Noctem

[h1][u]Quick Overview[/u][/h1] Set in Dry Creek Alaska, Noctem is a first-person psychological horror game depicting the story of Amelia and the horror she discovers upon her return to her childhood home. I truly wanted to like the story, but it feels incomplete, and the atmosphere is destroyed upon the introduction of the enemy monster. Overall, it's a valiant attempt that unfortunately falls flat on the ground. [table][tr][td][h1]Pros👍[/h1][list][*]Great atmosphere at the beginning[*]Decent voice acting[*]The general aesthetic of the world, and the monster are intimidating[*]Good performance[/list][/td][td][h1]Cons👎[/h1][list][*]Enemy AI pathfinding is terrible[*]Persistent enemy encounters ruin the atmosphere[*]Puzzles are tedious[*]Story felt disconnected[/list] [/td][/tr][/table][table][tr][td][b]PC Specs: RTX 2070 Super |i7 4790S |12 GB RAM |Playing at 1440p resolution[/b][/td][td][b]Average Playtime: 3 hours[/b][/td][/tr][/table] [quote]Follow our Curator page, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41449676/] Summit Reviews[/url], to see more high-quality reviews regularly.[/quote] [h1][u] Gist of the Story[/u][/h1] Amelia Hudson had a happy childhood and relatively normal life until a string of unfortunate deaths began in her family, starting with her brother’s illness and then her mother. Unable to deal with the pain, she moved on elsewhere to begin a new chapter in her life. One faithful day, she caught wind of the mysterious death of her father, who had an obsession with UFOs and extraterrestrial life. This prompted her to revisit her old roots in Dry Creek, Alaska and discover something beyond this world. [b][u]My thoughts[/u][/b] The story is told in a mixture of notes scattered throughout the house, the various commentary made by Amelia, tape recordings made by her father, and the worrisome deranged scribbles on the walls. I love the topics of UFOs, parallel universe, and extraterrestrial life, and the game loves to hammer these down on its players to the point that by the umpteenth note about “Ancient Aliens,” it’s almost comical reading them. I want to hear more of the tape recordings, and how the obsession ravaged her father’s psyche because he was onto a great find, or maybe it could’ve further delved into the reason for her father's descent into madness since it might have been his way of coping with the death of his son and wife, but we received little of that. I am very mixed with how the concept is laid out on the Steam Page versus how it’s executed in-game, since it seems incomplete. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2831333937 [h1][u]Gameplay[/u][/h1] [b][u]The Ancient Ones[/u][/b] The main gameplay consists of exploring the real world inside Amelia’s home and a grotesque parallel version of it, reminding me of the “Upside Down” from Stranger Things. No combat is involved and once she is pulled into the alternate world, she must use her wits and problem-solving skills to decode a variety of puzzles in order to uncover the secrets her father hid in the house. A dangerous creature called the “Ancient One” also lurks in the shadows, and it is capable of traveling through dimensions, telekinesis, and other supernatural powers. It patrols around the house, and with no weapons in her arsenal, she must run or hide in closets and rooms, to avoid death. I believe the monster is blind because it only reacts to sounds when you’re running away or aren’t crouched, and it is relentless when it has sensed you. The speed while crouching is abysmally slow, and if you’re impatient like me, you are left running away, ducking into narrow corridors and rooms for a short reprieve because the monster is too large to fit inside. Its AI is almost like a bull, charging at you tirelessly and will camp in front of doors if it knows you’re inside the room. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2831333774 [b][u]Puzzles[/u][/b] The objectives are tedious, consisting of searching for sets of objects like toy pieces to complete a dollhouse or trying to find the next key in cabinets to unlock another locked door, which is not exactly riveting gameplay. I also found them disconnected from what is happening to the character. It is not thoroughly explained why we have to, for example, search for toy pieces to solve the puzzle, and Amelia hardly makes any comment about its significance. Whatever is listed on the screen feels more like a random checklist that needs to be completed. I don’t feel motivated in doing them, especially when the monster is roaming around outside and never giving the player a break to scavenge around the house. There is a clever one where you have to draw constellations to open a locked safe, but overall, the puzzles are nothing to write about, and the solutions aren’t too hard. [h1][u]Scare Factor[/u][/h1] Initially, the atmosphere was creepy, and the ambient sounds elicited paranoia in me. The house was dark and ominous even with the electricity on, and the eccentric, horrifying paintings decorated throughout made it feel like they could jump at you at any moment. However, once the Ancient One rears its horrifying head, the tension immediately dissipates upon realizing how annoying the AI can be. This has always been my problem with stalker-like enemies in horror games since over-exposure to them might lead to them breaking the atmosphere rather than adding to it. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2831333489 [h1][u]Graphics and Technical Issues[/u][/h1] Despite my reservations about the monster’s programming, I like its frightening design, the various limbs jutting out from its body, and its smooth, eyeless head that is reminiscent of the creature in Pan’s Labyrinth. Its nesting ground offers a similar type of uneasiness with disgusting roots mangled everywhere, and the thick white mist conveys a suffocating feeling that you’re not welcome in its domain. The designs and general aesthetic of the world are creepy and intimidating. Performance-wise, the framerate stayed at a stable 60, and besides the monster often clipping through the walls, I didn’t unearth any game-breaking bugs. [h1][u]Wrap Up[/u][/h1] Finishing at around three hours, it is not a long game. I just wished I enjoyed more because I could see the attempt to create a universe that I could have loved, but it doesn’t execute it well enough for me to recommend it.

This is a unity slog, through and through. I am definitely wondering if the devs paid to have positive steam reviews posted on this, because the game did in fact start off wonderful and creepy, but quickly turned into find the key and items simulator, with a breakable AI monster. Indie or not, this is not excuse for something that should be priced at least at 8 dollars permanetly. If you like looking at your game in blue tint for half of the playthrough, you are in fact in luck. I'd suggest not getting this, if you want something that doesnt seem as if padded for time so you can't return it before 2 hrs...

Noctem is a curious little beast. The game was created by a very small team (four people, including the studio lead) and boasts some excellent graphical assets and superb sound design. It's atmosphere is gripping and the layout of the house you spend most of your time in brings back fond memories of titles like "Visage". Since this is DreamTale Studio's first outing, you can expect some roughness when it comes to the technology, but don't let that deter you. The game does not outstay its welcome, and although some of the set-pieces could have been handled a bit better, it remains an excellent proposition for a solid, spooky one-nighter. - FiOth

I played this on stream today and it was an absolute blast! Everyone loved it!

I really like this Noctem game. very tense atmosphere, very interesting puzzles to complete, fear of having to be chased by big monsters, it makes this game exciting. But there are some bugs in this game where the monster is stuck in one place. By the way I highly recommend this game This is my experience playing this noctem game https://youtu.be/0xHLtgydUCA

怪物就一个，很难找到各种道具，开始让你找钥匙，找5个玩具，玩具后面给个地下室的钥匙，进地下室又找阀门，感觉游戏像流水账一样。里世界和表世界相互切换，老气的很。有恐怖气氛，但不好玩。

Okay lets be honest, I wouldn't recommend buying this game (at a max get it from sale). And simply put the reason being that it's extremely tedious and time consuming, without you feeling that you're making any kind of progress. Basically your only guides are using common sense to search the house multiple times over and over again, and the VERY "helpful" checklist in your inventory. The game hugely suffers from lack of guidance in short. The story itself doesn't get explained that much IMO, sure you get some sort of "backstory" when starting, however that gets really abruptly ended with the word "but.." and that's it, then the MC keeps talking about probably her dad... "my dad this" "my dad that", and already being frustrated with the game, I couldn't care less about the "Story". The game also suffers from very "cheap" and not that well put together animations. When the [spoiler]monster that chases you, gets you, you literally stare at the monster aannd.... you select what save you wanna keep continuing from...[/spoiler] It's really lazy. And then the [spoiler] monster's AI itself is totally boring. It either roams in the second or first floor. But however, if you manage to not make a single sound or get "seen" by it, it will switch it's "roaming" to the floor you were in. And now assuming the monster is blind, it still doesnt make sense if you walk in a complete opposite side of the house and it hears you from there and charges at you... [/spoiler] The game advices to use "sneak" mechanics and such, but honestly if you wanna move along with the game without dying, it takes somewhat longer to go through the whole house sneaking the whole time. BUT all these "defects" being present, the game has an awesome atmosphere, the house is very dark even with lights on ( makes no sense but adds to the atmosphere), and at the beginning it keeps you on your toes if something comes at you. It also relies on a feature thats frankly quite excellent use, and that is [spoiler]placing creepy paintings across the house, I ran in a narrow hallway and a unsettling painting was straight on my face and it spooked me a bit.[/spoiler] But after you get involved with the [spoiler] monster, that gets sadly turned to this "fog" type of scene and the lights stop working [/spoiler] (note that its now even easier to see in the house).

这个游戏做的不错 但是 关键物品能不能用高亮作为提示啊？我完全找不到，进了门以后（连进门的钥匙我都找了半天）我只找到几瓶哮喘药和一瓶酒 其他的什么都没有找到 拜托了 我还挺喜欢这个游戏的风格的 通关了，提几个意见和建议，第一个就是主线任务里面需要找到的物品是在后面触发剧情后推进才要找的东西你提前给我弄出来了我真的以为是我找东西不过关，结果是后期，特别是这个橱柜，明明是最后要找的东西，你第一开始就标出来让我找，我不找到头就疼 强迫症都快烦了。 还有就是老生常谈的关键道具高光，真的很难找呀 不过总的来说还是个好游戏 如果我刚才提的东西能够修复就更好了 锦上添花

Great atmosphere and clever puzzles without being boring. The best assets you gonna need from an indie game.

A truly great indie game! You can tell right off the bat that this game is made with love. So much attention to detail from the level design,the story, the music etc. The story is engaging and the ambience immerses you right in. It's fun,it's scary and it's also beautiful! Kuddos to the small team of super talented people who created this.