But what truly shines in this game is the branching story. The choices you make HEAVILY influence the downstream sections: by playing the game again and making different choices, you might discover brand new areas, or, alternatively, you might go through the same areas, but with different equipment, or you might even unlock a new ending, which adds another piece to the overall puzzle (there are 4 endings in total). Sometimes it is not immediately obvious how to make a different choice, you have to think about it carefully, but I think this is part of the fun. Anyway, there is also a progression tree in the main menu which can help you understand what you may do differently the next time you play, another nice feature in my opinion. Unlocking all the endings was very very fun, I felt stimulated to try all possible combinations, and every time I discovered something new: a new monster, a new piece of lore, a new collectible, and so on. I am very very happy I discovered this hidden jewel amongst the crushing mass of "paranormal investigator simulators" that pollute the horror section of the steam store. At last something new and fresh! If nothing I said in this review makes you recoil, and, above all, if you like mystery, cosmology and science fiction, then look no further and try this game blindly. If you have the patience to make it to the end, I'm sure you won't be disappointed. Cheers guys!

The game was enjoyable. Very intrigued by the beginning of the game and the developers were able to interest without revealing the main plot at once, often you see the trailer and you can not play more. At first I was a little confused, but I think that was the main idea, to make the player immersed in the story. Graphics left a pleasant feeling, nothing is striking to the eye and at the same time all very detailed and legible. The biggest surprise was waiting for me at the end of the game, but it's better to see it in person. And yes, a little advice, play with headphones... As for the first project, the lads did it well. I'm waiting for new product from these guys, finally something with a new vision.

damn you mike the cockroach!! D8<

Fear the Void is a great indie horror game that keeps it's graphics in a classic ps2 era. The game itself is pretty short but if you want to unlock all the endings it'll take some more time, and its time worth to spent. I recommend this game to anyone that likes vintage vibe and horror like gameplay.

Pretty short yet very cool game. It kind of reminded me of the only silent hill game I played: shattered memories. By that I mean that you don't really know what to expect nor what's going on. The most interesting part, to me, was to piece it together thanks to the limited clues and context the game gives you. Although pretty scarce, the story elements didn't feel disjointed and made me want to replay the game multiple times to understand how everything flows together and how my choices impacted the events. The gameplay itself includes a variety of objectives and puzzles that succeeded in keeping me hooked, even when my own skill issues made the experience a bit frustrating sometimes. My biggest "issue" with the games lies in how the enemies detect you based on proximity, I was so used to peaking around corners instead of relying on sound that it took me some time to get past certain levels. I still haven't seen all of the different endings but I certainly will! Other than that, I loved pretty much everything in regards to the art direction and the retro aesthetic. You can even tone it up in the settings if you're into BIG pixels. On a side note, the dev team is absolutely amazing, they're very passionate about the game and genuinely interested in hearing what people have to say about it. TL;DR Buy it if you like short atmospheric games with decent puzzles, intriguing story and awesome retro graphics!

I enjoyed this. It's short, but has some replayability with branching paths and multiple endings. I'm also a fan of the old PSX style graphics, which this game does well.

very nice

I had a great couple of evenings with this game and feel like there will be a couple more in the future when I come back for a second playthrough. A couple of interesting characters and a very gnostic/esoteric plot had me interested throughout. The look of it is scratching that PSX itch but it controls like a modern game with some immersive sim elements towards the end. I had an instance of one bug but after speaking to one of the developers on their discord, it was fixed very quickly which is a clear sign that these guys care about what they’ve made. Overall I would recommend this game if you like weird stories, weird characters, and existential dread XD

A short experience that is really enjoyable, with a well achieved ambience and a surprising deep narrative even if the game story is just scratching the surface of it. It has a surprising amount of endings and paths to follow to get each one of them. Loved the low poly graphics and the UI, made me remember when I first played Dementium in 2012. I really hope to see more of this dev. team