Song of Horror

 PC
User Score
7.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 45 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 28 out of 45
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 45
  3. Negative: 9 out of 45

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  1. keredd1010
    May 24, 2020
    6
    Decent story and atmosphere but they do a terrible job explaining how to play the mini games which can make for a very frustrating experience. Especially since a mistake in the minigame leads to instadeath. Could be very good but definitely needs polish and the fixed camera feels very dated and is quite annoying to control.
  2. Shion
    Nov 4, 2019
    9
    A Horror game that knows how to build suspense and tension. Genuinely good looking game with great use of tight spaces, shadows and lighting.
    Excellent use of sound, and particularly the lack of sound to heighten tension
    AI entity is unpredictable, meaning each playthrough will feel different, keeping you on-edge
  3. geniodella
    Nov 9, 2020
    0
    Terrible game, from time to time there is a puzzle with fast clicking that is not working, everytime you die you loose a character and after some tries you have to begin the chapter all again , why did is supposed to be fun or interesting?
  4. shaddixx
    Dec 3, 2019
    10
    Very positive reviews on Steam: 89% of total 203 reviews.
    For lovers of first silent hill and resident evil but with new interesting mechanics amd more dynamic surround overtime. I feel the same fear as i felt in my childhood after 20 minutes of gameplay. Imagination is working and I fear the unknown presence that can wait behind every door. I'm in love with this game. Thank you so much,    Very positive reviews on Steam: 89% of total 203 reviews.
    For lovers of first silent hill and resident evil but with new interesting mechanics amd more dynamic surround overtime. I feel the same fear as i felt in my childhood after 20 minutes of gameplay. Imagination is working and I fear the unknown presence that can wait behind every door. I'm in love with this game. Thank you so much, developers. I wish first silent hill will be recreated some day with some of these new and interesting mechanics    … Expand
  5. GodGamer86
    Nov 2, 2019
    9
    Good graphics, story and music, creepy atmosphere.
    More scary than the Resident Evil.
    Best Alone in the Dark type game.
  6. ritoefc
    May 29, 2020
    10
    A great and terrifying game! I really enjoyed it, but most of all, it's one of those veeeeeeery few horror games that it's scary moments are not predictable at all, so you must be on guard every time in order to survive! Also, its puzzle riddles are cute fun and intuitive, not to mention that the story drags your attention since the first moment! You should definitely give it a try!
  7. kyriores
    Jan 5, 2020
    5
    Great atmosphere, decent puzzles, super boring gameplay and nothing more really.
  8. bancandrei
    May 29, 2020
    5
    Let's start by saying it has some good elements. But overall it quite fails. Story is hinted at but then you spend hours doing boring things with clunky controls. If you are a fan of the original resident evils play the remakes instead of this which just feels dates. But rather, this is an adventure game and there is a reason why they pretty much all go for light atmosphere, humor,Let's start by saying it has some good elements. But overall it quite fails. Story is hinted at but then you spend hours doing boring things with clunky controls. If you are a fan of the original resident evils play the remakes instead of this which just feels dates. But rather, this is an adventure game and there is a reason why they pretty much all go for light atmosphere, humor, accessibility and no death.… Expand
  9. iseeall
    Dec 31, 2020
    3
    A Silent Hill-like survival horror game which is unfortunately unplayable in its PC version due to bad controls scheme.

    Good: - great art direction, with tense atmosphere. The game sets the tone really well - it's much like Silent Hill, just without combat Bad: - unlike Resident Evil, the WASD keys moves the character relatively to the current camera's view and NOT the character's    A Silent Hill-like survival horror game which is unfortunately unplayable in its PC version due to bad controls scheme.

    Good:
    - great art direction, with tense atmosphere. The game sets the tone really well
    - it's much like Silent Hill, just without combat

    Bad:
    - unlike Resident Evil, the WASD keys moves the character relatively to the current camera's view and NOT the character's own rotation. If you've played Resident Evil on a PlayStation emulator like myself, you'd be used to pressing W to move forwards (where the character is facing), A and D to rotate, and S to walk backwards. The scheme used here is: W to move away from camera, S towards camera, A and D left / right from camera. However, the camera itself constantly changes its view angle as your character moves around rooms (and you can't control this)! At the time time, as long as you keep a key down, the character keeps moving in a straight line even after the camera has rotated or even jumped to a different spot. It's an utter mess. I kept struggling with this for about 20 minutes and finally gave up. They obviously haven't done any playtesting on PC, so fk this.

    This game isn't intended to be played on a PC. Grab the console version if you like, but the PC one is unplayable. If they wanted to make a PC game, they should have used a normal first-person view with mouse controlling the camera, W walking forward, S backward and A/D strafing sideways, with the light source just pointing at view center.    … Expand
  10. Crushlet
    Nov 3, 2019
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Inspired by Resident Evil and Silent Hill and it shows. The addition of permadeth is difficult but handled well. I went into the game blind without knowing and had my favorite character die. I instantly force-quit the game hoping that my decisions aren’t saved before a cutscene ends but it was too late. Then my second and third characters died and i was forced to play as the last character left or restart the game. I considered restarting but chose to continue with the last character because I felt I was close to the end of the chapter. Playing as this last character was tense, worrying that hours of gameplay would be wasted heightened my sense of dread like no other horror game in recent years. I was able to finish the chapter, but walking through the house was more nerve-wracking than ever before. When I finished the chapter, it felt like an accomplishment. Making sure that I only made the most important decisions without leaving anything to chance, I was more cautious than ever before.

    This bled in to chapter 2 perfectly. I chose the same character this time around because he was expendable to me. But the more I played through the second chapter with him and the more he referenced his version of events from chapter 1, the more attached I grew. I now found myself, again, attached to a character going into a new chapter. The more progress I made, the more I worried that my time with him was almost up. When the game started throwing in random new mechanics I started to panic, worrying some mistake on my part would kill him off.

    There was even one stairwell that activated 3 unique, one-time-only effects at different times that made me feel like there were in-game flags placed at that location to scare me. These effects were new and had no accompanying tutorial text to solve them, but still required unique ways of escape while blocking usage of the map. I started going into the stairwell as prepared as possible, ready for anything. But whenever I was most prepared, nothing would happen. Each time I passed by, thinking that the game was done trying to scare me in the stairwell a new effect would come out or a previous effect would return. That’s about when I realized that the events were being triggered by an AI and that I couldn’t try to out-predict what would happen and where.

    By now I was playing as cautiously as possible. All of the haiku clues that I picked up in the first chapter came in handy and I avoided coming into contact with anything they mentioned. In a game where every character’s life matters, you need all the help you can get. Previous chapter’s collectibles can transition over to the next chapter to provide vital hints on what not to interact with, as some interactions can be fatal. These hints can absolutely save a character’s life if you can interpret them. Will you explore the area, putting yourself in danger to prevent a future death or take no chances? I ended up beating the second chapter with no deaths, still playing as my expendable character. When the chapter ended and I realized he had made it, he no longer felt expendable to me.

    As a huge fan of the original numbered Silent Hill series, Song of Horror made me feel like I was playing a classic survival horror game in every sense. Each chapter was just long enough to feel substantial, with the payoff being a sense of accomplishment and the desire to test my luck in the next chapter by playing the same character.

    I do have to get out of the way that the voice acting was fairly weak overall, with Daniel’s VA sounding the most grating to me. Most of the other characters were passable enough. Honestly, I think too many professional VAs might have lessened the impact of playing as an everyman. The story is serviceable enough to move you forward, with a fair amount of backstory coming from the items you inspect and the characters you play as. For an indie horror I was really impressed by the attention to detail. There were a few times that I saw creatures or ghosts in windows or across hallways that made backtracking feel more personal and less of a chore.

    I saw the rating on Steam and Metacritic and felt that Song of Horror deserved a higher rating so I thought I’d pitch in. Personally, it may be one of my new favorite horror games. It’s unique and fresh while providing a moderate burn without fatiguing you. The random elements of the game’s AI ended up giving me some pretty memorable moments that I don’t think I’ll experience again.

    I’m very excited to play the next chapters and I hope that this game gets more attention. By the time March comes around and the game ends, I know I’ll be craving a sequel.

    [Played on PC in 4K with SuperXFI amp, Sennheiser HD6XX’s and Philips Hue sync lights]
    If you want the best experience, recommend playing in 4K with surround-sound headphones. Game-synced lights are, of course, totally optional.

    Hope you enjoy the game as much as I have!    … Expand
  11. AstiX
    Aug 28, 2020
    9
    This is a great little gem. For such a small indie team they've done an amazing job for what is one of the creepiest atmospheres in a game. Along with its surprisingly good-looking graphics and quality sound design it's able to fully immerse you into its world of horror.

    The story really isn't anything amazing and the voice-acting is shoddy at times, but it kind of fits into the game's    This is a great little gem. For such a small indie team they've done an amazing job for what is one of the creepiest atmospheres in a game. Along with its surprisingly good-looking graphics and quality sound design it's able to fully immerse you into its world of horror.

    The story really isn't anything amazing and the voice-acting is shoddy at times, but it kind of fits into the game's atmosphere and is outweighed by its many charms in other areas.

    Even though it feels like a mix of Resident Evil, Silent Hill and a few other horror classics, it still manages to shine with its own unique ideas like the way you handle enemies and how losing a character means they're dead forever. The latter really manages to put the pressure on and greatly impact the way you make decisions throughout your playthrough, always thinking twice before taking action, just to be safe.

    Overall it's a pretty satisfying and enjoyable experience. I enjoyed the simplest things like just walking slowly through a room and exploring while feeling the uncomfortable unease that the creepy environment around you instills.

    P.S. Playing this with a controller is a MUST. The way the controller reacts and vibrates to the things happening around you is so well done in a way that makes everything twice as real and scary.    … Expand
  12. LironesAlviento
    Feb 21, 2022
    8
    He de decir que solo he jugado le primera historia, me ha parecido un juego muy bien ambientado aunque no sea un portento grafico, con una historia que sin ser excelente si me ha parecido interesante, en lo jugable si me ha gustado mucho, terror clásico, puzles, mucho buscar pistas por la casa, algún que otro buen susto.
    En definitiva un buen entretenimiento si te gusta el genero y no te    He de decir que solo he jugado le primera historia, me ha parecido un juego muy bien ambientado aunque no sea un portento grafico, con una historia que sin ser excelente si me ha parecido interesante, en lo jugable si me ha gustado mucho, terror clásico, puzles, mucho buscar pistas por la casa, algún que otro buen susto.
    En definitiva un buen entretenimiento si te gusta el genero y no te importa la cámara fija.    … Expand
  13. Spoonete
    Aug 9, 2020
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Una ambientación excelente. Lástima que en algunos aspectos gráficos y mecánicas esté un poco atrasado.
    El diseño es muy bueno y la historia engancha.    … Expand
  14. JTCO93
    Sep 5, 2020
    9
    A real horror game! great atmosphere, music, characters and enemies, You have to use intelligence in order to survive, the permadeath mechanic makes you feel vulnerable and afraid of every decision, it`s been ages since I felt fear and horror from a videogame.
  15. CausticMisery
    Jan 28, 2023
    7
    A hidden indie horror gem. Loved the permadeath mechanic and RNG elements. Great atmosphere and spooks, though the game feels very slow at times (your character is slow, it takes forever to get from point A to point B, many of the puzzles aren't well designed, etc).
  16. Joe2539
    Jan 3, 2023
    10
    Very Good Good Good Good Good Good Good Good Good Good Good Good Good Good Good

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
74

Mixed or average reviews - based on 25 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 25
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 25
  3. Negative: 1 out of 25
  1. Hardcore Gamer
    Jun 18, 2020
    80
    Song of Horror: Complete Edition is a lot to take in all at once. The slow pacing and puzzle difficulty make it an exercise to get through, making the episodic pacing seem like the better choice. What is special here is the right way to do a paranormal horror game that involves something you can see but not control. A few variations of quick time events used to defend yourself and having to also think on the fly is a new exercise in horror games. The atmosphere is fantastic as dark environments mixed with excellent ambiance goes unrivaled, especially when it comes to indie titles. The Complete Edition is also only $30 at launch making it clear that Song of Horror: Complete Edition is worth a play for any old school horror fan.
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  2. Edge Magazine
    Jun 18, 2020
    70
    Though a perfectly engrossing horror game (and a timely reminder that an over-the-shoulder view isn't the only way of looking at an awful place) at times it can feel like a waste of promising concepts. [Issue#347, p.98]
  3. Game Informer
    Jun 16, 2020
    80
    Song of Horror’s production values initially turned me off, with poorly animated characters and awful voice acting. Despite those flaws, I had a hard time putting the game down once I was drawn into its world. The quirks even grew on me, the same way I embrace schlocky low-budget horror movies. What I most appreciate about Song of Horrors is that it doesn’t just mimic what came before. It’s clearly a tune inspired by other survival-horror classics, but it has its own unique tempo and melody. And it’s a darkly catchy one, to boot.
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