The Letter

 Wii U
Metascore
14

Overwhelming dislike - based on 4 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 4
  3. Negative: 4 out of 4
  1. Hardcore Gamer
    Jul 30, 2014
    20
    Don’t buy this. Don’t show this to friends as a joke. Don’t even say its name out loud. This is the game that shall not be named. This needs to die an unloved death on the Nintendo eShop purchased by absolutely no one.
  2. NintendoWorldReport
    Jul 12, 2014
    20
    It is a boring, unpolished piece of software that does nothing to thrill the player.
  3. Nintendo Life
    Jul 17, 2014
    10
    It functions, but it’s so disjointed, underdeveloped and brief that there’s no reason to give it your attention. Warn your friends, write it off, and then move on.
  5. Cubed3
    Jul 27, 2014
    0
    This is not a video game; it is one man's attempt to exploit ignorant consumers. On the surface it may vaguely resemble one, and The Letter might have even been recommended purely for novelty sakes, but that would mean giving money to TreeFall Studios.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
2.2

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 46 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 46
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 46
  3. Negative: 36 out of 46
  1. PuppetMaster9
    Jul 16, 2014
    0
    I paid two dollars for this game and I still feel ripped off.

    Right from the title screen one can immediately surmise what the quality of    I paid two dollars for this game and I still feel ripped off.

    Right from the title screen one can immediately surmise what the quality of the game will be like; a badly Photoshopped logo, a blurry envelope .JPEG, and a tacky "Press + Button" bouncing from the top awaits you in the PowerPoint-esque title screen. The cheap looking loading screen headlines the game that awaits.

    The Letter is a "walking simulator", as a lot of people would aptly put it. On the shop, it's advertised as a horror game, but there is literally nothing scary about it; most of its amateurish attempts to elicit fear are done through cheap ambient noise and a dark environment that feels more like an attribute to horrid pop-in than a spooky accompaniment.

    The objective "varies" in each level, though that description would be giving this game too much credit; each of the game's three main levels (yes, only three) require the player to collect things. The first level, for example, puts you in a small room and requires you to find a letter (complete with lazy Times New Roman text that only further emphasizes the $337 budget put towards this game). If your fix for Times New Roman hasn't been satiated, don't worry, because the game's text box transitions and "hidden letters" that contribute to the game's back-story should fulfill that duty.

    Speaking of which, the game's plot makes no sense and the items are only loosely tied into it, and even then, the plot gets completely invalidated at the end of the game anyway.

    For a first-person game where you're main method of control is walking, the controls are inexcusably counter-intuitive. The deadzone for when the player character moves forward is borderline non-existent, which makes moving the tiniest bit to the left and right makes the character change direction; it sounds minute but gets annoying really fast. Even worse, however, are the look controls: left and right go left and right, but up and down go DOWN AND UP. I'm not even joking. The look controls are a twisted hybrid between normal and inverted, and it personally drove me up the wall when playing it. You can also jump, but you only use that for one thing in the whole game.

    The game lasts less than a half hour if you're trying to explore, and if you know where everything is, you can easily beat it in less than five minutes. Bear in mind, about a minute and a half of that time is waiting, due to both the loading screens, and an endgame level where you do NOTHING BUT WAIT FOR 45 SECONDS.

    The Letter feels like a fusion between Gone Home and Slender; unlike those two games, however, there is absolutely nothing redeeming The Letter. It lacks a decent plot like Gone Home and its attempt at atmosphere is completely outclassed by Slender (which in itself isn't even that scary to begin with). It's not scary, it's dreadfully short, it's inexcusably finicky to control, its concept isn't unique in the slightest, and even for its length, it feels like a waste of time. The Letter is not worth two dollars; it's not even worth one dollar; it shouldn't have even left development. Take that two dollars and do something else with it. I can assure you that something as inconsequential as a cheeseburger would still be a smarter and more satisfying purchase.    … Full Review »
  2. Flaptain_Falcon
    Jun 3, 2015
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view. This game is terrifically terrible. There is absolutely no point to it, the graphics are terrible, and the game play (if you can even say game play exists in this game) is beyond horrendous.The plot? The PLOT? There is no plot. Someone better at making games took it. It's about a guy who wakes up in his house and finds out that his parents are gone, from reading "THE LETTER". HE looks for them in mildly creepy settings and eventually finds out that is was all a dream. A dream with terrible graphics at that. THE shadows have render distance. Are you f*cking kidding me? There are no enemies, and the only music is low bass drums, there is nothing in this game that can genuinely set off any stimulation in this game. Oh, excuse me. It sends stimulation to make you laugh at how bad it is. In my playthrough, I decided to play in the dark, seeing that it was in the horror genre on the e-shop. I was bored throughout the entire eleven minutes this game took. Do not buy this at all costs it is a waste of two dollars, and you won't hear that often.… Full Review »
  3. Blazikenpwnsyou
    Feb 27, 2015
    0
    This game is nothing but a poor man's attempt at being the next Slender. The control's are floaty and loose, but the worst parts of the gameThis game is nothing but a poor man's attempt at being the next Slender. The control's are floaty and loose, but the worst parts of the game is that areas are way too large, there's way too much dark, there's nothing to scare you, and it's generally unimpressive to even look at for a split second. This is a terrible step in Treefall Studio's part. The even worse thing is that, for me, even at 50 cents from a sale, it's still not good at all. Play Slender instead.… Full Review »
See all user reviews »