Contrary to their trashy masterpiece "Into the Dark", Homegrown Games meant this release kinda serious. And that's the reason why I will rateContrary to their trashy masterpiece "Into the Dark", Homegrown Games meant this release kinda serious. And that's the reason why I will rate it accordingly.
That means it is outside the B-Movie-excuse-realm of forgiveness, up against games like "Dear Esther", "Gone Home" or "Firewatch".
How does it hold up?
Surprisingly well, I would say. It is a strange hybrid of walking simulator, exploration game and adventure, set in a really huge open world (well, as open as an island can be) and featuring not only an insane but thrilling story, but also means of storytellign I haven't seen like that for...
...ever. And it's really, really beautiful - if your system has the guts to run it properly.
Short, spoilerfree story summary:
You are John Richards, a former highschool teacher, sent to prison for a crime you haven't done - although video and DNA evidence had framed you beyond any doubt. After your release from the Providence state prsion, you travel to a remote island in North England, where you hope to find out who framed you.
That, and the fact that the player suffers from partial amnesia, with remembering nothing before his 10th birthday, and a vague memory of his father, is as much information as you get in the beginning.
The rest is told via voice overs, notes, letters - and f*cking FMV ghost appearances from your late dad.
yes, exactly
Let's start with the flaws:
- bad optimization, you need a really fast CPU and a high end GPU to play on highest settings
- some strange behaviours when loading saved games (opened doors appear closed but you can pass through)
- some smaller clipping issues with grass and tree branches
- sometimes two voice overs trigger at once, which is quite annoying
- The Sheep (you will understand when you play it)
And now for the good stuff:
+ Excellent atmosphere. Like the best atmosphere in a game ever, no kidding.
+ Partially because of the beautiful light mood and sundown-domianted environment
+ Partially because of the soundtrack, it's simply awesome
+ Partially because of the sound effects
+ A genius story that makes no sense in the beginning but evolves extremely well
+ Did I mention FMV apperances as part of the storytelling?
+ John J. Dick (Serious Sam!) as John Richards
+ The Sheep (you will understand when you play it)
+ Four different endings, depending on the players choice how to handle what John discovers.
+ One of them so disturbing I couldn't sleep afterwards
Overall, it is almost a 9/10. Almost because of the technical shortcomings on medium gaming PCs.
Fair would be rather an 8.5 / 10.
If you are a little bit into exploration and Open World gaming, you have to head over to Steam and get this one. 5$ is extremely cheap for that much story and content.… Expand
