Withering Rooms

A haunted mansion where gothic horror, roguelite progression, and action RPG combat collide.

the definition of a hidden gem, fantastic game.

This game is shockingly good It deserves so much more attention and recognition Visual presentation is superb The music and aesthetics are haunting and beautiful And it's a breath of fresh air how creative and unpredictable the story is Most games don't have great stories. This game has an excellent story Haven't encountered any flaws at all Try the free demo, you're in for a treat

87/100 Just finished the game 100%, all achievements and wanted to leave a brief review. You play as a young witch who in the beginning is trying to break free from her captors but quickly learn that there are many more people imprisoned in the Asylum. Considering the fact that Withering Rooms was made by ONE developer only, I was very positively suprised by the overall game's quality. Overall phenomenal game, especially considering the teams size. + Game starts very simple but gets more and more intense & difficult the longer you play, preventing the game from becoming too boring in the long run + Overall good graphics & stable performance + Very diverse soundtracks, every area which features different rooms has its own music + Story is impossible to predict outside of a few lore details/hints you can find + Multiple decisions you can make during the game which impact the story outcome slightly + Very easy to understand combat system with simple inputs + 3 different combat playstyles to choose from (melee, magic, gun weapons) + Many different small and large enemies, each with unique strenghts & weaknesses + Multiple endings with one secret ending to chose from + New Game Plus features lots of NEW content and expanded story which answers most open questions left from the main story - Personally wished for more available weapons during the mid game, especially for magic users - craftable spells didn't feel rewarding enough - The game was tons of fun until the very second you die and spill out your entire inventory, part of the genre & part of the game but still frustrating - No spoilers but the main story might even be too complex for many to properly understand

Yes it's kinda jank and, for better or for worse, the randomization isn't very impactful, but for a solo dev this game delivers wonderfully on survival horror resource management/problem solving, RPG character growth and builds, music, and fantastic world building with a healthy dose of charm layered over the macbre. This game is something of a hidden gem to me and I'm excited to see what the sequel brings.

This is the most fun I have had in a game all year. It does a lot of things right that other games miss. No note-taking, organizing your loot, leveling up a battle pass, or unfair dying. It keeps you engaged by being fun, and not with silly tricks like daily events. Plus it lets you play how you want to play, with the freedom to change fairy easily.

Great game, the combat is a bit clunky but that's at least partially by design. Immaculate vibes and cool story though and it does end up being very fun. HIGHLY RECOMMEND! EDIT: My third or so time editing this review, this time to emphasize how much i ADORE this game... just don't try to do a melee build lol.. maybe i'm just bad but using magic seems infinitely more reasonable until way later on

- So fun to play, rating 97/100

In Withering Rooms you investigate a huge creepy mansion in a magical dream. This hits initially as just a way to justify the game’s light roguelike mechanics, where the layout and enemy placement is scrambled when you die, but ends up figuring heavily into the plot of the game – which, despite these roguelike aspects, is quite linear. The ways the implications of this dream where everyone can reawaken good as new every night are explored are quite interesting and almost read like a satire of roguelike mechanics, where these infinitely reborn bodies just became another resource to be extracted. The coolest system in the game, though, is probably the curse system: In addition to your physical HP you have a curse meter, which is incremented by encountering cursed objects or by casting spells. Being cursed allows you to see the world differently, making it extremely spooky and also replacing some objects, making some doorways accessible, and so forth. Managing your curse levels is important though, because if you get too cursed you start to lose HP pretty quickly. It’s like a systematized version of Silent Hill’s other world, where as the curse starts to build up blood drips down the walls and the floors become rusty metal. Though the stiffness of the gameplay was sometimes frustrating (particularly during boss fights), the sense of hunting around weird haunted attics with limited resources is compelling, and the way subsequent chapters add new mechanical progressions keeps the game fresh and surprising.

Fui atrás de Withering Rooms justamente por essa etiqueta de "experimental". A promessa de um pseudo-roguelike de terror era exatamente o que eu precisava para quebrar a mesmice, e devo dizer que ele atende esse requisito com uma versatilidade que raramente vemos no gênero. A princípio, esperava o susto fácil ou a progressão numérica típica dos roguelikes. Mas Withering Rooms não é uma casa mal-assombrada que você atravessa correndo, você precisa aprender a coabitar. E é aí que mora o seu charme mais profundo. Eu fui sim pego pela trama, mas a dança macabra entre a sua build e a variedade de monstros foi o que me chamou mais atenção. Tem toda uma adaptabilidade. O jogo te dá ferramentas, e a experimentação deixa viciante. O mapa, por mais que tenha uma simplicidade estrutural, se mostra incrivelmente versátil e crível. A atmosfera, então, fecha tudo com chave de ouro, é densa, opressiva na medida certa, mas funcional. Você não se perde no mapa, mas sim, na vibe dele. Agora, vou direto ao ponto que mais divide opiniões: o combate. É desengonçado. Frustra. Certas armas parecem lutar contra você tanto quanto os inimigos, e a natureza de algumas criaturas só escancara essa mecânica brutamontes. Porém, e aqui vai um grande porém, isso traz um charme inegável para quem cresceu jogando os survival horrors antigos. A protagonista não é uma especialista em artes marciais, ela é uma intrusa frágil. A luta desajeitada não parece só ser um erro de design. Com certeza é o obstáculo que mais grita sua presença, mas que acaba ensinando você a respeitar o ritmo do jogo. Saber que o dev está prestes a lançar a continuação em Early Access me enche de esperança, ele claramente aprendeu muito com essa joia bruta. O jogo atual merece muito ser experimentado e com uma demo disponível, não há desculpas.