Joe's Diner (2015) - Horror Videogame Impressions: 'Rotted Meat No.1'

The list of video games I own and have yet to play have gotten to such an amount over the years that I fear I will likely simply not even get around to playing some of them. Due to this, I have been more harsh lately, skipping games if I feel I am just not 'getting' them. This gave me the idea of creating a new series of posts. Titled 'Rotted Meat', these won't be reviews, but instead the impressions I had of certain games, and what led to me abandoning them. The first of these is Joe's Diner...

The Synopsis:

The game is a horror survival game that takes place out in the desert at a remote diner (Joe's Diner obviously). You play as a night-time employee of the diner, and have unusual tasks assigned to you. The place happens to have been built on the site of a Native American burial ground where two rival chieftains were buried. The hate they share for each other even resides in death, and so one of your jobs is to diffuse any supernatural occurrences that might arise due to the spirits of the chieftains still warring.

How the game felt:

This is one of those horror games where you are defenceless, and instead of fighting, you must sneak around the environment trying your best not to get killed by the evil spirits. Having a limited shift time, the game is split into different nights, much in the way of Five Nights at Freddy's, though here you are free to walk around rather than stuck in a single room. The game was unremarkable, basic looking, and really not a lot of fun. 

Reason for abandoning the game:

I started playing this shortly before upgrading to a Playstation 5, and Joe's Diner was one of the rare games that wasn't backward compatible on the new system, leading to me ditching it. Sure, I could have hooked up my Playstation 4 had I really wanted to play this one again, but I found the game super boring and dull, and so I really wasn't bothered about ever going through the minor hoops to return.

Loop Hero (2021-24) - Post Apocalyptic Video Game Review (Xbox Series X)

I first heard of Loop Hero from a work colleague in my day job. He often recommends games he has been trying out on Xbox Game Pass, and usually they really aren't my thing. With Loop Hero though he struck gold, while originally released back in 2021, this only arrived on the Xbox platforms last April. After ten months of playing, and with an overall play time of forty six hours, I finally finished this fantastic game a week or so back, and can easily state that it is the best game I played out of all those wonderful gems of 2023.

The game has a very basic and charming old school look to it, with the entire game taking place on just the one screen, but it has a compelling set-up that combined with its addictive nature kept me coming back again and again. The synopsis is that the world the game takes place in has ended, not the typical post apocalyptic landscape, but a world in which everything has literally ended, with there being nothing but an endless black void. The intro text states that an evil lich was the one who ended reality, though it later turns out not to be quite as simple as that. For reasons unknown, the only thing that has survived is a small camp. You play as the simply titled 'Hero' who has awakened to find himself in this camp. Leaving the place you discover that your travels cause the world to be filled in and re-built around you, but should you retreat back to the place of safety, or should you be knocked unconscious and brought back home, then the world will once again fall away into nothingness. Initially you set out to defeat the evil lich, hoping with his death the world will be restored.

The story ties into the gameplay as it provides a lore reason for why this is a rogue-like. The world being filled in also fits this, as you have a hand in creating the small world of the loop. Each new run you start creates a random smallish loop which your character automatically travels around. There will be various enemies you encounter, but again this results in automation, with you automatically attacking enemies until either you or they die. By defeating enemies you receive a variety of things. Resources can be used to take back to camp in order to develop it, items and weapons can be equipped to make yourself stronger, while tile cards can be placed both on the loop itself and the surrounding world can be used to force particular enemy encounters, as well as to increase your stats. Loop tiles can for instance be a forest, this area will spawn wolves of a kind, as well as give you wood resource for passing through them. Placing mountains on the world outside the loop will increase your health, suburbs will increase your experience, grass will increase the healing granted at the start of every day (there is a swift day cycle that also constantly is looping). The cards can also be combined to give different boosts. For instance, putting a village tile on the loop (which grants you a quest against a stronger enemy in order to get a reward, as well as healing you for passing through it) combined with a vampire mansion tile on the world next to it (which spawns vampires) creates a cursed village that will then spawn zombies for the next three or four loops but then results in a better village after this.

You can have a total of fifteen different tiles equipped at any one time. My favourites were an Oblivion card that has the ability to destroy a placed tile, and an outpost card that sees an A.I join you in any battles taking place on the loop around it.

The game is split into two parts, the loop journey itself, and all the management back at camp. This later part gets more involved the further you develop it. Buildings placed give permanent boosts to your character such as more health and more strength, and also help you in the crafting aspect. Huts increase the number of stat increasing items you can have equipped, lost books recovered allow you to unlock really interesting lore (multiple bits of lore not only exist for enemies and tiles, but even furniture and resources have their own lore). The alchemy section become essential for later upgrades as they allow you to transmute any resource into any other type of resource. You can also build a potion area which provides you with health potions you automatically use on your loop, and guard towers that will cause soldiers to join in any battles near the camp tile. This camp section is essential enough that the game even deems fit to give you stats for time played both in and out of the camp. I had an overall playtime of forty six hours, but ten of those hours were spent fiddling around back at base.
While I thought the game was unique and fascinating it isn't without its faults. I loved the music, but there are only a handful of tunes, so you are constantly hearing the same couple of background tunes while travelling around. These sometimes had some audio distortions to them which didn't sound intended. A likely bigger stumbling block for most will be the amount of grinding needed to be able to beat the game. It is split up into four chapters, each giving enemies more abilities, as well as resulting in a different boss encounter. From the simple presentation it might seem impossible that you could put so many hours into it, but these for me included around ten to fifteen hours of pure grinding. Enjoying the game so damn much this wasn't an issue, I liked sticking on a podcast and just doing a few runs for resource gathering purposes.
An actual real life issue might arise for people in that the studio behind the game, Four Quarters, are based in Russia. The team did put out an official statement stating their opposition to the terrible invasion of Ukraine, and also said that they are perfectly happy with people pirating the game if they are unable to purchase it due to sanctions placed on Russia currently.

I found Loop Hero to be an almighty breath of fresh air. I enjoyed every second of this wonderful game, I loved the atmosphere, I loved the world, I loved how something so simple looking could be so much fun to play (for an idea of just how purposely simple the game is, the player character is represented by a small all-white stick figure on the map screen. As always when reviewing a game I have loved, I have waffled on without even going into everything. I could have mentioned the three different classes (warrior, rogue, and necromancer), gone into more detail on the amount of tiles and combinations there are, and explained everything in general better. Loop Hero is currently free to play if you own Game Pass, but is also not that expensive (I believe around £10). Due to liking it so much I happily brought a copy to be able to keep. Well worth playing, and my top game of 2023.

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Inscryption (2021-22) - Horror Video Game Review (Playstation 5)

I listen to a few different video game podcasts, earlier in the year there had been lots of talk about a really unique sounding card based game called Inscryption. Card games normally hold little to no interest for me, but the passion with which this game was spoken about really had me wanting to check it out for myself, especially due to it seeming to have a creepy horror aesthetic to it. Seeing it on sale on the Playstation 5 I snapped it up, hoping it would be something I would enjoy. I can happily report that this was one stunner of a game, one that cements the fact that gameplay and story can trump amazing graphics every single time.

To go too much into the story would ruin the surprise, for this is a game that thrives on constantly surprising the player. At its core, this has you playing as a man, who is playing the fictional video game Inscryption on his PC. In the game within the game you find yourself in an old cabin deep in woods on a dark and stormy night. This cabin is home to a creepy old man shrouded in darkness who asks you to play a card based adventure game with him. This takes the form of a rogue-like (meaning each new attempt features randomised elements so that no two playthroughs are the same). In addition to playing the card game, you can get up and explore the cabin at any point, playing the game slowly reveals clues as to how to solve various puzzles dotted around the cabin. You also encounter a few cards who appear sentient, a fate you discover awaits you, as each failed attempt sees your character transformed into a card, with each subsequent attempt having you play as a 'new' arrival at the cabin.

At first I didn't fully understand that I was playing a man who was playing a video game, but this becomes far more apparent later on with more elements that refer to this concept. As I said in my intro, card games hold little interest to me. Here, with such a strong horror element I was hooked. The basic set-up for each match has a board with twelve places for cards, set up into three rows. You only have access to the first row, and it is here that you must place cards, with the intention to cause damage to your opponent. Each point of damage puts a gold nugget onto a scale, the goal being to tip the scales in your favour and win the match. Your opponent has the same goal, and with him he is able to utilise the other two rows, with his cards advancing. Both of you need a clear path to the opponent in order to damage them, and so the cards battle against each other to kill each other off. Cards have both health points and damage points, and get a whole host of specific abilities, such as being able to attack the opponent directly even if there is a card in their way, or instantly killing any enemy card they hit.

Sacrifice is the name of the game however, with many of the cards only able to be played onto the board once the required number of your own cards currently already on the board have been sacrificed. This later gets expanded upon with some cards requiring bones to be used (bones gained from when cards you have placed are killed), some cards requiring specific magical gemstone cards to be present on the board before they can be used, and some requiring a specific store up of energy for them to be used. 

Shadowrun: Dragonfall (2022) - Cyberpunk Video Game Review (XBox Series X)

I had fun with the isometric cyberpunk/fantasy video game Shadowrun Returns but have to confess I found it somewhat limited. It told a story that felt small in scope, while the game as a whole was finished within ten hours. Shadowrun: Dragonfall was originally released as an expansion for Returns, as such I went into this expecting a much smaller experience, not knowing that it was later expanded upon and released as its own game before 2022. I found the story to be far more epic, side quests to have become an essential and well fleshed out part of the game, and an overall playtime that was over double that of the first game. The world is the same as the first game, it is a cyberpunk future that has the added addition of fantasy creatures such as orks, elfs, dwarfs and monsters.

The game takes place in Berlin, Germany, which in the time of the game (around the mid 2050's I think) has become an anarchic free-state. You are a shadowrunner, part of a group led by Monika. Recently recruited, you and your teammates head with her to a remote countryside mansion, with the promise of an easy heist. Instead of a simple data snatch you instead stumble into something terrible, you discover a gigantic secret underground base populated by an army of soldiers, even worse, Monika gets her brain fried while attempting to hack into the place. The rest of you manage to escape, with your teammates grudgingly accepting you as their new leader thanks to one of Monika's last orders. You eventually learn that the underground base is linked to a great dragon that was allegedly killed decades earlier. Wanting revenge for Monika's death, and seeing it as your duty to stop this unseen threat, you and your team set-out to raise enough credits to pay the only information broker capable of getting you the intel that will give you a fighting chance on a return trip to the underground base.

Dragonfall is another isometric RPG, one that makes some improvements over Returns, but also some less good choices. Combat takes place over a grid like before, but unlike the first game where you had three action points with which to move around and use your weapons/powers, this time around you only have two. By the time the end came around this had been upgraded to three, but for most the game just having two ability points per character felt limiting. The first game had a weird imbalance between the first halves story heavy levels and the later half being full of action. This time around the balance is spot on. There is lots and lots of story which really makes Berlin feel like a living breathing place. The first game gave you a bar as a hub area, this time around you have a small town as your hub area, with missions accessed by the local tube train. Your hub town is full of all the shopkeepers you could hope for, plenty of side quests, and incidental characters who shed more light on the world.

Shadowrun Returns (2022) - Cyberpunk Video Game Review (XBox Series X)

Despite the title, Shadowrun Returns isn't actually a sequel, instead it is a video game adaptation of the Shadowrun board game. Further research suggests this may actually be a sequel after all, albeit, a sequel to a SNES/Megadrive game from the early 1990s. This game originally came out in 2013, but this year has seen the release of a remastered version of the game, alongside its two expansions (which were released as standalone titles). You may be wondering why a non-horror game is being reviewed here, that is for two reasons, firstly that dystopian futures are not too far removed from apocalypses (that are prime for being covered), secondly, I damn well love everything cyberpunk.

The game takes place in Seattle in the later half of the 21st century, a world where megacorporations run the world. So far so cyberpunk, the difference here is that the world of fantasy has been merged with it. Alongside hacking and cyberspace you also have magic and demons, as well as typical fantasy beings such as orcs, elves and dwarves. You play as a Shadowrunner (I think they are basically mercenaries) who has been sent a pre-recorded message from a former partner, Sam informing them of their own death. From beyond the grave they have requested that you bring their murderer to justice, with a large sum of money being the reward for doing so. It soon becomes clear that Sam was murdered by a serial killer, someone who has links to very powerful people who are set on irreversibly altering the landscape of the world.

So, Shadowrun Returns is an isometric tactical role playing game. Combat takes place on a grid system with your three action points allocated to moving your character around, shooting at enemies and using special abilities and items. The combat is basically the same as that of Gears: Tactics, but this part of the game has been merged with a more traditional RPG element. The game is split into chapters, each putting you and your team into a small area to either do some investigating or fighting enemies. This is dialogue heavy with conversations often being more detailed than you may expect, I kind of got Planescape Torment vibes. Rather than get experience points you instead are given karma points for doing actions such as completing mission objectives and surviving encounters. These points can be pumped into a series of skill trees that let you do everything from becoming better skilled at using weapons, to having better magic and better cyberspace skills. Talking of cyberspace, this is a whole different area of the game you can travel to optionally. Here you fight computer programs and can summon your own programs to fight alongside you.

Enigmatis: The Ghosts of Maple Creek (2011) - Horror Video Game Review (Playstation 4)

Lately while doing this blog at the weekend (for all my posts are typically written on a Saturday and Sunday) I have felt a bit like I'm dialing it all in, writing posts out of a feeling of obligation rather than feeling passionate. I blame all the video games I have been reviewing lately, I don't get nearly as much traffic for game reviews than I do for my film reviews. This weekend isn't the time to turn things around, I have just the one day I will be able to work on my blog as am going London for the day on the Sunday.
Enigmatis: The Ghosts of Maple Creek is a hidden object adventure game (first released in 2011), a genre that reminds me of my parents, who at one point in their lives both played these games religiously. If that hadn't been the case I doubt I would have become interested in these and noticed that a fair few of them are horror based in nature.

The game starts off in an interesting way. You awaken in the middle of a storm ravaged village with your short term memory completely absent. You are a female detective who had headed to the area in search of the cause for the high number of missing people reported there, and it seems you had made some headway into your investigation. The memory loss however means you must start almost from scratch, with only the enigmatic (enigmatis?) notes and clues from your prior investigation to go on. What you discover is a village with a brainwashed population, something to do with a local preacher.

First off, that title is dumb. Sure, the game does take place at Maple Creek, but there are no ghosts at all here, it isn't that sort of horror game. Outside of the mystery of finding the location of all the missing girls, you also have to discover what is causing the village folk to act so weirdly. When hidden object games first appeared that was all you would do, search room after room of massively stuffed environments, with a whole laundry list of things to find. As the genre matured, these hidden object segments were made simpler, while a whole host of one shot mini games were introduced with a slight puzzle element to them. The puzzles here are as simple as the hidden object scenes, but not so simple that you don't need to at least vaguely use your brain. With the hidden object sections the only issues can come from not quite understanding what the object you are seeking actually looks like, but a generous hint system works there. With the puzzle sections these include such things as block puzzles and simple math problems. At any point you can use the hint system to point you towards where you need to go, while a map screen highlights any areas where you can do things to progress the game. 

Among the Sleep (2014-2019) - Horror Video Game Review (Playstation 4)

Among the Sleep is a game I have owned for years, yet I have never gotten around to playing it. The reason for the delay was that I recall there was a lot of interest when it first got announced, but upon its release it got a more muted reception than many people expected. It stands on its own for having the character you play as be a two year old child, but in a horror setting, seeing the darkness of their world through their eyes.

The game takes place on your second birthday, as one of your presents you are given an old teddy bear which you take an immediate liking to. Later that night, after you have been read a bedtime story and put to bed, you awaken in your crib to discover your bear has vanished. Managing to get out of your crib, you explore the house and discover the teddy inside the washing machine, which you manage to open. The teddy explains to you that something doesn't feel right, and that you should seek out your mother. This begins a journey through various different horror tinged locations as you seek out four items that relate to memories you have with your mother, in order to be reunited with her.

The idea behind the game is a good one, I've played games before where I have been a young child, but never in a first person horror setting such as here. This is a adventure game that is combat free, instead there are slight puzzles that must be solved, and some vague stealth gameplay in that each new location you visit has its own adult sized monster walking around in it. Playing as a toddler I expected it would be impossible to die, that isn't the case though don't expect any sort of gratuitous scene of death, instead the screen just fades to black. Death can come from drowning, or by being caught by one of the black smokey antagonists stalking the levels. As a child you don't really have any powers. You can drag stools and open drawers to climb up on surfaces, you can run, but do that too much and you will fall over into a crawl (actually kind of irritating). Then, for moments when things get too dark (fear represented by the screen shaking), you can press a button to hug your teddy bear which will create light.
Obviously you are a silent protagonist, you don't even cry out when scared, the story telling falls to the teddy bear, he is the one who sets out your goal of exploring these different levels. Story is also revealed by environmental details (packing boxes for instance suggest you have only recently moved into the house the game takes place in), as well as blurred flashbacks that feature a bit of muffled dialogue, I assume as the child wouldn't be able to understand what was being said.

Carrion (2020) - Horror Video Game Review (Nintendo Switch)

Carrion was a game that sounded so awesome on paper that the moment it was released I snatched it right up. This is a pixel art style Metroidvania (one huge level with upgrades that allow you access to more and more of it) but there is a huge difference to many games of this type.It has been described as a 'reverse-horror game' and by that it means you play as a monster, while humans are fodder for you to kill and consume.

Carrion takes place within a research facility and the game begins with you escaping your containment unit. As to how you got there, that is revealed by a series of flashbacks as you progress through the four to five hour game. The monster you control is a red, amorphous tentacled monster that oozes and rolls around the environment. The many tentacles means you can climb around all the walls and ceilings of the many places you go to. You are able to ooze through vents, smash down doors and break windows in your bid to escape the facility. You start the game quite small and weak, however nearly all the humans you come across are defenceless and can easily be consumed by manipulating a tentacle to bring them to your gaping maw and eat them for health. Upgrades received by collecting your captured genetic code grants you all kinds of cool new abilities as well as massively increases your size. These abilities range from less exciting ones such as the ability to smash vents, to being able to turn into a mass of worms in order to swim through water, turn invisible and even getting the ability to possess humans in order to get them to flip switches and take each other out.

When everything is going smooth this is pure joy to play. The feeling of empowerment as you smash and crush your way through room after room as the humans scream before you is fantastic and is where Carrion is at its best. To put in challenge however you come across automated defences, as well as soldiers who are able to deflect your attacks with large shields. It can be frustrating to be on a (literal) roll and then briskly be annihilated. I understand this was to stop the game being a cake walk but I can't help feeling the game would have been more fun without these sections of tough combat. For all the power you have to wreak havoc you are also somewhat of a glass cannon, able to be annihilated within seconds. The game is a Metroidvania in its design but each section of the facility is still within its self contained area. Each area usually has one new upgrade to discover, and there is very little need for backtracking. The game is designed well enough that you are forever moving forward. This is a relief as the samey looking levels and the lack of a map would have made backtracking very confusing. Often your goal is to destroy a set number of locks in order to open up a new area. As you play through the game these locks become more and more, with simple puzzles required to access the locks. This includes flipping switches, playing with the power grid, and finding your way past sealed corridors.  

Cyber Shadow (2020) - Post Apocalyptic Video Game Review (Xbox One)

I was lucky enough a week last Saturday to finally get my rotted claws on an Xbox Series X console. It soon became clear to me that it was going to take a heck of a long time to download the games I wanted to play on it. Having seen screenshots of the retro action platformer Cyber Shadow and been pleased with its fantastic 8-bit aesthetic I decided to download it to play while I waited for current gen games to download. This game is very frustrating, but it is also very enjoyable in almost equal measures, and boy, this sure is a tough game to get through!

You are Shadow, a cybernetic ninja whose last memory is of being caught in a blast that decimated the city you called home. You awaken in an underground facility with no memory of how you came to be there. You and your clan were led by a woman known only as Master. She was the daughter of renowned scientist Dr. Progen whose greatest deed was creating a huge workforce of robots designed to make day to day life easier for all. Your clan were tasked with dealing with any robots that went rogue. Things were good until the day Master discovers she is terminally ill. Unable to accept that he can't cure his daughter, Dr. Progen is driven insane and resorts to more and more drastic experiments to try and find a solution. Finally he decides that 'essence' (a type of magic) that all humans contain within them is the key to curing her. He transforms his robot workforce into a deadly army and instructs them to kill all they come across, then when this isn't providing him with enough essence he destroys the city hoping the gigantic loss of life will provide him with what he believes he needs. Shadow, guided by the voice of Master sets out to stop Dr. Progen, and rescue her from his grasp, even if this means she will most certainly die...

This game looks so good. It is 8-bit but that doesn't mean it is restricted to the capabilities of games from that era. It uses the graphical style as a template but uses all the power of modern day games to make it look and play like a dream. Throughout there are plenty of cutscenes, again created using beautiful pixel art, and this added power also means irritating elements of old games, such as enemies respawning off screen is gone. When enemies are destroyed here they are thankfully gone for good. The game is huge, split into ten stages, each of which is split into many side-scrolling levels full of tricky platforming to traverse. Roughly every three levels you get a checkpoint. In a cool move you can use a form of currency that enemies and objects leave in order to attach specific perks to your checkpoint. These usually include the ability for your health to be restored at your current checkpoint, your magic to be restored, and to have a power-up which takes the form of a small robot that hovers by you as you progress.

Oxenfree (2016) - Horror Video Game Review (X-Box One)

Oxenfree is a combat free adventure game that is heavy on story but short on gameplay. It feels kind of like what modern day text adventure games have become. While personally I didn't feel the need to do a second playthrough, the story is set up in such a way that you would need to do so in order to get a true ending.

Alex (voiced by Erin Yvette - Firewatch) heads to the currently uninhabited Edwards Island along with her best friend, Ren (Aaron Kuban), and her new step-brother Jonas (Gavin Hammon) for a weekend of partying, as is the coming of age tradition of teenagers in her town. There she meets Clarissa and Nona, two other school mates. There is a local legend that certain radio frequencies cause supernatural events in a large cave on the island and so Alex and Jonas decide to check it out. They discover a strange 'tear' deep in the cavern and are surprised when tuning the portable radio Alex has that this tear begins to open...then all chaos breaks loose. Some time later Alex and Jonas awaken to find themselves somehow transported to the opposite side of the island. Lost and confused they eventually learn that all their friends have also been transported to random places within the island. It seems they have somehow awakened a living frequency, a force whose intentions are unclear, but which has the power to not only create time loops, but to also be able to possess Alex and her friends.

Oxenfree is a beautiful looking 2D adventure game that features vaguely ugly 3D character models. It is both the graphics and the superb soundtrack that really got me hooked. The island is split up into different areas, such as the beach, the military base and the mountains, each of which has a lovely look to it that made it seem like it had been hand built via arts and crafts. In each area you are restricted to a 2.5D path. Occasionally there are minor puzzles, such as working out how to open locked doors, and how to power on various devices, but mainly this is all about walking and talking. Over the course of the roughly five hour game you play as Alex, but often who you are with changes up. Dialogue is the main way the story plays out, with characters walking and talking constantly. Usually you are often given multiple responses to what the other characters are saying, typically agreeable, disagreeable or sarcastic and angry responses. In terms of what you actually do this is mostly just walking around, with the story playing the main draw.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent (2010) - Horror Videogame Review (PC)

I heard Amnesia: The Dark Descent was a scary game, this made me excited to play it as scary games seem to be rare nowadays. Finally with a laptop able to run it I eagerly gave it a go.

Amnesia is a first person survival horror in which you start the game in a strange castle with no memory of how you got there, or who you are other than your name; Daniel. A letter near where you lay is from your past self, it instructs you to head to the inner sanctum of the castle and kill a man called Alexander. As you explore the castle you start to remember bits of your past that involved finding a mystical orb in some ancient ruins, and an unspeakable evil that is hunting you down as a result.

Amnesia is set during the last third of the 19th century, as a result there is non of the modern tools you would usually find in a survival horror. In fact there are no weapons at all in the game, upon discovering a monster your only option is to flee and hide. Darkness drains your sanity meter, the longer you spend in darkness the more you begin to hallucinate. To combat this you have a torch that must be kept topped up with oil, and there are hundreds of wall mounted torches and candles around the castle that can be lit.

Initially I was concerned by how much variety there would be in the games world. The castle is not particularly special looking and truth be told kind of bland. There are various areas of the castle including prisons, sewers, and living quarters but none of these locations were interesting in design. The main bulk of Amnesia is solving simple puzzles that can be anything from piling up a load of boxes to reach an out of reach platform, or throwing a rock at a suspended chain, or collecting various items for use on a particular thing (such as using a hammer and chisel to break a floor open). More interesting are the various documents spread around the mansion. A lot of these are diary entries from your past self that give context for what has happened, also a cool idea were that loading screens provide back story.

I played this in the dark with headphones, and at night where possible but I just did not find it that scary. Sure random walls collapsing in the distance freaked me out slightly, but the atmosphere just wasn't there for me. Darkness irritated more than frightened, and this went for the enemies too. A cool twist is that even looking at the enemies drains your sanity meter. They themselves were not that well designed and didn't inspire fear so much as annoyance when they killed me. A few chase sequences were more fun, one that had me desperately slamming doors shut behind myself as I ran was cool, and a brief jaunt through some flooded rooms where touching the water alerted an invisible monster to my location was good.

I think my problem is that so many people had said how scary this game was that I hyped it up too much in my head. I had fun with Amnesia: The Dark Descent but it is not a game I could see myself going back to. The story whilst straight out of a H.P Lovecraft tale just did not engage me, I did not find it that interesting, especially with such terrible voice acting. Not bad, but certainly not the classic it has been made out to be. I wanted creeping dread and instead got occasional thrills.

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