Put simply it’s Outlast with some limited weapons to fight back with.

I loved this game! As horror survivor games go It’s one of my favourites.

I played this alone, at night, in the dark, without guides or YouTube videos because I’m not a casual. I had no idea what to expect from the game - except that the Steam user reviews were consistent in saying how good it was - and I wasn’t disappointed!

I felt genuinely scared on my first play through and fell victim to basically every jump scare in the game. Early on I had to broadcast the game and seek confidence from the chat to continue into a pitch black basement with just my trusty rusty knife.

The games story is a simple one. Your wife goes missing and a few years later sends you a message to rescue her. The game is set within a large, seemingly abandoned, estate and it’s surrounding buildings. Known locally as being a haunted house. The environments were believable and detailed. The house itself looks lived in and has all the rooms you’d expect. It wasn’t just a series of interconnected, poorly lit rooms full of wooden crates because of reasons.

I liked that many of the items tied to your survival; such as ammunition and first aid were hidden behind and under objects - encouraging the player to dig around in each room to find its secrets!

The resources in the game are sparse, as is your inventory space. Making each decision on what to carry and why, much more meaningful. It really enhanced the survival element and makes you feel as if you really are an interloper in someone else’s grim home!

The gaming trope of loading you up with health and ammo before a ‘Boss battle room’ remains consistent. A necessary evil I suppose.

The textures are inconsistent at moments, I was running this on a very high end machine and some parts looked excellent - then I’d see a tree or rock that looked like it was from a pixel point and click adventure game.

The enemies don’t respawn once an area is cleared, so there are brief moments of respite to explore and scavenge until you advance the story or leave. I found gaining the shotgun quite emboldening and it did actually remove a lot of the earlier trepidation, but it didn’t fully spoil the tension for me.

The puzzles were pretty simple, which I was fine with. I think the real difficulty comes from dodging the enemies chasing you while solving them.

The boss battles are almost always in tight rooms or similar close quarter environments which could annoy some people and there’s a few logical things such a breaking down doors with axes or guns that should happen but doesn’t - however ultimately it’s a game and some suspension of disbelief is always necessary.

This is one of those games that actually enhances your second play through with permanent item unlocks and challenging game changing achievements; such as completing the game without healing or not using the storage chests etc. Items change locations based of the difficulty too which adds a nice twist. Need that handgun ammo you remembered was under the stairs? Too bad, it’s moved!

I’m not familiar with the Resident Evil franchise and lore overall so I can’t offer any comments on how it fits into that, or if a hardcore fan of the franchise will be satisfied. There were a few moments and references that I didn’t understand, so these were likely there for the fans of the franchise.

I didn’t experience any bugs in my two play throughs and the game is well polished.

I’d strongly recommend this game to any horror survival enthusiast.

“Welcome to the family!”

Put simply it’s Outlast with some limited weapons to fight back with. I loved this game! As horror survivor games go It’s one of my favourites. I played this alone, at night, in the dark, without guides or YouTube videos because I’m not a casual. I had no idea what to expect from the game - except that the Steam user reviews were consistent in saying how good it was - and I wasn’t disappointed! I felt genuinely scared on my first play through and fell victim to basically every jump scare in the game. Early on I had to broadcast the game and seek confidence from the chat to continue into a pitch black basement with just my trusty rusty knife. The games story is a simple one. Your wife goes missing and a few years later sends you a message to rescue her. The game is set within a large, seemingly abandoned, estate and it’s surrounding buildings. Known locally as being a haunted house. The environments were believable and detailed. The house itself looks lived in and has all the rooms you’d expect. It wasn’t just a series of interconnected, poorly lit rooms full of wooden crates because of reasons. I liked that many of the items tied to your survival; such as ammunition and first aid were hidden behind and under objects - encouraging the player to dig around in each room to find its secrets! The resources in the game are sparse, as is your inventory space. Making each decision on what to carry and why, much more meaningful. It really enhanced the survival element and makes you feel as if you really are an interloper in someone else’s grim home! The gaming trope of loading you up with health and ammo before a ‘Boss battle room’ remains consistent. A necessary evil I suppose. The textures are inconsistent at moments, I was running this on a very high end machine and some parts looked excellent - then I’d see a tree or rock that looked like it was from a pixel point and click adventure game. The enemies don’t respawn once an area is cleared, so there are brief moments of respite to explore and scavenge until you advance the story or leave. I found gaining the shotgun quite emboldening and it did actually remove a lot of the earlier trepidation, but it didn’t fully spoil the tension for me. The puzzles were pretty simple, which I was fine with. I think the real difficulty comes from dodging the enemies chasing you while solving them. The boss battles are almost always in tight rooms or similar close quarter environments which could annoy some people and there’s a few logical things such a breaking down doors with axes or guns that should happen but doesn’t - however ultimately it’s a game and some suspension of disbelief is always necessary. This is one of those games that actually enhances your second play through with permanent item unlocks and challenging game changing achievements; such as completing the game without healing or not using the storage chests etc. Items change locations based of the difficulty too which adds a nice twist. Need that handgun ammo you remembered was under the stairs? Too bad, it’s moved! I’m not familiar with the Resident Evil franchise and lore overall so I can’t offer any comments on how it fits into that, or if a hardcore fan of the franchise will be satisfied. There were a few moments and references that I didn’t understand, so these were likely there for the fans of the franchise. I didn’t experience any bugs in my two play throughs and the game is well polished. I’d strongly recommend this game to any horror survival enthusiast. “Welcome to the family!”