Archive for Horror Game Review

Review: Outlast 2 (Video Game)

Posted in Review with tags , , , , , , , , on October 13, 2018 by Lilliandra Winters

Developer: Red Barrel Studios
Platforms: PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4
Release Date: April 25th, 2017

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Lets take a minute to appreciate how truly fucked up Outlast is. It’s full of some twisted shit and when I thought it couldn’t get worse, they gave us some messed up DLC. Thank fuck that’s over! Outlast 2 was like, hold my beer.

The problem with sequels is that you have an expectation. It isn’t the new, never-seen-before experience of the first one. So keeping this in mind, Outlast 2 seems to have upped the ante. Also giving it an American Horror Story feel the second game, with only subtle nods to the first game, gives it a completely different concept. You are a different character in a different part of the world.

outlast_2_launch_screen_7Blake and Lynn are flying in a helicopter, making their way to investigate a woman that was found wondering down a stretch of highway, barefoot and pregnant. She is later murdered under suspicious circumstances. Your helicopter crashes and bursts into flames. Lynn is missing, but your camera is intact, so you pick it up and start to make your way in the darkness looking for her. You see a man tied to a tree and gutted, you see a town in the distance and make your way towards it.

Outlast 2 jumps into pushing limits. It was really interesting to see what they did to the game after the the demo. They incorporated a lot, but not everything, and there were some distinct differences between the two. The ‘flashbacks’ unlock a story from Black’s past about his friend, Jessica, and what happened to her. It has some correlation to what is currently happening, but why it’s happening is pretty fucked up.

I will warn you, there is a LOT to follow in this game: cults, zealots, STDs, a prophet, murder and your past. That’s just the tip of this disturbing iceberg. It’s a lot of information to keep straight, but completely worth it when you do. Outlast 2 is a wonderful reminder of the depravity that lurks in the dark.

I don’t know why you are still reading this. If you haven’t played Outlast & Outlast: Whistle Blower go play then and jump straight into Outlast 2. Here’s hoping you have a strong stomach.

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Review: The Uncle Who Works For Nintendo

Posted in Review with tags , , , , , , , , , , on October 21, 2016 by Lilliandra Winters

Game by: Michael Lutz
Platform: PC

The Uncle who Works for Nintendo is a weird choose-your-own-adventure horror indie game. Unlike most games that I adore, this is visual novel. I avoid these like the plague since they’re not as interactive as I’d like video games to be.

What’s it about?
Diving into it, you are a kid sleeping over at your best friend’s house. You have dinner with his parents, play video games with your buddy and unravel the weirdest tale possible.

What did I think?
The artwork is sketched backgrounds, beautifully simple and effective, with a few sound effects and some creepy atmosphere that only intensifies the incredible story. A story about a night at your best friend’s house and their uncle who works at Nintendo.

I’m not going to go into the story, but it’s perfectly written and free, so I urge you to play. It has 5 endings and a hidden one that takes some work to get to, but I have faith in you. You’ll get it.

It’s incredibly creepy, completely worth your time and very, very creepy pasta.

Maybe I need to stop giving visual novels a bad wrap?

Do I recommend it?
Play it, thank me or yell at me. Tell me what you think.

WintersOver4

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Review: Dead End Road (Video Game)

Posted in Review with tags , , , , , , , , , , , on July 24, 2016 by Lilliandra Winters

Dev: DDD Wares
Release Date: July 8, 2016

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What the fuck? So, nevermind that the graphics are old school pixels, I don’t care about that. Some amazing games are pixel-based. I even enjoy the premise: you are trying to complete a dark ritual to achieve your ultimate goal. I’m down. Deal with the devil. Crossroads pact. I get it. How you are magically teleported across the county is confusing, but okay, I’m trying to follow your logic here. So, you have to drive to different cities to find a book, a bell and a candle and something to light them with? Okay, I’m still with you.

Why the hell does the middle feel like a driving simulator from hell? I get the point, it is very obviously a challenge to make sure you are worthy or have the strength of whatever cliche you want to throw at me. That’s fine, but it could make a little more sense. It could be structured better. It would be amazing if every time you screwed up, you didn’t have to start the whole fucking game over again! What bullshit is that? You could just start at the last town back or something like that instead of having to start the whole annoying process over again, especially since the last drive makes going to hell seem like a simple task.

And please don’t get me wrong, I am all for hard. Make me work for it, don’t just hand me the ending, I want to earn it. By the time you finally get to the end of this game, you would rather throw your computer out the window because that would feel a shit load more satisfying. It took every ounce of my being to not type that out all in caps and I am sure you appreciate that I didn’t, but HOLY SHIT did it feel impossible and anti-climatic when the game was finally beat. Two of the endings I encountered were both disappointing and making me wish for all that time back.

Let me know what you think. Am I utterly wrong or filled with righteous rage quit?

WintersOver4

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Review: Eternal Walk (Video Game)

Posted in Review with tags , , , , , , , , , on July 10, 2016 by Lilliandra Winters

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Early Access release date: May 1, 2016

Eternal Walk is a Slender Man type indie horror game that is currently in Early Access. There is no explanation of what you need to do. You are given your controls and dropped into a dungeon. You are walking through a maze of wet-looking stone walls while your arm is extended before you, holding a lantern, which gives off the least amount of light possible.

This maze has no rhyme or reason, so as you are walking around looking for cassettes, you have no possibility of finding the exit. I also have an issue with them looking like VHS tapes and being called cassettes. I know, I’m weird.

So you have to find these 8 cassettes – I have no idea why or what for – and avoid the ghosts? Monsters? I have no idea what these things are. They appear at random and are impossible to avoid, creating a few good jump scares. However, you have no way to defend yourself and most of the time have to run through them.

The graphics are fair at best and it is really hard to see anything. You are honestly playing the game at the bottom center of your screen. Oddly enough, I do like their sound effects, but it all sounds like throw backs to 80s horror movies.

If you do die, which will happen often, you have to start over from the beginning, which is rage inducing. I never saw the end of this game and I doubt I ever will. It’s by far not the worst game, so play if you dare and let me know what you think.

WintersOver4

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Continuous (Video Game)

Posted in Review with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 7, 2015 by Lilliandra Winters

Continuous & Continuously
TurnVex games

Continuous
Continuous is another loop-style horror game very much like Silent Hills PT. I can’t say that I’m surprised. Silent Hills PT was impressive, frustrating and chilling.

I was impressed by the graphics. They were better than I expected them to be in Continuous. The hallway was pleasant and looked like any hallway in any home with paintings on the wall. The hallway light flashes as you pass. The hall has a nursery, a storage room and a bathroom. You obviously don’t access all of these rooms immediately. The last door leads into the hallway again.

This game is much less puzzles and much more anticipation. Lots of sounds, red lights, black outs. Of course, there is a creepy baby crying and no baby to be seen. It has zero story and what I can only assume is the end is… well, it’s a guess that it’s the end of the game.

I think it was fairly awesome. It screws with you a lot, which is the point of horror games. If I understand correctly, this is their first attempt at a game and it was well done and part of a process.
Continuously 
The second installment was much different. This time, you have a stairwell for what looks like an office building of some sort. The graphics felt about the same, however this time there was a story to follow… sort of.

The story explains that a young girl was seen going into this room (I assume the room on the second floor) and was found dead with no explanation as to what may have killed her. They didn’t say how she died either, so I have to assume it was messy. The only thing out of place was a dark shadow near the windows.

The only thing I came away confused about was the whole lamp thing. “I just wanted to buy a lamp to brighten up his room.” This makes no sense in the story of what’s going on and seems kind of thrown in last minute to explain all the lamps you keep running into. You can only assume that “his” is a reference to the thing trying to kill you, but it’s never made clear.

Honestly, if I could combine both the games into one, I think it would be pretty solid. I enjoyed the area of the first one much more, but loved the fact that the second one actually had a story and, better yet, actually had an ending.

I would like to see what more they have to offer in the future. The improvement from one game to the next was impressive and obviously showed advancement. I hope this turns out to be a trilogy. It would be awesome to see if these two games were linked in some way.

Both games did what they were made to do: kept you at the edge of your seat and made you reluctantly continue, hesitating at every turn.

This is definitely worth playing.

WintersOver4

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