[code]Curator page here-->[url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/37670120/] DaRevieweD #190 [/url]<-- [i]New review every Weekend[/i][/code]
[h1]"THE SPOTTY LIGHT’S ON YOU-!!"[/h1]
[u] Here's The Thing:[/u]
You are a nondescript office worker, much like Chandler was for most of Friends’ run. Or rather nobody cares, take your pick… Anyway, duty calls and your boss orders you to retrieve a package to place in his office. Of course, that never gets done and a routine elevator ride back to your department turns into a low-intensity fiasco~
[h1][+] PROS;[/h1]
[b]:) GETTING ON… WITH IT~[/b]
In the interest of matching with the brisk pace of the game, I’ll sum up the experience as “office errand boy” turned water-cooler talker and then new job-seeker! For the latter portions, they entail a fair amount of trying to not be detected by a freakishly tall creature with a torch for a head like Shade from[url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/DeadeGuard98/recommended/268050/] The Evil Within[/url], or specifically the Juli Kidman DLCs. That, and also fumbling in the shadowy office for clues and key items to solve puzzles that appear from out of nowhere.
My first go lasted approximately 25-30 minutes and not due to the inherent difficulty, but rather the fact that you are kept in the dark as to how the mechanics work, on top of the already looming dimness; as well as the monster’s operation. It’s not all bad, because there are a lot of contextual and instinctual hiding spots in the office. And there are unwritten guidelines- foreshadowing if you will, that can make your impending doom that much easier. Just have to pay attention~
[b]TIPS:[/b]
1) Solutions are unchanged. Hence, you can beat the game in 2 MINUTES by skipping half of the puzzles. I’ve tried it~
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2852025873
[b]:) NOT-SO-ALONE. IN. THE. DARK.[/b]
Cast aside the fact that 90% of the assets clone themselves, what you’re left with is a semi-clean and commonplace workspace that captures the about-to-close office atmosphere to a T! Pretentiously bustling, gossip and colleague drama aplenty. And it even has another iteration, one that is very grimy and dusky. Not that you’ll have much time to take them in since you have a patrolling night lamp constantly on your case to put in some “it’s over” time… All up in your face like being swatted.
I personally thought that the creature was too silent as in and light on its feet, until it is really close by that is, that’s when you can apprehend their clicking on the carpeted floors and the raspy breaths from its throat(?). While it’s true most of the game is filled with a disquieting stillness, there’s an unexpected industrial noise quality that just gets switched on when you are spotted! It’s a cross between the rumbling of a washer with the pitch shot to hell and whirring from a factory~
[h1][-] CONS;[/h1]
[b]:( TO THE POINT OF BEING LIGHTHEADED![/b]
I can appreciate the candor of wanting to turn the player’s life upside down, and I do but this is not the way to go about it. The gameplay is at its best, unreliable and disingenuous; at its worst, broken and left as such. There were countless times where I was in the clear but then somehow lamphead saw me in its rearview mirror or something, from behind a door/wall/object no less, AND without my flashlight to give me away!?
Yes, this adds an element of volatility and overthrows all sense of refuge at the cost of faith in its “mechanics”. What’s just as likely though, the detection radius was left unrefined to pad the brevity of the game. But, was it really worthwhile to piss off the players in hopes of prolonging the inevitable realization by a mere few minutes? Even without interrogation lights, the answer is a cranked up loud and proud “hell no”! Is the creature visually or hearing impaired?? You’ll never know… Maybe they even come and go; not unlike the players I bet~
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2852027098
[b]:( THE ONE TO B-LAMP HERE IS!?[/b]
With the gameplay being a disappointingly big no-no, what of the rest? Well, it gives me no pleasure to say this, I did not feel any of the love & effort that went into it, only the gaping holes reserved for them. Not to sound like Gaming Sins or nothing, but let’s start with the NPCs whose models were recycled so many times to the point of being a redundant travesty. Heck, even the lines and “supposed lore” they pontificated were similarly copy-pasted with no energy to tell them apart or make them sound like actual sentences spoken by human beings.
No context, no easing in or a cup of coffee first, just “I was programmed to say this and so here”. As I’m reading this aloud, I’m aware that other games are guilty of this practice too, but it’s even more blatantly superficial here, is all I’m saying! I think a bigger impact would have been made if the office was almost cleared out, nightmare or not, save for a few workers here and there. That way, the NPCs won’t stand out as much and wouldn’t seem to be phoning it in.
Lastly, the proofreading was skimped on and that just boils my blood. Now now, I’m not qualified to berate someone for their questionable English, but the mistakes are embarrassingly simple that, again, it hints at a hurried work, dragging down what’s remaining of the pros~
[b]:( WHOSE BRIGHT IDEA WAS THIS…[/b]
Circling back to the gameplay for just a sec, this time of a visual standpoint, whereby the light emanating from Mx. bulbhead doesn’t really possess that refracting property or abide by physics. So, it doesn’t register in my head or yours why it should be THIS hard to perceive where it’s coming from until the thing is making a beeline for you. But anyway, it’s the script now which needs to be urgently addressed. It’s one sorry and scattered mess, everything- and I mean EVERYTHING you need to know is strewn on the Steam store page alone… So, if you’re the type to not check those out, you’re screwed.
Short horror titles have begun to adopt this trend as of late, and I beg you; just stop and find a way to insert it in the game! It just irks and rubs me the wrong way that the dev wrote “replay the game to further understand the connections” when there is none to contribute. Like, I’m all for theorizing and I love symbolism as much as the next person! However, it doesn’t give you much to work with right at the onset. The creature is creepy but just incorporated wrong. It’s like an entry in a horror anthology that will bemuse and amuse for half an hour, but then that’s that, out like a light~
[h1]BUGS:[/h1]
x Killed instantly while crouched and hidden on a desk in the cubicle.
x Using the same corner behind the door strategy sometimes gets me detected, other times I don’t.
x Lighthead or whatever its name is- once spawned before the first locked door. Not moments after I stepped off the lift!
x Bendable rules; detection radius/searchlight penetrates through walls and doors?
x Sparky glitches out when you're seen on the meeting table.
[h1]NITPICKS:[/h1]
~ There are checkpoints in the non-urgent sections. But not when you have to evade the monster?
~ None of the computers are on, lmao. This is slacking 101.
~ Settings can’t be accessed or adjusted once the game starts.
[h1]"NO, EVERYTHING IS NOT AL-LIGHT…!"[/h1]
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2852025639
[u]Last Words?[/u]
Super short story-esque horror title very light on content. What’s present is too snappy, sloppy and choppy! Like the staff, it only works half the time… making it an ordeal but also a nuisance~
[h1]4.8 / 10[/h1]
[quote]Shoutout to [code][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32732116/]Indie Gems,[/url][/code] for GEMME-ing a key! Follow them here right now for more well, y’know~[/quote]
