Worse Than Death

[h1]Description[/h1] [b]Worse Than Death[/b] is a 2D survival-horror game with a mix of pixel art and comic book-style illustrations. You play Holly, a young woman who hasn't set foot in her hometown since graduation and is now coming back for a high school reunion. You're only supposed to spend some time with your best friend Flynn and reminisce about your high school days (and the terrible accident that killed his fiancee/your friend Grace)... but things are going to escalate quickly. The game plays out over 7 chapters. There are multiple puzzles to solve, quite a few jump scares and a monster you must hide from. You barely need any reflexes to play, however, as avoiding the monster is more a matter of observation and patience than lightning-fast reaction. There are three difficulty levels that only affect when the game saves and how many lives you get. Nightmare (the highest of the three) must be unlocked by first beating the game in Hard difficulty. [h1]Pros[/h1] [list] [*] Evocative and detailed levels that help set the atmosphere [*] Good puzzles that make sense (though maybe a tad on the easy side) [*] Both art styles manage to go all out on the gore without being disgusting at all [*] Game rewards exploration with lots of additional info and tidbits [*] Very competent level design that forces little backtracking on the player (provided you pay attention to your surroundings and take notes here and there) [/list] [h1]Cons[/h1] [list] [*] Higher difficulty levels aren't all that interesting [*] Story twists can be seen from miles away [*] Somewhat on the short side and little to no replay value (but at the price I got it on sale, I'd say it was a great bargain anyway) [*] Tutorials and dialogues can't be skipped, even in Nightmare difficulty [/list] [h1]Verdict[/h1] This game was made by the creator of [b]Home[/b] and it clearly shows. I'm pretty sure that if, like me, you played [b]Home[/b] and liked it, you're gonna have a good time with [b]Worse Than Death[/b]. Having recently finished [b]The Coma 2[/b] and [b]Song of Horror[/b], I must say I found it quite refreshing that this game does not feature any QTE. Not risking death because of a bad button press was a nice change of pace. I had a blast on my first playthrough. My second and third (to hunt achievements) were more tedious. If you love survival-horror games and/or pixel art, I think this game will be worth your time. Though please note that you won't find chase sequences, QTEs or insanely challenging puzzles here, in case those are the things you like in a survival-horror game.

[b]My Playtime:[/b] 5.4h (100% achievement, finished the game thrice) [b]My First Playthrough:[/b] 3.6h [b]Grindy Achievement(s):[/b] No. [b]Optional Achievement(s):[/b] Yes (19 achievements). [b]Difficult Achievement(s):[/b] No. [h1]Intro[/h1] [b]Worse Than Death[/b] is a sidescroller thriller game about a woman that explores areas infested with monsters and strange phenomena. The game was split into 8 short chapters with some checkpoints in between. [b]Pros:[/b] - Jumpscares are not scary, but they will definitely surprise you - Cleverly done puzzles where you need to figure out how it works on your own [b]Cons:[/b] - Unnecessary difficulty selection - It can be hard to remember everyone's names [b]Specs[/b] Intel Core i5-9300H 2.40GHz, 8GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 [h1]Should you buy this game?[/h1] [b]Yes.[/b] [i]If you like sidescroller thriller games, buy this game at a sale. It's not scary, but there are some pixelated gore elements in the game.[/i] [hr][/hr] [h1]In-Depth Review[/h1] [h3]Visuals[/h3] Being a thriller game, you might think that using sprite images for the in-game visuals is a bad choice, but the game seems to think otherwise and deliver. Jumpscares followed by loud sounds, objects that suddenly change out of nowhere, and the existence of an invisible monster help to make you stay on your toes. The decision to mix 2D visuals with the sprite images also seems to work well. I liked how the color and grainy filter were chosen to make it look like an old game, despite it still looking modern with its clean look. [h3]Story[/h3] The game doesn't try to spoon-feed you with the story. There are a lot of mysteries that are happening in the game, and although some will be uncovered as you play, you still need to do some digging to find the others. A lot of objects might not make any sense if you check them one by one, but they will make more sense once you find more objects that are related to them. However, despite all the secrets and mysteries, the story doesn't seem to answer everything, leaving a huge gap about the strange phenomenon that plagues the area. [h3]The Game[/h3] [b]Gameplay[/b] [b]Worse Than Death[/b]'s gameplay is simple: you just need to walk in a sidescroller format, interacting with everything that you can find along the way. Sometimes, you also will have a stealth section where you need to dodge an invisible enemy. There are also times when you need to clear a puzzle from the given hints, which are scattered throughout the area. Everything is spread into 8 chapters with different length and focus. Although the stealth sections were straightforward, the puzzles were different. There were no instructions; you need to figure out what you are supposed to do, and sometimes, the clue won't be located nearby. You might need to move to other rooms and interact with objects that might hold that hidden clue. This encourages you to take notes on all suspicious things that you see. I liked doing these puzzles, though. The clues are easy enough to figure out once you know what to do while still giving satisfaction whenever you clear it. The jumpscares are satisfying. Just to be clear, they aren't scary at all. They are mostly in the form of objects dropping with a high-pitched sound to surprise you. This breaks my concentration several times and makes me highly aware of such things. I might not be focused on the story sometimes because I need some time to get my bearings back after the shock, but I still admit that I enjoyed them. [b]Length and Difficulty[/b] I finished the game in 3.6h in the hard difficulty. The game has 3 difficulties, with hard being in the middle. However, I don't find any reason to replay the game apart from the achievements. There is no replayability value and the higher difficulty mode just encourages you to be more careful with its lower health and longer checkpoints. The game is easy to beat as long as you know what to do, and you can skip some of the sections if you know some of the puzzle solutions beforehand. This is helpful for achievement hunters since they need to play the game three times in all difficulties to 100% it. [b]Issues[/b] There is no manual save. It's also hard to remember the characters' names since there isn't a name displayed in the dialogue. [h1]Conclusion[/h1] As a thriller game, [b]Worse Than Death[/b] does a good job of keeping its suspense with the jumpscares. I liked how they were paced - you won't be having too many of them, and their appearance will always be unexpected. However, the game can be too expensive due to its short playtime, so I suggest buying it on a sale.

This game was...okay. I'd say the only real reason I'm giving it a thumbs down is because comparatively pricewise, there are other games that have done much more for the same amount of money. The story is...fine. It's fine. Holly comes back to a 10 year class reunion to meet up with her best friend Flynn after she left town for college after a tragedy struck. As befits a horror game, stuff goes sideways real fast. It's not that the story is bad, per se, but moreso that it's executed in odd ways or badly paced. Reveals happen multiple times so you're like "Yes, I get it", character deaths mean almost nothing because you had one conversation with a person, there are huge plot points that don't get addressed. Which is unfortunate because all the reasons and pieces are there and the connections make sense, but the threads are real weak. The pixel art is quite good with a variety of locations and movements for characters. The...monster is barely seen and the same every time so that the fear of it wears off quickly because even if you come out and walk right up to it you'll have no idea what it looks like outside of a vague shape. Otherwise it's very visually pleasing. The puzzles are actually one of it's stronger points; much more complex or difficult than some of the more narrative point and click games, almost like Resident Evil sometimes. Quite enjoyable with few moments of confusion as to what you have to do. There is however only one puzzle per section for the most part so not a lot of them. I entered into the game intrigued and liking it but left it a little unsatisfied especially after an ending that just makes you go "Uh...well, okay." This game was essentially a lot of potential that didn't really get off the ground.

The comic book-like story graphics are superb, but everything else is a letdown. The "stealth sections" are too easy to take seriously - even other indie games have more complex monster behavior. The story is a mass of cliches that aren't even that well put together. It makes less and less sense the more you think about it. Honestly, it's really kind of a shame they wasted such a pretty character design on this schlock. Maybe they should try again with a better writer and sweep this first try under the rug?

[I]Worse Than Death[/I]. The game’s title is just begging to be used against it, but no—I will take the high road. Unfortunately this high road is bumper-to-bumper with truck nuts and middle fingers, so it still ain’t going to be pretty. What we have here is an anemic point-and-click adventure game with spooky trappings that doesn’t have a single interesting idea. Almost nothing in its cliched mystery, cookie cutter puzzles, bland writing, nor its cartoony art style feels fresh. The only mechanics that aren’t cribbed wholesale from its predecessors are those deployed in service of the nominal horror element: a stamina meter, hiding places, and obstacles that must be vaulted. However, hiding from ghosties is dead simple, the obstacles serve no purpose that I could ascertain, and the stamina meter’s only impact to gameplay is that for painfully brief stretches you can run faster toward the credit roll. [I]Worse Than Death[/I] is elevator pitch as final product, and I can’t think of a reason to recommend it.

I was really excited to play this game on my birthday at night, and I was really into it for the first 10 minutes, until the mechanics of the game play loop was introduced (15 minutes in, it's basically: press a button to hide within the background, wait until the enemy passes by, pop back out). While the enemy mechanics are similar to Lone Survivor, Lone Survivor is a much better game in all aspects (game play, story, atmosphere, etc). I feel bad for saying that because I can tell a lot of hard work was put into Worse Than Death. But the only good thing this game shares with Lone Survivor is the pretty pixel art. But that doesn't save the bad writing, almost no horror/suspenseful atmosphere, and a really boring and tedious game play. There was nothing to look forward to, which is why I stopped trying to finish the game. I genuinely feel bad for leaving a negative review. Despite all the harsh words, I do want to see more from the game devs. I think they know how to make a good game. But for potential buyers, I would skip Worse Than Death.

A decent game for what it is. I loved the mixture of graphics, which made for a nice change of pace for a fan of pixel graphics. The sounds and music in the game were also really good. For a supernatural story, it was decent albeit a bit short, but the plot twist at the end seemed like a cheap/easy way to do a "oh hey look, you ACTUALLY didn't know what was going on!" which isn't bad, per se, but I'm not totally a fan of that kind of story work. Almost all the puzzles were a bit too easy and if you're paying attention to what you're reading, nothing is really that hard to deduce. I did end up playing all three game modes, and there isn't any difference in difficulty except for lives (and save points for Nightmare). The whole game is pretty easy. I really assumed that Nightmare would offer more challenge as there are a ton of unused hiding spots in the game, but no. Overall, a good pixel horror game (for those of you who get scared easily, there are a few jumpscares but nothing overly worrisome). Definitely recommend for those who are looking for easy horror games! I would also probably wait for a sale as full price seems a bit high for an easy game.

This is a short, side scrolling game. I bought it after seeing it on youtube. I do think the ending is a bit, weird. But the art style switching between pixel, and head shots is pretty good. only thing I'd change is adding a different monster per location. Maybe a location specific monster. solid 6/10

The atmosphere and the story are exceptionally well-crafted; they had me hooked, and I couldn't put the game down. However, I can't say that the game posed much of a challenge. The sections with monsters roaming the area are surprisingly easy to navigate (I even earned both the Flawless and Ghost achievements without much effort). If you're seeking a challenging experience, this might not be the game for you, as it leans more towards a story-oriented experience.

Pros - Great art-style and overall presentation - Simple but engaging game-play and interesting puzzle design. Not too hard, game flows along nicely. - Auto-save - Different difficulty options. Cons - Ending was a little bit of an anti-climax. - Short, I left the game running a fair bit so my time is significantly overstated.