If this is your first attempt at survival-horror it's not a bad effort, you got all the building blocks of the genre down well enough, but there are some areas that could be a lot better, specifically with the sound design and tension building. There were many parts of the game where I thought the music and sound effects could be more intense, and I also think you could introduce the monsters with more care, similar to the way the classic games do it.
Roughly 2 hours to beat, the game mainly consists of a school section and a sewer area, you can also tell the game takes some inspiration from Silent Hill, even having a few similar narrative and aesthetic ideas. Aside from a few slight issues with the controls like the fixed running direction and no 'ready' animation on the melee, it mostly plays decently, I didn't have any big issues overall, there are a few bugs in the game but they are relatively rare. For the most part it's a pretty easy game, there are save points everywhere, and the few times you are forced to take fights it's easy to progress even if you don't collect all the resources.
If you look at many classic horror games say like Resident Evil, you will notice how they often give every enemy a moment to shine, for example a zombie turning a head, a dog crashing into the room, or a hunter having a cutscene. To be fair I think you tried to do that as well, but it didn't always have the same impact on me, again mainly because there was rarely any change in the soundtrack during those intense moments. Another few things to consider, sometimes these games will elevate the tension by letting a monster kill someone in cutscene, say like the first time you see Nemesis in RE3, so if you have added more side characters for monsters to dispose of, it would help to make those monsters more memorable.
[h1] Pros: [/h1]
(+) You have everything that is expected from a game like this, but at the same time nothing really stands out as amazing, so it really comes down to making sure you focus on those individual moments with tension, and make sure you are using those changes in soundtrack to highlight those moments when the player is in danger.
(+) Even though I do think the immersion and tension in this game needs work, I will say the second part of the game (the sewers) felt a lot better to me than the school in design, there was a better feeling of that foreboding mood, and honestly if you didn't have so many save points and better music, some of those encounters could actually be pretty spooky. I mean I can see that you trying to create some jumps scares, like the machete dude breaking out of the jail, but again, it needed another music track for when he actually attacks you so it feels like an event and not just another ambient section.
(+) Relatively speaking, the aesthetic and detail wasn't bad, at least compared to many other smaller games in the genre.
[h1] Feedback: (outdated, dev fixed just about everything) [/h1]
[u] A few bugs [/u] - There is still a bug with the ammo prior to the hand boss, if you don't click on the arrow it will stick to your screen. There is a medkit in the sewers after the 3 zombie section that can't be picked up. In the sewer classroom, if you backtrack through the door near the machete guy, you can fall through the map.
[u] Some issues with tension building [/u] - I'll give you a few obvious examples. You have a scene in the labyrinth where the statues come alive, which would be a good introduction to that enemy type, but you also fight one just like that before that scene, so it kinda takes away from a surprise, I would just remove that one enemy. In a room with a 60 seconds chase, I think that is a good example of a moment that just needs some intense music instead of ambiance, same with the 2 fights with the machete guy. All the monsters in the game could use more sound effects as well.
[u] Some random notes [/u] - when you hold Mouse 2 for melee, there is no ready animation like you would have in most games, you should have him raise the weapon. When you running, it's almost like it won't let you change direction. I felt like some of the writing was missing a bit of context, like you cutting the sentences very short, to a point where it feels unfinished, for example when the girl replies to the character, even though he didn't say anything.
Also, try to have a few ending panels for the ending, otherwise it will feel abrupt if you end on the text.
[b] Overall Thoughts: 6/10 [/b]
It's not a particularly great survival-horror, but in this case I can at least see that it has all the parts to make something interesting, it's really just the difference with how you handle those individual moments of tension, and making sure you give those moments a proper introduction. Honestly it feels a little bit unfinished, you not doing anything wrong, just not giving enough care to certain parts of the experience. If I had point out the biggest problem, just not enough care for sound design in the game, I can see that you are trying to do it, but at the same time, something intense happens in the scene, and music is still ambient. So overall, I feel like the direction is good, the execution needs work. Not a bad game, probably should have stayed cooking for a few more months though.
[code]Niche, obscure and underrated games: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/31294838-Hidden-Gem-Discovery/ [/code]
