STLD Redux: Episode 02

[h1] The Control Scheme is your greatest Foe! [/h1] [b] The Short Version[/b] The game has a solid kernel but you will spend more time fighting the controle scheme than you will fighting the enemies. [b] The Long Version[/b] So, I remember this game from back when it was on The Daily Click years ago. It frustraghted me soooo much. Because I could see there was a good game in here. But any enjoyment I might have had was totally hobbled by the terrible controls. Though the author seemes to have fixed the issue with moving up stairs and throwing away your weapon just to lock a door the game is still plaigued by design issues with it's control scheme. For instance, in order to pick up a weapon or item for the first time, you first have to investigate it. Now, this is not a case of, you press the investigate button and then you can press the pick up button to pick it up. No, you press the investigate key a second time to pick it up for the first time. [b]But every time after that you have to press the dedicated pick up button to pick it up.[/b] The issue with this is, my muschle memory now assosiates the investigate command as a general interact command. So when I go to pick it up again, my instincts tell me to press the button I pressed the first time I picked it up. So when I hit that button and nothing happens it creates disonence. I have to stop and think, what is the button to pick things up again?! This leads to death. Having to fight the controls breaks your flow, breaks your imersion and the subsequint deaths really kills your enjoyment. I feel cheated. The sence that the investigate key seems like it should be the general interaction key is increased with the fact that you use it to lift and lock the doors. By the time you get to the point where you have to start resetting the doors you can sometimes remmeber that the dedicated pick up key is used to pick things up. The door reset symbol pops up and you are enclined to use the pick-up command... but you have to use the investigate command instead. [b] The Weapons Break?![/b] Ok, I haven't actually survived long enough to have a weapon break on me. Because the controles keep killing me. But come on man. I can't even have a weapon that lasts 10 bloody minutes?! [b] Recommendations [/b] I think that you should ether make the investigate button a general interact button, or just have it investigate and do nothing else. Because having the investigate button pick things up the first time is just confusing. These are not insurmountabel problems, but they are fundemental ones. I'm fearly confindent I'm not the only one who has these issues and I think you could garner a much wider audience if you made the controles more intuitive.

While the controls are a little wonky at times (being worked on, according to the developer[s]), the overall game feels engaging and unique. It's a tense blend of classic survival horror and point & click adventures, with a limited amount of resources you must combine in interesting ways to last out 10 or 18 minutes of a non-stop undead onslaught. The 'gimmick' to STLD is that time limit. Every single second counts. Every single bullet matters, since there might only be a handful on the map. Do you open a door to let zombies in one-at-a-time, or keep it barricaded and deal with a mob later on? Do you try and run past an enemy (and take a hit) to pick up a dropped weapon, or do you run the other way and hope you're not boxed in? I honestly haven't played another game that demands such meticulous attention, and the short (10 minute) playtime per-session means you don't burn out too fast. I've been playing a session at a time, and each playthrough I get slightly further in, solve another puzzle, or find another way to use my limited equipment to best effect. The one criticism I would level against STLD is probably the nature of the 'puzzles.' Once you've found the key to the secret room, you always know where to grab it on your later runs. I can imagine that after a handful of hours and unlocking all the bonuses, the game would feel repetitive pretty fast. That said, there seem to be updates in the pipeline adding new weapons and new enemies, so it looks like there's plenty more to do in STLD. Plus, it's not like it'll break the bank. (I played the original S:TLD back in the day, a.k.a. 2010, and loved it from the start, though I never got far. Still having the same problems here, but I attribute that to my own failings and not to the game! Totally had the same tense feeling as this version, so if you're reading this and on the fence about paying, pick up the freeware original. It's not as polished, but it's got the same tense atmosphere.) UPDATE: Hell, I'm sorry, I had one more complaint. It's a double-whammy, a combination of the controls and the interface. More options for custom controls, more resolutions, an option to pause (what if the phone rings?), and other usability improvements would be Great. I don't have a problem on my setup, but I know plenty of other players who'd have issues and thought I'd mention this for completeness. On the bright side, developer HAS been working on some of these features, so it's not all bad.

EEHH!!!!

Played the alpha during work hours. Loved the grind and was very entertaining. I still managed to get work done.

没有1好玩，等了那么久发现这才是2改了个新名字，一如既往的没有中文，加入的魔法系统完全不喜欢，操作很繁琐，看起来很炫用的时候切换不到魔法道具，还要扔掉武器，玩的人少也没用攻略，打了那么久厨房的煤气不会开，画下边的枪也拿不到，有谁知道？

A very well rounded action game that gets better as you learn your way around. Your first playthrough will be confusing. You will die quickly. But you will pick up the game again and again and after numerous tries master the house and feel the joy of surviving the 7 minute mode...only to find out you have to beat 12 minutes now. This is an "old school" game in the sense that it is unforgiving, difficult, but very fun to master. You will die because of one slip up, you will die because of unlucky timing, you will die because you lost focus. But you will also feel great after executing an awesome combo, you will feel great after setting fire to dozen zombies at once, you will feel great when you get an S-rank on all levels. If the video sound remotely fun to you, then this is definitely worth checking out!

i love the game! i have low hrs but that # will rise. Not the best at reviews. All i can say is the game is truly fun! Keep up the good work!

Much deeper than it looks. You'll die a lot as you learn but you'll also uncover secrets as you go which totally change how you play. Surprisingly nuanced for a "die and retry" zombie survival game. Ep2 has been heaps of fun so far. Took me a couple of days just to beat the 10 minute survival challenge but I reckon I know what I'm doing now.. keen to have another go and I'm determined to beat one of the cultists. For more niche curation, follow me at: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/27440015-CSH-Picone/

This is an excellent game. A love letter to the old Romero movies. The first time you play you'll be trying to figure out how to survive using whatever you can lay your hands on... And you'll probably die horribly. Eventually, as you get good at the game and unlock all the items it becomes a different kind of game where you aggressively murder all the zombies you can. At one point, well before the game came to steam, I threw together a 45 second trailer for the game, which would give you a very solid idea of what the game is like : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfZc1U7bzHQ

Angespielt, Daumen hoch! Macht Laune. Die mehrfach bemängelte Steuerung finde ich ok.. lässt sich auch umstellen (Pfeiltasten und ZXC oder WASD mit Maus; Controller nicht getestet). Dabei empfehle ich WASD mit Maus wegen der Z-Taste.