A short, low-budget survival horror game that wears its inspirations on its sleeve - those being the modern Resident Evil remakes and the Evil Within. The option to choose camera modes is a really neat feature - one that I think should be adopted into more modern survival horror games. It has a B-movie charm that is likely unintentional but endearing nonetheless. Given the fact that this is a 2 person team, the graphics are decent and fully animated/voiced cutscenes are pretty ambitious, even if they come off a bit hammy. There are definitely moments where the story seems to think it is deeper than it really is. If you can excuse corny and cliched writing/acting, the gameplay is fun enough (even if it doesn't reinvent the wheel), and the puzzles were surprisingly great!

My only real complaint is the length and difficulty (or lack thereof). It didn't take too long to complete the story, and I didn't find myself scraping by at any point for ammo or inventory space - even on Nightmare mode. Perhaps a new unlockable difficulty could be added. The bonus mode (which for some reason was unlocked before I beat the game), is enjoyable enough, but the game overall could definitely use some additional content. There are 2 endings, however it comes down to a singular choice you make at the end - which sadly doesn't do much for replayability. Achievements would be nice.

In all, as a sucker for survival horror, I'm happy with this purchase and will keep an eye out for more updates. While this one didn't exactly blow me away, it did impress me given the jank I was expecting - enough for me to give this a soft recommendation. These devs clearly have great potential and I'd love to see more from them in the future.

I had very low expectation going into Connection. I was expecting janky low budget survival horror (which I am a fan of!) such as Nightmare of Decay or Night at The Gates of Hell, so I knew I’d have fun either way.

But what Connection is: a surprisingly competent and sleek little survival horror game with all the charm of the 2002 Resident Evil 1 Remake and Tormented Souls.

The game just nails the puzzles, the set design and atmosphere are great, and the cinematic fixed camera angles are spot on.

It feels very Evil Within inspired - in both name and plot. It’s interesting and done well though… so the games just really took me by surprise.

I would say overall it just barely makes my top 5 for the year in the genre (along with Conscript, Crow Country, Silent Hill 2 remake, and Fear the Spotlight). The final boss fight SUCKED, and it’s definitely a derivative work, but it scratched every itch for me and I’d super recommend it.