Ouroboros: Prelude

Ouroboros: Prelude is a rogue-like horror game that heavily borrows ideas from Amnesia: The Dark Descent. The player controlled character is susceptible to going insane, with the sanity meter dwindling over various elements; currently it seems to be only from monster sightings. At this time, the game has no real discernible story, the only thing that's known is that you have woken up in some incredibly dark, dank dungeon, and that there are monsters lurking somewhere in the labyrinthine chambers. The developer, Dreamverse Entertainment, has done a good job so far with creating a very creepy and foreboding atmosphere. Ouroboros: Prelude definitely has a lot of potential, and it's important to keep in mind that the game is still in its Alpha stage. However, there is still a lot of polishing that needs to be done in order for this title to actually be enjoyable to the masses, and that is why I cannot recommend it at this time. This review is going to be aimed more at the developer rather than the general audience for now, regarding the improvements that need to be made. Right off the bat, the game is way too dark; it's nothing like what is shown in the trailer. Everything is black and blood red, which are two of my favorite colors... however, that leads right into the second point: The starting area does not have any candles or means of which to produce light. Being a rogue-like I understand that each and every time the game is booted up it's different, but I cannot stress this enough: There needs to be a set beginning area with at least one or two starting candles. Mega emphasis on a SET STARTING AREA. Let me elaborate a bit more on this. The first time I started the game, I was just getting familiarized with the controls when all of a sudden some nasty enemy breaks through a wall and kills me. I made no noise, and I was simply trying to pick up the note in the cell to read it. I died, and when my game reloaded I was in an entirely different area, in a cage with water under me, with no means of escape; there were just two boxes and a bone in the cage, and the door was locked. I reloaded my game for a third time, where I was actually able to leave my confinement and began exploring. During my few minutes of gameplay, I found no candles and only a couple of secondary objects, I was injured by something I couldn't see, and my gamma was turned all the way up yet I still was barely able to discern anything. Afterward, I spent about an hour watching gameplay footage on YouTube, and noted everyone's different experiences. Again yes, this is a rogue-like, a genre that I'm very familiar with; I know it's supposed to be difficult and unforgiving. However, it seems as though in general most people have not made it very far, and most people wander around aimlessly in the dark because resources do not spawn close enough, or frequently enough. Many times, items were passed by because it's too dark to see them. From my experience, the game will be able to set players up to fail right off the hop, and this creates a very, very bad first impression. A stagnant, pre-rendered, pre-resourced, enemy-free starting zone needs to be implemented. As it stands for now, Ouroboros: Prelude seems to be stuck in Early Access Hell. There has been no communication from the developer since April 2018, and no updates to the game have come out. It's in an early Alpha stage right now, and it needs a lot of spit and polish before it's ready for mass consumption. Unless a major update is released, this review will stand as-is. [h1]Rating: [b]1.5/5.0[/b] - It's Bad.[/h1] The Horror Network [url=http://store.steampowered.com/curator/28221963/]Curator[/url] | [url=http://steamcommunity.com/groups/thehorrornetwork]Group[/url] Click for Gore [b]The developer provided a free copy of this game for review, through The Horror Network's Curation page.[/b]

Very scary, spooky, and good.

Way too dark. Clunky, convoluted controls. Even once you figure out how to read the note, which is amazingly awkward to do, it's too dark to read them (with brightness cranked up). Your warning about sanity is valid.. if I forced myself to suffer through more of this horrible execution, I would go nuts. To be constructive, these aspects can easily be fixed; games like Penumbra have a similar feel, and somehow they manage to be usable. Hope this helps to make version 1.0 actually playable.

I really did want to like this game, but the whole idea behind video gaming is for entertainment and this is too confusing and broken to be entertaining. First thing I notice is there is no tutorial of any kind, which fair enough, I skip the tutorial half the time anyways because most of them are a waste of time. Wouldn't be too far off the mark here however as it takes dying again and again or restarting to learn anything and every time you restart it everything changes. Second thing I notice in the dark cell you start in is that there is a table with some items on it. You can pick up flint and steel, 1 candle, tinderbox, and at first there was a candleholder (which then disappeared on subsequent attempts); as well as there being a note on it that you can't actually pick up only read. Once again here is where a tutorial wouldn't be off the mark however because first time trying to light the candle in the candleholder I ended up dropping it with no way to extinguish it or put it in the candleholder; only able to carry it around with the mouse, until it dies out. Third thing, the note I can't even read due to the tiny print and how dark it is. Honestly if the controls were a little easier to use, i.e. more intuitive and less damning that would go a long way to making this more playable; as well as the lighting. I understand the idea behind it but when you make it unplayably dark with no optiuons for creating light and then penalize as harshly as it does for wasting light that it forces you to waste? I give up. I hope the Developers can do something about this because I really like the idea. I was really hoping to enjoy this game. Maybe make the candles last a lot less time but give you 4 or 5 to start with instead. maybe make it so you can't light them out of the candleholder. Maybe make it so a single button controls all of that rather than the 3 it takes now. And as far as the note reading goes, I don't understand how it has to be that dark with a candle lit in the room, or even the ability to pick it up and take it with you to read under a torch burning on the wall. I reall honestly hope some of this is addressed. I would like to try this game again with some improvements. But as of now I can't. I only took the time to respond this much in hopes of it getting better. I'm too busy to be spending hours on a game with a vague hope that it might get better eventually. Otherwise, maybe add a tutorial. Start it out easier then when you got a player hooked make it harder. As it is though pretty sure I'm done. Withholding a score for now since I hope it does get better, will update this if it does. UPDATE: Tried it one more time, was able to get the note to a torch to read(inconsequential) and figured out why I couldn't before... it got dropped under the floor. Had the same thing happen with a candle this last time.

Negatives: - Unbelievably dark even on max brightness setting. - The first abomination was stuck on the cave wall and I was able to just walk past him. - The player constantly gets stuck in crouch position and is super annoying to unstuck. - Contrary to logic even when the players sanity is at max the view is constantly being distorted and at points it just becomes a blurry mess. - The terrain is god awful to walk in. - Moving objects is very amnesia-like which is nice but objects just feel 10x more heavier, harder and more annoying to move than in amnesia. Positives: - Audio and sounds are on point and give the same eerie amnesia atmosphere.

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Love the dark atmosphere and mazes that this game offers. It is pretty easy to get lost and the map seemingly changes around you when you are exploring. This game is sort of like Agony in a way but in many ways it is not. If you are a fan of mazes and dark atmospheres this game is for you. As of right now I have 0.7 Hours and it seems like a good game that has potential. Forgot when I snagged this but its been on my list for a while and decided to give it a go. However there are its flaws too but since this game is in Early Access I will comeback and change my review if it ever leaves Early Access.