GHOST at DAWN

First I'll start with what I like. 1. The visuals that's it Now what I don't like. 1.Everything involving actually playing this game I agree with every complaint vengefulretreat makes in their review. I love survival horror but this games gameplay sucks, REALLY bad. the gameplay is this: walk into a new room, instantly start taking unavoidable damage, shoot, swap target, repeat untill all enemies are dead. While doing this you continue to take unavoidable damage because the rooms are so small that the knock-back from your shots doesn't push enemies out of range of damaging you. And even if you do knock 1 enemy out of range at least 1 of the other however many enemies in the room won't be. After clearing the room you likely need to heal since you've been taking damage for the entire time you've been there. Only to walk into the next room and do the exact same thing again. the combat isn't fun at all. The way that the player takes damage means that it is virtually never their own fault. There isn't actually any resource management since you constantly have to use all of your ammo and healing items just to not permanently die. I could go on about other things, like how 80% sfx is so quiet I could't hear anything but 90% is loud and clear. Or how there's a cat you can interact with that just instantly kills you in a game with limited lives and perma-death. But if I complained about everything wrong with this game I would be here a lot longer than I want to be. If you want good indie survival horror here are some recommendations: Dead Beacon $5 Nightmare of Decay $5 These 1st 2 are stupidly good for 5 bucks Alisa $18 Crow Country $20 Endoparasitic $10 Evil Tonight $15 Gloomwood $20 Kwaidan $25 (Rough around the edges but still a fun game get on sale) Lamentum $16 My Friendly Neighborhood $30 SIGNALIS $20 Them and Us $40 (goes on sale for much cheaper) Tormented Souls $20

Where do I even begin? At this point, I feel like I'm beating something when it's down, because it's clearly not a popular game, but the developer NEEDS to understand why it didn't take off and become something awesome. First off, the sanity system is something that no game should have, especially in this capacity. The screen goes purple, I keep hearing a heart beat and then if it gets SO BAD, flashes of random stuff pop up! It's not even scary, just VERY annoying. Telling us in the beginning that the game 'doesn't hold your hand' is NO EXCUSE for not explaining what the heck items do. I had to figure out with trial and error that certain stuff does this and that. Like hello? Do I really need to waste it, in order to experiment with it? It's a video game, NOT real life. also, not telling us how many bullets are in the game is also a negative. 'there is plenty' or 'getting low' does NOT help me. lol I'm sorry, what were these choices for this game? I think what annoyed me the most was the tank controls! Even with 'modern controls' the movement was horrendous! This needed to be put back in the oven, because it's extremely undercooked! Who playtested this? Who ever you decided to give free copies too, were ALL people pleasers and did NOT want to see you as a developer succeed. You don't need 'yes men' you need ppl telling you what the survival horror consumer wants and most of, if NOT all the stuff in here is NOT it. Also, a nit pick of mine is the character itself! What the heck do you mean the character doesn't have a flashlight!? Where's my flashlight, i'm a detective right!? Why do all DEVS want to use bad gimmicks and padding to make you pick up more useless stuff?? I don't understand! You can't shoot and hold a match, I get that, SO BRING A FLASHLIGHT!? Why is this guy a detective if he has PTSD?? You are literally putting more pressure on yourself by going around solving murder cases and OTHER horrible things! Yet again, you needed to add this to the game bc you needed a gimmick to add more intense scenarios and its dumb. it's a cop out basically. That annoyed me as well. I never say a game is 'hot garbage', not unless it REALLY is, but for this one, I had too. It actually came out of my mouth. If you need someone to give a fair assessment on a game, I'll be happy to help next time. But PLEASE... +don't add tank controls... (it's 2025 (24 when this game came out), MOST gamers use normal controls) +get rid of the sanity stuff, whyyyy do I have to be visual and audio harrassed everytime I see a ghost!? Especially a ghost I can shoot lololol MAKE that make sense. +Ppl are tired of seeing a ptsd military vet, going through it with their trauma. It's been done before, I can name several games with that same premise! SEVERAL more, MAYBE ten more. lol +Why does the main character have to look so ugly when in crazy mode? Like it took me out completely starring at his 'AHHHHH' face lolol, I had to stop and laugh bc it was hilarious. The shadows did nothing to fix this and half the time it looked like he was wearing a robbers mask. LOL Just let him have a normal face. At least let me LOOK cool, if even a little bit, while I trudge this AWFUL game. Like give me SOMETHING. (after awhile, the main character bugged me more then the game itself!!! LOLOL) +Tell me how many bullets I have. 6 slots is NOT enough, sorry. NOT, when you keep padding the game with random ghosts coming back after I finish a zone. Like coooome OOOOON. seriously!? I wouldn't even mind, but the simple fact I have to deal with the constant purple screen and the flashing dumb memories of my past giving me a seizure is just MISERABLE. MISERABBBBLE. The only positive I have for this game is that they tried something different with the art style. OH, and I can happily refund it. UGH. DON'T. BUY. THIS. GAME!!

If you're looking for a short answer: GET IT. Ghost at Dawn understands and delivers on the fundamentals of what makes a horror game great. It's a compact ride with near zero fat on its bones that'll probably take you roughly 4ish hours to complete on your first run, assuming you make it to the true end on your first try. If you're a fan of traditional survival horror or if you're just looking for something spooky to play this Halloween season then I can't recommend it enough. Those are some pretty strong words and if you're on the fence, let me explain why I feel that way. Gameplay— I've been thinking about this for a bit and this is where it needs to start. I'm a horror vet; I've played everything I could get my hands on since 96 and while I love the formula to bits I rarely feel that same level of tension throughout the experience and THAT is where I feel Ghost at Dawn excels. The game employs an auto save feature (no save scumming!) coupled with a permadeath mechanic— you get five lives and if you lose that, your file is gone. Enemies will kill you immediately if they touch you and they exude a passive aura that drains your health if you remain too close. This sounds like it could potentially be frustrating but in practice it felt kind of genius to me. Juking ghosts is always a risk; if you don't spend bullets on them you'll be spending health instead. Hiding just out of sight? Better to take the risk to run in and take them out quickly if you want to conserve your sanity. It's a system that rewards proactive decision making and it remains a constant threat throughout your run, even if you're well stocked. In the event you do fail, the relatively short nature of the game keeps any setbacks from being too egregious. The Pines Hotel is FULL of traps and dirty tricks to boot and for my money it kept my blood pumpin' the whole way through. Design— When I first saw the trailer I was a touch unsure about the use of the anime aesthetic but as with anything it's all about the execution. Ben's character is very expressive (especially when low on sanity) and he looks great under the heavy shadows of the setting's film-noir aesthetic. The Pines Hotel itself is a gorgeous, dark setting with plenty to explore. The layout is fairly sensible and I can't imagine most folks would get too lost with or without the help of the game's map. They may not be everyone's cup of tea but I love fixed camera angles and am happy to see them used here. Story— As detective Ben O'Hara you are tasked with investigating the disappearance of a young girl, Emi Kosuke. As is tradition the story is largely told through (fully voiced!) notes that can be found scattered throughout the hotel and environmental clues. It's well paced and delves into some sensitive topics so consider yourself warned if that's not your thing. The twist here is you can technically end your run and leave the property at any time to report your findings to your employer, giving you one of I want to say five different endings based on what you've found thus far. Nitpicks— As much as I appreciated my time with the game I did have some nitpicks and felt there are some areas that could stand to be improved. Both modern and traditional tank controls are available for the game and while they both generally work I found I really wanted to stick to the tank controls to avoid any serious mistakes when the screen transitioned with the fixed camera angles. The tank controls themselves could stand to be tightened up a bit; something as simple as speeding up the quick turn would be a lifesaver. Towards the end of the game you'll need to have collected a series of color-coded keys to progress to the finale. I managed to miss one of these my first time through and was left to search the entire building for where I could have left it— This probably won't be much of an issue as guides and such inevitably get made but I'd love to see a feature implemented in the future that tells you whether you've cleared an area or not. Everything considered, I think Ghost at Dawn is WELL worth your time and money and I hope this convinces someone to give it a shot.

I should preface this review by saying that I played it before the developer rebuilt the entire game from the ground up (something I think the developer deserves a huge amount of respect for), and as such my views may not reflect the current product being offered. This game is not perfect. It's janky and, at times, feels like the whole thing is loosely held together with nothing more than tape and string and the hopes and dreams of the dev. In spite of all that, or let's be honest probably because of it, I absolutely love this game. It's not exactly trying anything new but what it is doing it's doing very well (technical limitations aside). This is exactly the kind of game that I want to play and I'm glad that someone is out there making it. Buy the game, give the dev some support and love, and join me in anticipation of the sequel.

I found this game tremendously frustrating despite having all the elements I could have wanted in a game. I liked the mystery/noir/horror genre mashup. I liked the visual design. I liked the plot setup. But it just was frustrating to play. I felt like there wasn't enough health or ammo even when I was playing relatively optimally. I straight up lost my first time playing the game, then immediately started up again because I figured knowing where to go and what to do would help me be more effective and efficient. Going in blind, sometimes you're not going to do things perfectly, but after gaining some experience I really thought it would go a lot better. But that just didn't happen. Just being near enemies (even ones you can't see because of camera angles or which have gotten stuck in walls) hurts you, so you can't just run around them and save ammo. Enemies can just randomly decide to dodge your bullets, so even if you're shooting perfectly the same can just go "lolno". I got to just about the same place as my first time playing in roughly the same condition except for having not died as many times, but that was useless because without health and ammo I couldn't get further anyway. There were no real difficulty options to make things a bit more forgiving and the game basically mocks you for even wanting them. I'm not afraid of difficult games, but this just didn't feel fair enough to be fun. If you like games that are that hard, you might enjoy this. For everybody else, I think there are better options. Up to and including classic Resident Evil 1.

I liked this better than "Them and Us" and "Tormented Souls". Too bad it is also almost unplayable... (I'm noticing a pattern here.) I've progressed a considerable amount and obtained an unnamed key and a key for some "storage" room. And that's where my progress ends... None of the achievements triggered (?), all of my deaths were me getting spawn killed by enemies before my character could even react and worst of all once I went back to the second floor using the elevator the game black screens and you can no longer go anywhere or do anything. Only the inventory and pause menu would open, leaving me with no choice but to exit. (Speaking of, the developer responded and my suspicions were true. The pitch-black room was another one of those oddly placed events. I was out of matches by this point...) Worth noting is that this "broken-ness" extended into the general feel and design of the game if that makes any sense? Half the time it feels like you're both doing everything right and wrong all at the same time. Scene triggers and event triggers are random and only certain rooms feature re-spawning enemies while elsewhere there were other ambitious gimmicks. I think the game knows it's unfair and eventually grants you infinite ammo and a permanent inventory upgrade. But you're never given a choice in the matter or a proper game over selection screen. None of this should deter you from trying it out though. There is a lot of fun to be had with this that it's ultimately a thumbs up from me. There really is a lot to like here...... from the music to the visuals and combat. When this game wants to work, it does so with shining colors.

This is a classic survival horror game with some neat little twists on the mechanics and an impeccable sense of style. The art style and soundtrack are really one of a kind here. Big shout out to the developer (Blue and Red Games) for being an absolute champ and fixing every bug I found in record time. Really looking forward to seeing what's next from them!

I really wanted to like this. I can feel the passion in literally everything else about the game but the scare/health system kills my momentum whenever I gain some. catch on a deep sale.

If were to sit here and describe all the things I LOVED about this game, I would be here forever. I will say that this is probably the best Indie game that I have ever played and it is 100% worth it's price and your time. Do not cheat yourself by not plying this game

So very dark story, some times the camera messes with things. Fun to figure out things based on clues and items you find. overall, not a terrible game. If you like anime and horror I'd give this a shot