In The Foundations

Hereditary, The Ritual ve Layers of Fear'ın temalarını yansıtan In The Foundations, aile, kayıp, nesiller arası borç ve görev etrafında şekillenen bir korku görsel romanı.

There are multi-million dollar AAA games with supposed moral choices in dialogue, and I spent more time reloading to ♥♥♥♥ with a delivery guy in this game than I did playing any of them.

This was really, really good. I wasn't sure what to expect. This was one of those games I downloaded on a whim when browsing steam, just because it was free and peaked my interest. I liked it to the point that I decided to even buy the support pack, before I even knew it came with extra story content. The writing is great, and I found myself really getting into the characters and story. I got all of the endings and achievements. I even bought the supporter pack and played the three extra mini story's that came with it, which I will also say felt very worth it. For something a bit more akin to an actual review, the game is a visual novel, with seven endings. Most of the paths are simply based on your choices, but there is a puzzle where you have to figure out the word you need to open up a lockbox. It's not too hard, my suggestion would be to just write down, or take a photo/screenshot of anything you find that might have meaning to the person who owned it, like family names or highlighted words in journals you find. The story is about a man who has to return to his childhood home, left to him by his father, whom he had a rough relationship with. He has to try to deal with his personal feelings while deciding what to do with the house, and find out why his father was so cold and distant, and why he always stayed in the basement. It's a short, but entertaining and well written story. The three mini story's from the support dlc are very short, but cover short story's from characters you hear about from the main story, adding a bit more context to the relationships and dynamics of the people who came before the protagonist. I considered them worthwhile.

That was a crazy ass story, very creepy and interesting read

⭐⭐⭐

In The Foundations is a haunting psychological horror visual novel that turns the simple act of returning home into a descent into generational trauma. You play as Taylor a young adult forced to return to your childhood home after the sudden death of your father. What starts as a mundane task of clearing out an old house quickly spirals into an unsettling mystery centered around the one place you were never allowed to enter as a child the basement. The narrative is the strongest pillar of the experience. It manages to balance a heavy sense of grief with an mounting dread that feels both intimate and supernatural. I was particularly struck by the writing which treats family loss with a raw honesty while simultaneously peppering the environment with subtle clues about your fathers secret life. The game features seven distinct endings and your choices throughout the two hour story feel heavy and permanent. One wrong move or a lack of curiosity can lead to a radically different outcome for Taylor and her estranged half sister Paige. The visual style uses a minimalist pixel art aesthetic that works surprisingly well for horror. By not showing every detail the game forces your imagination to fill in the gaps in the dark corners of the house. The atmosphere is thick and oppressive aided by a sound design that makes every creak of the floorboards feel like a warning. I found the inclusion of small puzzles like a combination lock and even post game crosswords to be a nice touch that broke up the reading without distracting from the tension. What makes this game linger in your mind is its exploration of duty and debt. It asks uncomfortable questions about what we owe to the people who raised us and what kind of darkness can hide beneath the foundations of a seemingly normal family home. It is a brief but deeply impactful journey into the heart of a broken lineage. 9/10. It is a masterclass in atmospheric storytelling. For fans of psychological horror who prefer narrative depth over jump scares this is a mandatory experience that proves the scariest things are often the ones we try to leave behind. Unlock the basement find the truth and try to survive the weight of your own history.