Still in the Fog

Them hills do indeed be silent.

The Good: The game is visually pleasing and smooth. Ran great. Cool assets and locations. Really liked the look of the town and it's park. Interesting puzzles that are not too complex. From figuring out morse code to ordering numbers through a disturbed one's journal, I enjoyed all the game threw at me and that's usually my least favorite aspect about these games. Does limited resources/ammo well for a good survival horror experience. I never felt like I can rely on solely blasting my way through, because supplies were too low. Exploring small sections were at times worth it it for the ammo/meds but other times it led to non ideal encounters. Running is an option but can also lead to a dangerous dead end with multiple threats. Silent hill like psychological experience with good environmental tension. The shift from normal to strange was really well done. As was the feeling of dread going down a long dark hallway and hearing your surroundings unravel. Story is interesting enough. Niko wants to make a change to his life but life has grave new challenge for him. The Bad: Could use more enemy variety. Has one enemy plus a nemesis for the entire game. You fight it the same way throughout as it pops up from fog and you put it down with your plank, handgun or shotgun. Melee combat is pretty lackluster. You get close to enemy and hope you don't jump too far back otherwise you won't be in range to counter it. The hitbox can be inconsistent and missing can lead to damaging retaliation to your hp. Restarted a bunch because I felt I was being screwed by the mechanics. Tanking heavy hits while supplies were low. The save system could use work. Sometimes it saves in important checkpoints in like a chase scene but then it expects you to transverse a city without one which leads you back to this chase scene. Or before cutscenes you can't skip. The ending section when night arrives is incredibly dark. You can't see anything. Don't know if it was intentional to make it creepier but following an arrow (hud) instead of relying on the environment breaks the immersion and ending experience for me. Overall: I rate it positive because it was solo created and both engaging/short adventure to finish. Not sure I'd want a sequel without some significant improvements but hopefully the developer learns from any shortcomings and develops something stronger on the next run.