i saw so much stuff about this game online, rave reviews, and so on. i was intrigued by the concept from watching a few videos. so i picked up the game on sale and played it without really knowing what the game was about. this will include **spoilers** of course…but mostly i’d like to provide a public service by telling people don’t bother playing this game. seriously, disregard the pretentiousness of the critics that highly rated this game. there is no way this game deserved the praise it received. if i try hard to imagine what people thought was so great about it…i guess you could say the game attempts to do something “fresh”. it definitely has the potential for something good, but ends up just feeling like the framework of something that could have been way better.

first, i will point out what aspects i liked about the game so this doesn’t sound like i’m just hating for no reason…
what the game does well:
it creates a spooky atmosphere and sets the stage for a mystery. early on you are eager to find clues regarding what happened to your family and the story of the house itself. the atmosphere is excellent, a stormy night, an old somewhat creepy house with flickering lights, various old house creaks and other sounds. for the first 10 minutes of gameplay i kept wondering if something was going to jump out of a closet or if i’d see something running down the hall at me. again, i had no idea what this game was about and didn’t know what to expect. i didn’t get this game thinking it’d be scary. so eventually i started feeling more at ease as i continued to explore the house, but a feeling that i may stumble upon a weird scene still remained.

the gameplay mechanics are pretty good too as are the graphics. the biggest kudos i can give are for the attention to detail. i found this aspect of the game to be very impressive. so many notes and objects that looked realistic and it at least seems that great care were involved in their creation.

what the game does poorly:
the utmost failure of this game is the story (that is if this can even be classified as a story). the “story” starts off kind of all over the place and you’re not really sure where it’s headed…which actually adds to the mystery. but then it becomes clear that the story is centered around your younger sister. then it proceeds to become abundantly clear that it’s about your sister’s lesbian relationship with a friend of hers. so that’s it…that’s really all this game is about. the details of your sister’s romance and the fact that your parents are gone on a couples getaway. and none of it was a surprise or a shocker. i mean by the 2nd journal entry (or so) regarding lonnie it was clear there was something going on there. the game then beats you over the head with it in case you were unable to pick up on the many not-so-subtle clues. but i really don’t get it…was this story supposed to be unique and empowering or something? i thought the story was very unoriginal. i can’t forgive this game for feeling like it wasted my time. all the initial build up that ends with the ultimate anti-climax.

a youtube review of the game pointed out that if this was the core story for the game then why the spooky house, why the notions that it was haunted or a psycho house, why the crazy uncle, why the ouija board and ritual table? why have all these distractions from the designer’s precious main story? like why couldn’t just have taken place in a normal suburban home or neighborhood. i’m clearly bitter about these elements of the game because they were such a waste of time. the game is merely a voyeuristic view into an american family’s home. that’s it there’s nothing really sinister or terribly interesting going on.

the gameplay ends up becoming very repetitive and boring. if i could sum it up it’s like you’re playing a version of where’s waldo in a giant castle-sized house…but instead of trying to find waldo you’re trying to find paper notes. at first i found the note placement logical along with the other written materials, but eventually this deteriorates into ridiculousness as notes are strewn all over the house in very odd rooms and nooks and crannies.

another thing that bugged me is that i received the basement key after the attic key. when i play adventure games i typically use items in the order i received them. so i go to the attic and suddenly find myself in the endgame sequence. for the sake of proper gameplay shouldn’t this have been the last location i should have been able to get to? the only redeeming factor here was that i was able to resume game once again after the end credits rolled to explore the rooms i had missed.

conclusion
as you can see above i don’t think everything about this game terrible. it does have its good aspects but i will stick with saying it’s not worth playing. don’t bother getting it if it’s on sale or even free. it’s a crappy game that masquerades as an art piece.

this reminds me of a gripe i’ve had with the whole indie game phenomenon. it seems like people and critics are so quick to proclaim an indie game a masterpiece or a work of art. i’ve played several of these types of games and find a lot of them to be based on a single gimmick that although clever cannot successfully be the basis for an entire game. and i’m not saying that only AAA games can be good. tons of AAA games are crap, but a lot of indie games are also crap or average despite what critics and reviews say. indie games can also be excellent – the game “uplink” comes to mind.

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