Red Haze

Good, but don't expect the dev to finish it any time soon. Been waiting years for the so called "big update" but the dev just keep making new games without finishing the old ones. I get it, he needs the money to make a living as a game dev, but i really hate this trend of half-finished games that never get done. Until we get the full game, i cannot recommend this, regardless of how much i like the current content. Good game, maybe one of the best horror rpg maker games i have played, but bad development practice keeps it unfinished right now.

man please just release the game we paid for in its entirety its still not finished

I wanted to like this game, I wanted to 100 percent this game. But there are just so many unfair and unfun mechanics in this game. First off almost all monsters insta kill you, you are giving a item to undue the death. This is a finite resource that DOES NOT RESET FOR OTHER RUNS, you have to either find more or just take the death. I sometimes would use the item and get booted to the start screen. It would still waste a use. Saves cannot be used if you've been caught or get an ending. Sometimes they just stop working all together. I could still play the game with all this, but the real killer is the curse. If you open a certain room in the game, your game is forever cursed. Dolls will appear block door ways so you can just get unlucky and have to do a run over because there is an unmovable doll blocking the door. It just leads to some much frustration and waste of time. I really really wanted to like this game but there are just so many little things that add up to me not recommending it.

you get to inject heroin its pretty dope

As of 2021, within two months of its final update, I find myself greatly surprised by Yai Gameworks spirit in general and Red Haze. Duskgolem, depicting a great knack for showmanship, enjoys engaging with its niche audience in many different ways, and loves making each individual experience unique and even exclusive at times. This pholosophy is better seen in Red Haze, an apparently generic RPG horror game that doesn't mind holding back a lot until you're really engaged with it. The more endings you get, the more the game plays a masterful dance of streamlining boring events and making chill events difficult or tense. The element of permadeath and what "continue coins" that disappear permanently from the game after being picked up, Surprise encounters that are triggered on rare ocassions each run, and some game overs being but the tip of a thread to yet more discoveries. These are just some examples to what makes Red Haze a truly special game that really grows on you the more you play it, the more you explore it. Even if its tone can be a bit overly angsty at times, the honesty, bluntness and passion with which it delivers itself will be something you'll draw charisma from. A game I truly recommend despite its traditionally unfair design at times. But that it's appropiately on it for the show.

[h1] 좋은 아이디어, 부족한 실행력 [/h1] 개발자의 전작인 Close Your Eyes를 인상 깊게 플레이했기에, 유료인 이건 더 다양한 컨텐츠가 있겠거니 하고 구매한 게임이다. 물론... 더 다양해지긴 했다. 엔딩이 8개인 Close Your Eyes와는 달리, 26개의 엔딩, 더 다양한 맵과 숨겨진 요소들이 있고, 더 다양한 아이디어들이 사용되었으며, 공포 쯔꾸르의 기본 덕목인 묘하게 기괴한 요소와 좋은 퍼즐들도 (많지는 않지만) 있다. 특히 3D 미로를 구현한 맵에서는 감탄하기도 했다. 하지만 문제는, 이 좋은 아이디어들을 디자인이 따라가지 못한다는 것이다. 우선, 인터페이스가 별로다. 주인공의 기본 이동 속도는 너무 느린데, Shift로 스프린트를 할 수 있지만, 얼마 지속되지 않아서 뛰었다 걸었다를 반복하게 된다. 만약에 짧은 게임이라면 상관 없겠지만, 26개나 되는 엔딩의 경로가 이리저리 꼬여 있고, 겹치는 부분도 있기 떄문에, 새로 게임을 시작할 때마다 그 넓은 맵들을 반복해야 할 때는 짜증이 날 때가 많다. 이외에도 맵 디자인이 난해하다는 점, 괴물에게 너무 쉽게 잡힌다는 점이 아쉽다. 아마 이 점은 아마추어 개발자인 이상 전문적인 피드백을 많이 받지 못해서 그런 게 아닌가 싶은데, 이후 작품들에서는 고쳐졌으면 좋겠다. 두 번째 문제는 이 게임에 세이브 장소가 있으나, 생각만큼 쓸모있지 않다는 것이다. 작중에서 조사를 하다 보면 "아드레날린"이라는 것을 주는데, 괴물에게 잡혔을 때 이 아드레날린을 사용하면 세이브 장소에서 다시 시작할 수 있으나, 사용하지 않으면 리스타트를 하게 된다. 문제는 아드레날린은 줍게 되면 이후 회차에서 다시는 등장하지 않기 때문에, 다 쓰고 나면 사용할 수가 없는데, 괴물에게 자주 잡히는 게임 특성상 무한 리겜을 하게 되는 불상사가 발생한다... 세 번째는 너무 많은 엔딩인데, 다양한 엔딩은 좋지만 각 엔딩의 경로가 서로 꼬이고, 겹치는 경우가 많아서 역시 또 잦은 리겜을 유발한다... 특정 엔딩은 공략을 보지 않고서는 깰 수 없을 정도로 사소하거나 난해한 경로를 가지기 때문에, 이 점 역시 아쉬운 부분이다. 주인공의 아파트가 가진 기괴한 비밀들과 다른 인물들의 이야기를 알아가는 것도 하나의 요소인데, 이게 그 26개의 다른 경로 사이에 걸쳐있기 때문에 두서가 없이 튀어나오고, 이해할 수 없는 경우도 많다. 가장 큰 문제는 이 게임이 아직 미완성이다;; 26개 중 22개만 접근 가능하며, 나머지는 업데이트로 추가한다는데, 유료로 작품을 낸 이상 조금 무책임하지 않은가 싶다. 이 게임이 정말 아쉬운 이유는, 정말 다양한 아이디어가 사용되었고, 공을 많이 들였다는 게 보이기 때문이다. 대부분의 대사에 음성 녹음(아마 Patreon을 쓴 것 같은데)을 더하고 수많은 일러스트들을 사용해서 지루하지 않게 만들었고, 엔딩에서도 다른 곡들이 사용되는 등 노력을 많이 했다는 것이 느껴진다. 하지만 아쉬운 레벨 디자인과 인터페이스가 너무 큰 단점으로 작용한다. 다른 작품들을 아직 플레이하진 않았지만, 많은 발전이 필요할 것 같다. (그래도 개발자님 응원하는 마음에서 추천드립니다) 6.5 / 10

One of the weirdest games ive ever played.

Red Haze, oh boy where do I start? For as much as I like the atmosphere and creepiness of this game, I sadly can't say I'd recommend it. For starters it isn't finished, in the sense not all of the endings are in the game nor do I have hope that they will be. So as of this review, you can't fully complete this game and get what I'm assuming would be the true end. I think this a case of being a little too ambitious with all the endings (there's supposed to be 26, one for each letter of the alphabet). Edit 1: Currently as of editing this there are 4 endings that are missing from the game so some achievements are not possible to get (despite the fact Steam says 0.6% of people have those particular ones). I just want to get this point of the way now and just say that this game is kinda too difficult to play. I'm not talking in sense of the gameplay mechanics but more of how you get the endings. Some are easy, you just go through and do your base goal. Then others are basically impossible without some kind of guide or lots of trial and error. Edit 2: After going through the game some more and being able to get a total of 11 endings, I believe the previous point still stands. This game requires a lot of trial and error as I've already stated. Guides have been helping me through some points of the game but honestly gameplay videos and written walkthroughs are rather sparse so it's been quite the task. I want to continue to try and get at least a few more endings but I don't know know if I'll be able to get all of the currently available ones. [spoiler]One particular ending is linked to the creature in the well and being able to successfully play through a game of hide and seek, failing to find said creature within the allowed time will automatically be a fail and you will get one of the other endings. This is a clever way to make the player tense when trying to find the creature as it's within a maze, but if you don't take a very specific path, you will not find it and therefore always fail. The time you're given it just that tight. Not an enjoyable experience.[/spoiler] As for the puzzles, well let's just say they vary from fairly easy to figure out to down right headache inducing. You may even get different puzzles during separate playthroughs depending on which key you are given near the start (it can be one of three and it's dictated by how observant you've been) so certain endings are only available with certain keys. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy the challenge but some of these puzzles are really just left up to guess work. [Spoiler]I think one of the best examples I've experienced and remember was the puzzle related to the abomination in the underground dungeon. There is three points on that part of the map that have electrifyable floor panels with switches. You have to lead the abomination to each of these panels and shock it. The catch being, you only have one chance to get it. Also, if you die to it you have to use one of the adrenaline to revive yourself. When I first went to this area I didn't know about the abomination and when I found one of the panels, I immediately used the switch, not realising what it was. The game then doesn't really tell you that you have to go to a generator to charge the panel again (I believe this may be the case for each panel), I then found the abomination but then remembered the panel, so I led it over there, to then find out that it didn't work anymore and then died. I ended up giving up on that playthrough cause I wasn't sure what I was supposed to go or do and wasted about 2-3 hours of work. What I learnt for this? Red Haze needs to have better sign posting to let players know if they're doing something right or wrong, if even just a little bit.[/spoiler] This is just one thing players will become accustomed to when playing Red Haze, the other is the player character's stamina bar. It is so small. You are not able to sprint for that long and normally that wouldn't be so bad, this is a horror game after all, but there's just one little factor that makes this more frustrating than anything. The Janitor. Ah yes my favourite character, the Janitor. This guy can move the same speed as your sprint but he never has to stop for a breather, making him a pain to maneuver around cause as soon as he sees you, that's it and he'll make a b-line for you. Get caught and it's into the well with you. Though after being caught a certain amount of times you'll get the option to use an adrenaline to get rid of him for the rest of that playthrough. But hey, that's great right? Well not exactly. You see the adrenalines are limited and once you've found and used them all there's no more in the entire game. That means certain endings will become impossible to achieve if they require at least one adrenaline. [spoiler]Edit 4: Once I completed Ending V in the well (it's the one you get from the arcade machine) the janitor has been changed permanently to now make things harder. Before I could use the adrenaline to poof him away for the rest of that run but now I can no longer do that. On top of that, he's now able to enter rooms when I'm in there.[/spoiler] Any who, rant aside, final thoughts time. Red Haze had potential to be rather great, the developer clearly shows that they can do good sound design and there is a genuine mystery in this game that I would love to see resolved by the end but with how things are right now, I don't see that happening. Even though I said I don't recommend this game, I can see why some people may like it and in a way, I kinda like it too despite all the flaws. Edit 5: I just want to add this onto the end but after getting some very helpful unlocks in the game [spoiler] the fairy outfit and teal key shortcut [/spoiler], some stuff has become a little easy, especially in terms of travel. I think I have become more neutral on the game and less negative leaning, I might even go as far as to say I'm starting to lean a little to the positive but I think my original rating still stands as of now.

Having played this for five hours, managing to collect nine endings (including the only one I was truthfully interested in), while I plan to revisit this game, I doubt my opinions will change. Update: I have now played for seven hours and my review has been edited with my new discoveries, which only made me more frustrated with the game. Still, I stand by my comment that some people will probably adore this game, I am just not one of them It's not that I don't recommend this game to everyone. I'd recommend it if you; 1. Adored Close Your Eyes and want something with a similar style. 2. Don't mind looking at a guide or lots of trial and error. 3. Are alright with repeating sections or tasks over and over again/Don't mind more unforgiving horror games or loops and enjoy the challenge. 4. Are a little more stubborn/coordinated than me to be able to figure out endings and puzzles. Otherwise, I'd say skip this one and just play Close Your Eyes, because despite being a free and earlier title, in my opinion it did everything this title did wrong right. If you prefer that style, this dev also has Feast Your Eyes which involves the same characters and, so far, is very enjoyable. That isn't to say this game didn't do anything right though, making me even more frustrated with the handling of it all. The atmosphere, as always, was absolutely spot on. Its really refreshing to play a horror game that doesn't feel the need to get me with cheap jumpscares or loud noises, and, when it does, they actually fit into the environment rather than feeling forced. But, for the most part, it lets the implications and characters/scenarios drive the scene. The main character is also interesting and complex. It's been a while since I've actually felt connected to a horror protagonist, but I've always found myself super intrigued by Rockette. There's flair and personality to her, and I think she's an "unlikable" protagonist done right. There's enough hints at the beginning to feel interested/sympathetic for her and the later endings and scenes only build up on this. I personally still really love the art style of these games. I think it adds to the charm and atmosphere of Yai games. This is also an unpopular opinion, but I personally really enjoyed the voice acting of this game as well. Outside of the main character, I thought everyone played their roles well, and even then the main character's VA had their moments. Overall, the right elements are all there, and I can see a really interesting story is behind it all. Yet, the structure and gameplay elements of the game left me frustrated, confused, and bored. Red Haze is essentially played over multiple save files. Once you reach an ending or die (granted you don't use the revives in the game), your save file deletes itself and you have to start all over, though it recognizes you've played it before. The issue with Red Haze, in my opinion, is not actually the repetitive loop. In and of itself, a game that encourages you to explore and try new things by restarting itself isn't inherently a flaw. It could be extremely fun and immersive/interesting lore wise, the issue with this mechanic is why it begins in the first place. The endings. In total, there are endings for each letter of the alphabet, meaning there are twenty six endings in full. You are probably reading that and wondering how on Earth that could work. How could you make a game with so many choices or with a long enough story to warrant so many endings? The issue is they didn't. What effectively happened was Red Haze became an "ending collector" game. Not in the sense that choices really matter or that there is a lot of cool, hidden secrets and details throughout the story. But, in this case the story is the endings, they take all the game's time and if you don't shoot for an ending there's no other real form of progression. You'll just run around in circles finding not much of interest unless you take very specific actions, puzzles that take way too much guess work to be found organically in my opinion. Unlike in Close Your Eyes where you went through the story and the endings were at the very end, or in certain areas if you explored, in Red Haze there is a larger emphasis on trial and error, which wouldn't be a bad thing if the goal was not always, constantly endings. So, while Red Haze has some very good ideas, it just comes off as a huge ending tedium. Remember how I said the game remembers you played it before? Yeah well, it does it in the most punishing way possible. The game appears self explanatory enough at first, with the player slowly developing tricks and habits that help them regain items, avoid the janitor, and so on. The issue is Red Haze has such a steep learning curve that first time players are destined to waste most of their resources...and then the game finally kicks it up to "hard mode". The worst thing about the phase of the game I am calling "hard mode" is that, while it appears to benefit the player at first [spoiler]by letting them skip the first section entirely and giving them the janitor keys up front[/spoiler] it also adds the aggravating feature of [spoiler]the janitor suddenly showing up in certain rooms and if you don't have a fast enough reaction time to leave the room before he reaches you, you're pretty much instantly dead.This doesn't always happen and so can be very jarring when it does.[/spoiler] More resources are bled as you try to figure this mode out and eventually you have nothing and don't actively have the time to adjust enough to collect some. Sure one can argue you can do this before said section but it happens so suddenly even if you replayed the game it'd be difficult to predict exactly when that would occur. To be fair, I will say "hard mode" is what the game is really about, and I do think some horror fans will absolutely adore its unforgiving nature and scare factor. As for me, this sudden shift was my "quit moment". What about the quality of the endings? Are they so good its worth having so much emphasis on them? From the ones I've received, some aren't really endings at all and, in my opinion, should have just been cut scenes. We see more from Rockette, some greatly expanding her character, while other endings might as well be nothing, either being complete empty filler or the journey to the ending is much more important story wise than the actual ending. The unfortunate thing about Red Haze is it will lead you to believe you are learning more lore the more endings you collect...I've collected 12+ endings and yet barely any of them actually gave me anything of substance or explained the situation I'm in at all. Some of them are almost purely text based or have no cut scene at all. In short, this game has way too many endings where half of them could have been cut to have a heavier focus on plot and more reward for the player. I understand and can respect the goal of 26 endings, but in practice it's just too much. I'd say, if you want to support the creator and you loved Close Your Eyes, you might get a kick out of this for a while. But, as for more general audiences, I really would just suggest playing Close/Feast Your Eyes. It has a more fleshed out narrative and fully hits on the same beats this game avoided. Not to mention CYE only has eight endings, most that don't force you to go through absolute tedium to get to them. It's short and I felt genuinely rewarded for understanding its mechanics, as I was easily able to replay and get some of the more obscure endings via exploring/taking risks. The idea and concept of this game isn't bad, it's not a bad game for certain players at all, and I want to make that very clear, but the execution just really ruined it for me. That being said, if you enjoy more unforgiving horror games, love solving puzzles, and don't mind experimenting over and over again to get to certain rooms or endings, I think you'll really enjoy this game and should give it a go.

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