SHUT IN

[𝕊𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕀 - 𝕂𝕖𝕪 𝔽𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕤] • Point/click-like adventure game • Uses heavily modified RPG Maker engine • 2D sideways perspective with a pixel art style • Contains dark humour and a mental health topic • You should probably enjoy jokes being told at your expense • Several endings • Very little music • A game that tends to frustrate the player [𝕊𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕀𝕀 - 𝔹𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕜𝕕𝕠𝕨𝕟] [table] [tr] [th]Category[/th] [th]Score[/th] [th]Explanation[/th] [/tr] [tr] [td]Story[/td] [td]10/25[/td] [td]Basic premise is basic. You're a sufferer of agoraphobia and you need to decide either to take one of a couple of paths and get out of your home, or take a different approach to your journey. There is an amount of freedom to this story. The story is the main focus here, right? Or at least the other reviews would have you believe it's a beautiful and deep look at mental health and agoraphobia. I believe people who interpreted it as a sophisticated take on mental health have probably got the wrong idea. It's a dark comedy. And at that it's pretty good, at least for a while until the joke delivery grows rather stale. That's not to say that a dark comedy cannot tell a valuable lesson about something like agoraphobia. Welcome to the NHK is a novel/manga/anime that manages to tell a relatable tale about the perils of loneliness while also regularly entertaining viewers with excellent dark humour. This game? It is not a serious look at agoraphobia. Initially I started to believe that maybe it could provide an interesting take on that topic, but when I saw myself descending into the pits of hell suspended by a USB cable, it became quickly apparent that the game doesn't take itself seriously as a mental health experience, and neither should you. Honestly I think it's a concept with a lot of potential and I like the content for the price with multiple endings. However, the style of humour is heavily deadpan, to the point that it eventually feels like it reads that way as a result of the writer just giving up on writing anything truly compelling.[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Gameplay[/td] [td]13/25[/td] [td]I enjoyed the way the developer managed to manipulate a game engine into being suitable for a different genre altogether. That being said, even beyond the familiar RPG Maker main menu, you can't help but recognise the familiar movement mechanics if you've played games made with it beforehand. The gameplay is very simple at its core. Like a point and click, you fetch items for your inventory which you can "use" to accomplish various goals. Unfortunately, I didn't actually make it to the end and instead abandoned the game towards the end. I got to a part with a highly tedious puzzle involving dozens of valves and steam hazards. The key is to go back and forth and back and forth and back and forth adjusting valves. To be frank, the puzzle gameplay was repetitive to the point of pure boredom. I had enough. Maybe you're fine with this. I don't enjoy these types of puzzles and being sent on fetch quests for the sake of artificial longevity. But hey, the game itself even suggested giving up. Good idea.[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Longevity[/td] [td]7/10[/td] [td]It has at least four endings so if this actually is your kind of thing, you'll get your money's worth. As mentioned, though, I don't like the ways that the developer tried to lengthen the game. Still, it should give you something to do for an evening but probably not much more. Don't expect more than a few hours out of it.[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Graphics[/td] [td]18/25[/td] [td]The graphics are fine. Basically looks like a polished RPG Maker game, so, pretty good. The pixel art isn't out of this world but it's aesthetically pleasing overall.[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Sound[/td] [td]2/10[/td] [td]I don't think there was any music. Or if there was, it was used very sparingly. This may have been done due to the storytelling style, but since it's been established that this is more of a dark comedy than a real horror game, I don't think silence was the right choice here. I'd have enjoyed it more with an actual soundtrack. Nothing wrong with the sound effects but you don't hear them often, and that's pretty much all you hear.[/td] [/tr] [/table] ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢺⡿⣶⣶⣤⣄⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠹⢟⢯⣷⣿⣻⣿⣤⡄⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⢀⢠⢠⢠⢠⢀⠈⠙⢿⢾⣯⣿⡆⠀ ⠀⡔⡕⣕⢕⢇⢇⢇⢇⠆⠀⠛⣽⣾⣿⡂ ⢜⢜⡜⣜⢜⢜⢜⢌⢆⠣⡁⠀⣿⢿⡾⣯⠀⠀[𝕊𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕀𝕀𝕀 ⢱⢱⡱⡱⡱⡱⡑⡌⢆⠣⡁⠀⣿⣻⣟⣟⠀⠀𝔻𝕖𝕔𝕜 𝕊𝕔𝕠𝕣𝕖] ⠀⠣⡣⡣⡣⢣⠱⡘⢌⠊⠀⣴⣟⣯⡿⠅ ⠀⠀⠈⠈⠊⠈⠊⠈⣀⣤⣯⣷⣿⣻⠍⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣲⢾⣻⣽⣾⢿⣾⠋⠃⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢺⡿⡻⠯⠛⠋⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Fortunately, this game works perfectly on Steam Deck. It launches fine and the controls automatically work right out of the box, no configuration needed. [b]Score: 5/5[/b] [𝕊𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕀𝕍 - 𝕍𝕖𝕣𝕕𝕚𝕔𝕥] This is an adventure game with a mildly enjoyable comedic style which has an expiration. It has potential and you'll get some enjoyment out of it, but it falls short at maintaining good storytelling and comedy throughout. It's more of a meme game that watchers of YouTube personalities have seen as holding some deep message, when in reality the exploration of mental health is surface-level. The gameplay is tedious and the sound is practically non-existent. That being said, at a bundle price I'd call this worthwhile... but only then. [b]Final Score: 55/100[/b]

game has an intriguing, yet horrifying atmosphere i was so immersed with this game that i played it all in one sitting

I love this game! its just the right amount of funny and stressfull/scary, the art is really nice to and sound affects are muah.

SHUT IN is a "more art than game" 2D retro pixel side view "adventure" puzzle game where the focus is more on pretending to be an armchair psychologist and tackle the social and healthcare issue of depression through the media of video games. Guess what video games aren't for? Amateur psychologists. Video games are not the correct media for discussing these issues, and hamfisted amateur attempts at doing so can be harmful as it is absolutely no substitute for the professional advice people suffering from personal health issues should pursue. Putting that aside, we must always evaluate games on their merits and qualities, of which, SHUT IN has none. A choice was made to use obsolete, decades old retro pixel "art" as a substitute for contemporary PC graphics. It's unclear if this is due to lack of budget or talent, regardless, the overall visual quality of the game is extremely low as a result. There's no options to change the resolution for the game or customise the graphics settings. There's no way for gamers to ensure this is running at the native resolution of their displays... there's no guarantee this game will look right on any PC as a result of this hamfisted design decision. There's no way for gamers to try improve the low quality graphics. The game only displays in 4:3 pillarboxed aspect ratio. It's possible they developed this using an old CRT they found in a dumpster, or this game has been specifically designed for people gaming on PC's from 1995... either way, this isn't really acceptable in the modern era of PC gaming. The controls can't be customised, which will be an annoyance for many, but it can also render the game unplayable for differently-abled gamers. These technical defects push this game below acceptable standards for any modern PC game. SHUT IN has a ridiculous comedy price of $5 USD, which just goes to show that suffering from depression doesn't mean the sense of humour is lost. Anyway, this is barely-a-game garbage and should be avoided.

A strange and somewhat amusing game. Kinda macabre but that's to be expected. Overall, not a bad game and easy to play.

Story of my life except I don't have agoraphobia, I don't have crippling hallucinations, I go outside once in a blue moon and I don't have a voice in my head that keeps trash talking me

Honestly, I loved playing through this. Yeah, it's not "fresh off the presses", but it's still incredible as-is! I'd go so far as to say it's one of my top favorite puzzle games, honestly. Completely worth the admission, imo =]

my curiosity got me killed by a swarm of bees

Absolute janky crap

it kicekd me out, it glitched and it kicked me out, what a silly game though. good game