Reclusive

the game is actually rather good, very jump scary my poor heart was palpitating like crazy 🤣 and yes i screamed alot (me and horror games do not mix well) but over all i recommend giving it a try https://youtube.com/live/nClzj1zF4Qg

VD was kind enough to send me a key for RECLUSIVE, and while this game has got some fun elements and atmosphere, there are a few mechanical shortfalls which in my opinion make this game unplayable in it's current state. I think there's a lot of room to improve, and I'm interested in seeing how this developer improves in the future. I'll list my mechanical issues here which broke my experience, followed by quality of life improvements. These have been actively workshopped with my livestream viewers on tiktok: THE BIG FIXES NEEDED: 1. The forced perspective change. I'm confused as to why this game began in third person and then switched out of nowhere to first person. FP was locked, and several mechanics as a result become useless. ---with the forced switch to first person, the running mechanic became non functional. essentially it just makes my character bob up and down. I can only assume that's because the running animation was built for third person. it functioned well enough in third person view, but translating into third person, it makes my perspective bob downwards and run at a slightly faster pace that is barely noticeable. ---The camera shift key becomes non functional with the forced first person perspective _________________________________________________________________________________ 2. the individual fuel dispensing is a chore. There's no need to include this as a mechanic as the creatures do not follow you into the lighthouse (however they can kill you through the walls). The game needs to make a mechanical choice here: ---if the monsters can follow you into the lighthouse, then the individual fuel dispensing can stay, however there should be multiple exits or some sort of way to reasonably escape the monster, perhaps a lockpick door in the fuel tank room or an ability to exit the lighthouse from the top of the stairs. ---if the lighthouse is safe, then there ought to be some sort of "auto dispense" mechanic. if there is no actual danger when dispensing fuel, having to hit the E key 55 times everytime I go to drop off fuel is a complete chore. (not to mention it's bad for my keyboard). _________________________________________________________________________________ 3. Lockpicks are unavailable. if a core mechanic of this game is the lockpicking of doors, then lockpicks need to be a somewhat available resource. I scoured the island for lockpicks for a good 30 mins, and couldn't find any. Either the lockpicks need to be more available, or they are unnoticeable with their current locations. as there is no skill progression, the difficulty level of the lockpicks doesn't make a lot of sense. ---either make lockpicks accessible, (make them noticable with a glow if they are actually available around the island) increase the hit box for picking them up, and make some sort of skill progression or perk system ---or just do away with the lockpick resource entirely. The need to sit and lockpick a door can make for exciting, dangerous gameplay, but as it stands there is no point in having breakable lockpicks. breakable lockpicks make sense for games with a lot of scavenging, merchents, etc. in a game with almost no resource availability, no skill trees, and no shop of any kind, the limited availability of lockpicks make progression nigh impossible. _________________________________________________________________________________ 4. Enemy AI. it sppears that the AI of the creature is told to explicitly follow you at all times. with no ability to hide, this means you are just constantly running with a creature walking/galloping behind you. it becomes an "immortal snail" type game, where you are just constantly being followed by something trying to kill you. it takes away from the scare factor. my viewers began joking that the creature is like a pet, and aside from the incredibly loud noises and red screen effects, nearly all scare factor was lost quickly. ---either add the ability to hide from the creature. make it actively search for you but not actively know where you are. ---or if the creature does actively follow you, make the map less of an open space full of dead ends, and more of a maze. take a look at the game's map from a bird's eye view and wherever there is a dead end, add an opening or passage to somewhere else. _________________________________________________________________________________ 4. UI. the user interface in this game is very limited. this can be effective for immersion, however with the current implimentation of mechanics, the game is very unaccessible. ---With the forced perspective change, (third person becoming first person) there needs to be some sort of indication or whether the player character is crouching or not. this could be a simple icon or a crouching figure/standing figure. ---add a minimap of some kind, even if the fog only reveals a 15-30 foot circle around your characters. if some of the above mechanics are tweaked, this suggestion could be ignored. _________________________________________________________________________________ 5. Instructions. add some sort of quest line in the pause menu or instructions at the beginning of the game. this is needed with the current state of the mechanics. _________________________________________________________________________________ Final thoughts: the game is barely playable in it's current state. the most important change is the perspective, pick either first person or third person and stick with it. build the rest of your mechanics around this. Cognitive: 0 star Aesthetic: 1 star Emotional: 0 star Technical: 0 star Enjoyment: 0 star 1/5 stars. not playable in it's current state.

I genuinely enjoyed this game. Chat called it tedious and they were right. But for some reason collecting all the gas was actually really fun for me. the game is broken and easy and unfinished and riddled with AI art. But it was stupidly charming with its horrible broken english dialogue that put a smile on my face every time. The funny dialogue was enough reason to play the game all the way through. Thank you VD games for giving me and chat a fun little spookfest to enjoy for a couple hours. oh and also at some point I just activated a first person mode, the entire game after that start was in first person. i assumed it was on purpose until I rewatched the trailer. Honestly the game would be better in first person, I really like that claustrophobic feel. gg

This game has a lot of potential. The premise of the game is very interesting and intriguing. The monsters are well designed and genuinely quite scary. There's a few too many bugs currently and I had to end the run because of falling through the map. Twitch chat says 2.7/5 - "bugged af"

I received a key from the creator for this game on Keymailer.co I got to say first off it was amazing graphics, it was beautiful. BIG BONUS IS YOU GET A DOGGO NAMED JACK. There was a few bugs but of course with new games there's going to be, At one point I fell threw the map and had to restart (which is when I realized there is no auto save and had to start over when i reached the house). Another bug was when you get jump scared in person you're thrown from third to first person and cant get back to third person until a few minutes later when you pop out of first person. Jack would either be stuck or lost at some point but would always come back when you click come to me. Mechanic wise it was easy, the story was good especially with the lore! The bit for filling the tank was a bit big with so little here and there on the canisters you find but other than that I recommend this game,

Concept of the game was pretty cool having a 2 hour deadline to fully fill up the lighthouse generator (while also powering up the generator for lights and your own kerosene lantern as well) all while outlasting evil creatures. The music and audio engineering was really well done and after the very first time I saw a creature, i immediately was driven mad with anxiety. A couple of things to note: 1. The balancing of kerosene use vs. how often the creatures attack is a little off. I was dying A LOT the moment after my lantern ran out/i shut it off to conserve kerosene. 2. There were some really weird graphical issues with green pixels all over the place until I lowered everything down in Graphics to Low setting. 3. The dog is essentially useless, even when trying to find items it just casually walks towards whatever is closest (I would normally pick it up before he'd find it) but he'd still sit there and bark for a bit at what was once there. 4. I tried hiding in a little corner and fell through the map. At that point I loaded my last save, which was right when we used the radio for the first time, before I used over 200 diesel gas canisters on the generator. I was pretty discouraged at this point, but this was my own fault. Make sure you manually save the game periodically! Other than that, the 7 USD price point is pretty good for a fun little indie game that will run you a little over 2 hours with replayability for sure. A couple small adjustments and this game would be fantastic! (Disclosure: I received a free review copy of this product from https://keymailer.com)

I want this to be understood right off the bat if you get this. YOU WILL LOSE. No way around it. Pros: The run animation was smooth DOG! I liked the lockpick mini-game Cons: The demons aren't that scary Could not pet dog >:( Needs some TLC on how the missions are handled. It's kind of just an ok game but due to some issues on how the missions are run and some mechanics that need to be worked on it's a no from me for now BUT I think that could be changed in an updated to come. I give it 3/10 diesel cans.