[h1]The Premise[/h1]
[h3]This review contains no spoilers.[/h3]
[b]The Caretaker[/b] is a top-down survival horror set during year 2005 in the city of Red Chapel, where a mysterious plague has transformed animals and humans alike, into deadly monsters. Players impersonate an unnamed survivor seemingly immune to the contamination, and have to find a way through the ruins of a dead city, deemed irrecoverable even by the military.
[h1]Quick Sum-Up[/h1]
[table]
[tr]
[th]🟩 [b]The Pros[/b][/th]
[th]🟥 [b]The Cons[/b][/th]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]
1. Decent overall atmosphere / world-building.
2. Adequate gameplay flow, with enough diversity.
3. Unique bosses, each with an evolving attack pattern and decent design.
4. Decent amount of secondary locations and secrets to discover.
[/td]
[td]
1. Some combat mechanics prove to be very overpowered, until late-game.
2. Resources are generally too plentiful, dimming the survival aspect.
3. Absence of harder difficulties will leave experienced players wanting.
[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
[table]
[tr]
[th]🟨 [b]Bugs & Other Issues[/b][/th]
[th]🔧 [b]PC Specs[/b][/th]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]
- Movement is bound to a key (Mouse 2) instead of WASD.
[/td]
[td]
- Ryzen 3900X
- RTX 2080Ti
- 32GB RAM
- NvME SSD
- 1440p Display
[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2463363914
[h1]In-Depth Analysis[/h1]
[h3]Pros[/h3]
[b]1.[/b]
The Caretaker does succeed in recreating a city devastated by a merciless horde of monsters, and the following confrontation with the military and police forces. It's not rare to see burning buildings, smoldering craters, devastated homes often paired with the corpses of their previous owners. The rather plentiful lore items such as documents, give more insight on the lives of Red Chapel's population, and how their final moments transpired - also, may shed more light on how the disaster started.
[b]2.[/b]
Other than shooting zombies and other assorted monstrosities, the game offers prominent quantities of puzzle-solving, often based on fetching the required keys or items to proceed, or instead solve logic-based enigmas such as pressing switches in the correct order. There was enough design wisdom to make puzzle areas mostly enemy-free: players can take their time.
[b]3.[/b]
Each encountered boss has unique attacks, and a pattern that evolves as it loses HP and the battle proceeds. Dodging at the right time and knowing when it's best to attack, while also gathering the resources found in the boss arena and exploiting eventual environmental traps like exploding barrels, will be the keys to victory.
[b]4.[/b]
Other than the main path related to finishing the adventure, there are several locations that house additional materials or even unique weapons, if players take some extra time to explore everything and backtrack a bit to use the newfound items correctly. At the end of the day, doing so is rewarded very well, as some of the additional weapons like the Minigun are definitely worth the hassle.
[h3]Cons[/h3]
[b]1.[/b]
The Caretaker's knife is better than Chef Tony's Miracle Blade, capable of 1-2 shotting most enemies, while also staggering them each time - in 1v1 it's almost an auto-win. I found myself using the knife at all enemies except bosses for 80% of the game, hoarding resources in the process. The dodge-roll gives complete invincibility for a whopping two and half seconds, even from passive DoT like fire or poison, and is highly spammable due to absence of any stamina gauge.
[b]2.[/b]
The large amounts of resources scattered throughout the various areas prove to simply bee too generous, especially for those already well-versed into this genre. More often than not, I found myself overflowing with hundreds of bullets for each weapon, while also maxed-out healing items capacity in every field. Enemies don't prove dangerous or plentiful enough compared to the resource amount, for the most part, and come almost up to par only very late.
[b]3.[/b]
The absence of harder difficulties (or any difficulty selection, really) is definitely an issue, considering the far-from-perfect balance provided. Not many will find The Caretaker too hard, while many more will have an underwhelming challenge level, as it definitely was in my case. Only the final boss provided some tougher resistance.
[i]Note: the developer acknowledged these issues (see review comments) and addressed them partially in a later update, after release.[/i]
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2463363135
[h1]Gameplay Breakdown[/h1]
[b]Exploration[/b]
Is performed on foot, through a variety of dilapidated buildings, streets and some more open areas like parking lots. The world is divided into Districts, each with their own puzzles and secrets to discover - moving from one to the other incurs into a small transition, which also triggers some enemies to respawn. The city's sewer system can be used as a shortcut to avoid enemies in case of backtracking, though first, players need to find the appropriate keys to unlock every color-coded door down there.
Exploring each area thoroughly is recommended, to hoard enough resources for the future. Not that there is a scarcity of them, though. Interactive items, lore files and other pickups become highlighted once the character is close enough to them, although the camera needs to be oriented the right way to make them visible.
[b]Character Management[/b]
Consists in opening the inventory and using an item when needed, such as Medkits to heal, herbs to cure poison, or a unique key or context-based item (like a crowbar) to proceed in a specific area. Despite being a survival horror, inventory management is stripped to the bone, with unlimited slots and high resource caps for each item type (the survivor will be able to carry hundreds of bullets at once, for instance). As a side note, time stops while the inventory is open, as well.
[b]Combat[/b]
Plays out in a top-down shooter fashion, with players able to carry a variety of weapons from simple pistols to powerful miniguns. Each firearm has its own damage which decreases with distance to the targeted enemy, and also its own bullet type. Bullets notably do not go in the player inventory, but occupy a special ammo reserve slot incorporated in each gun. A handy (and overpowered) dodge-roll can be used unlimited times in a chain, with very little delay: this enables kiting and escaping most enemies easily, while denying damage. Melee is a bit more risky but also quite powerful, considering it's an ammo-free option.
[b]Puzzles[/b]
Are often about finding the right item to overcome an obstacle (such as a wall of fire) or open a locked door, while in some other instances will entail solving logic-based puzzles, often based on deduction or a series of switches to press in the right order. None of these enigmas is overly difficult, though some of the latter ones can be more complex.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2463364375
[h1]The Judgment: Decent[/h1]
[url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1989090445]Complete Ratings List here[/url]
[i]It took me around 3 hours to finish The Caretaker, taking extra time to explore each location as well. For the budget price of 8,29€ (9,99$) and only Decent quality, I’d still suggest to wait for a small sale before buying.[/i]
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