From The Cat Lady, to Downfall, to Lorelai, and now Burnhouse Lane, it is always lovely to see how developers stick to one genre and keep improving upon their formula. Harvester Game is such a studio. Their horror adventures have always been a niche but memorable experience. The fourth game, Burnhouse Lane, is probably the best one so far. It has a balance amount of horror and relaxing moments. The dev tries something new and implements some action-focus gameplay to spice up the flow(commendable, even though they are probably the worst part of the game).


Overall Tone and Atmosphere
There are going to be a lot of comparison here.

• Implementing more color schemes certainly give the game a smoother tone in contrast to their earlier titles, which are pure black and white. Less oppressive, more relaxing.
  
• The setting is also less extreme in comparison. Previous titles took on some heavy issues in a really "in your face" style, while Burnhouse Lane tries to ease players into the tension and horror slowly. Don't worry though, the messed-up stuff is still in here.
  
• The background design is also tidier than the previous titles. This makes spotting items easy.
  
• To me the ups and downs of a horror game is essential. You can't just throw scary stuff at the players and expect it to work every time. There needs to be some down-times in between to keep players from feeling fatigue. Burnhouse Lane does a good job at balancing the pace of the story.

Platformer and Action
I appreciate the dev tries something new. No matter the result, it is always something worth praising.

Like
• In order to make things fresh the developers venture into the unfamiliar territory, adding combat and light platformer into their horror adventure.
  
• This decision from time to time makes the overall experience less oppressive and the pace of the game more flexible.

Dislike
• However, these parts of the game are also unfortunately the worst during my playthrough. It could be a deliberate design choice, or it could be the developers are inexperienced in these designs.
  
• For the action part, it is really awkward to use. Axe's swing sometimes can be deceiving. The swing clearly connects to the enemy's torso but the hit registration is delayed for some reason. As a result, the enemy can "safely" grab you despite you hitting it; Guns also don't fare well either. The hit registration on guns are confusing. Bullets seem to de-spawn beyond half of the screen, or don't trigger the registration beyond half of the screen.
  
• For platformer part, there are many oversights. The platforms are way too dark to see, or they blend in environment way too good. The jump mechanic is also wonky to use. The control feels awkward. The sprint-jumping can be frustrating to judge the distance.

Minor Complaints

• Some puzzles are vague in terms of the clues you get.
  
• Some levels are too dark.

中文小簡評
→能看到獨立遊戲團隊一步步進步很讓人欣慰啊。
→Harvester Game一直以來都是以冒險恐怖小品為主，這次特地在新作加點不一樣的玩法，成果雖然差強人意，但精神可嘉。
→這款與前作有許多不同之處，最大的特點在於整體節奏不錯，恐怖及輕鬆的橋段有達到平衡。
→用色比前作壓抑的黑白色多樣，多了幾絲柔和的調性。
→嚴肅主旨的呈現也比前作顏面直擊的作法大不同，這款懂得慢慢引導玩家進入恐怖情節。當然，非常超過的東西從不缺席。
→場景設計也比前作乾淨許多，重要的道具一目了然。
→我沒記錯應該是首次加入戰鬥和跳台系統，概念不錯，也能稍稍轉換緊張的情緒。
→可惜製作團隊經驗不足，戰鬥部分操作起來彆扭，攻擊判定有時比攻擊動畫還慢，導致敵人明明被你攻擊到但他們會忽視攻擊判定直接抓到你；跳台部分也是有待加強，跳台既沒有明顯標示也沒有特別亮點，會讓人誤以為是背景的一部分，跳躍用起來怪怪的，很常無法準確判定落點與距離。
→部分解謎線索稍嫌隱晦。
→很多關卡過暗以至於無法辨識前方的路。

The Cat Lady is everyone's special little game, and for good reason! Burnhouse Lane rekindled that same kind of wonder I felt a decade ago with Susan & Mitzi. The art and music for these games is insane and this one was no slouch, I was taking forever in each area just looking at everything!

I know nobody liked the platforming but it was fun to try something different during those short bits. Moonlight was so pretty, I could almost forgive how many times he fell in that damn water :') I wish there was a bit more of the Mr. Gray truth power but I understand the limitations for that.

I enjoyed the characters in this one. Some of them could've used a scene or two more (Aarno), but we still got to know them all pretty well. George was a doll. And Jenny, god, I love a difficult and terrible woman in my video games! She was perfect every step of the way. And Miss Angelene well, I will never forget her! 8/10

A little too easy puzzles and the platform part could be done without. The game's strong point is the graphics style. Unfortunately I was stuck, due to a bug in the game. (It was impossible to reload, in the pool area)