Welcome to Amaluuk research station, we hope your stay is a productive and pleasant one.
I enjoyed all of it, except the ending. It wasnt the best of endings, HOWEVER all prior was really fun.
10/10
Very good! I'm not hesitant to say that I just like EVERYTHING about it.
It's quite short for a game, I'd really like it to be longer, because I cant help with my LOVE to abandoned scientific station-winter-snowy-horror setting. But I'm not ranking a game, I'm ranking a mod. And as for a mod, it has my 10.
Completed at one scoop, I just couldn't leave it untill. Exciting, brilliant work. I've only reinstalled HLE2 to try this and I was never disappointed.
If mods like 'Grey' are the kind of horror games that I like, then mods like 'Black Snow' are the kind that I love. Narrative with non over-the-top, cheesy dialogue, beautifully crafted --no, exquisitely crafted audio that reflects the cold, unforgiving exterior; the wind pressing at the stressed base, which groans at you as you make your way through the frightening interior. The audio alone would score this game a '10' as every ambient effect was perfectly crafted to add to the goal: a truly frightening atmosphere.
The dead bodies strewn about seem to whisper in your ear when you first come into contact with them; the effect was so subtle that it made the dead bodies actually mean something, and be frightening, other than some 'too-spooky' static objects for you to kite around while you look for whatever objective lies ahead of you.
The visual representation of the game was phenomenal. It was wonderfully rendered and artistic and beautiful in so many way's that were I to elaborate I would run out of characters. 10/10.
The only problem I have with this game was a minor glitch in which the 'fog' would get stuck directly in-front of me and pin me between itself and a wall during the light phases causing my immobility followed by getting bludgeoned to death while simultaneously wetting myself IRL.
All in all this game was wonderful on all front's, and as the Dev's have both proved that they are capable of creating a game's-as-art game, AND have stated that they are going to elaborate on this idea and turn it into a longer full-length mod, I will be following everything that they touch in the indi-gaming world.
Few technical 'glitches' occurred for me, though overall was a great mod.
9/10!
This mod succeeds in having a great location, very good atmosphere, and decent visuals, that's about it. I think this may easily be one of the most over-hyped mods out there.
The story is alright, nothing too interesting about it. The puzzles are okay, but really lack anything interesting happening or any direction. The rest of the gameplay is downright abysmal with tons and tons of red herrings that make it confusing as to what you should do, enemies that are basically unavoidable and will trap you in rooms forever, and painfully slow movement speed. There is very little going for this mod, and I find it really hard to understand the buckets of top-notch ratings. Oh, I also won't spoil it, but the end is EXTREMELY unsatisfying and brought my score from a 6, which was high to begin with, to a 5. I realize that it's unique and has some cool stuff going on, but that doesn't justify the gameplay that is mostly annoying and boring.
Overall the atmosphere is great, but there is nothing else about this that makes it worth playing.
Im giving this one a 7 based on my play-through, after spending some time trying to just get it to work, i managed to complete it in 2 hours.
The Pro's
+ Excellent use of the source engine and HL elements
+ Excellent implementation of modder created models
+ A grade atmosphere and survival horror tension
+ Start & End Animations are flawless, aswell as trigger events.
+ Stunning Visuals and Sound
The Neg's
- The conclusion
- The Performance issues (while this isnt related to the gameplay, spending 1.5 hours trying to find work arounds and even having to put up with texture glitches for the game to run is irritating)
- The Story Progression & Back Story (Im a nut for that kind of thing and saw alot of missed opportunities to expand in this area)
Overall this was an awesome mod for what it is, and i thank the developers for their time and effort in producing it and would gladly recommend it to others
Black Snow was recommended by Markiplier, so I figured I'd give it a shot. I'm glad I did.
The environments are DARK. I've heard a lot of people complain about the lack of flashlight, but I found that one of the most terrifying aspects. Travelling into the darkness without a light source beyond some flares is tense and nerve-wracking.
Trust me when I say that it looks, and sounds, like you're trapped in the middle of the night in a frozen wasteland. The entire station feels empty... except when it doesn't. Those are some of the most terrifying moments, when you realize that aside from the black fungus chasing you in the dark, SOMETHING else is there with you.
All the while you're hoping, praying, and begging that the light is strong enough to stop the fungus from reaching you, because it HURTS when it hits you. I refer to pucker factor a lot when I play scary games; this mod has one heck of a pucker factor.
Now that I'm done gushing, why only 7/10 do I hear you cry?
Black Snow borrows very heavily from Penumbra, which is totally okay, because it works. However, there's another story entirely in the background, involving a field of sunflowers, and a black silhouette on the horizon. It screams and rages at the chance to be told.
This is then shattered by a completely purportless and abrupt ending.
That could work. It DID, with Bioshock 2. The story had reached a proper ending point in that game, and then caused one heck of a sucker-punch to the player. This time around though, the story goes largely untold. I think Black Snow was meant to be longer. Or there was a sequel in planning that never happened.
If their next project is the full Black Snow (as the post on the main page suggests), I'd buy it. I'd buy it, if nothing else to see how it was meant to end, because DAMN, this was shaping up to be just plain CHILLING.
The ending and short length, coupled with the lack of replay value and a couple glitches are what takes away a perfect score.
Play it anyway.
The premise is pretty solid for the most part.
The game's premise is that you're with a rescue team dispatched to investigate a base with the personal that has mysteriously disappeared after a comn failiure. You soon find out that this place has gone through complete hell and you're team is decimated to the point where you're the only surivior and must find a way to escape the threat has killed your team, the personal, and soon you.
That's not bad set up at all! You really get the feeling of isolation that character is going through after everything goes south in this horror game. The monster is pretty creative and the atmosphere is definitly a thumbs up all the way through! The puzzles are innovative as well as the gameplay. One of the best parts is that there aren't any jump scares from what I've seen! That makes the experience all the more horrifying without those crappy cop outs.
This mod is above average and is enjoyable (Although not as good as say Nightmare House 2). The ending however kills some of the value. You think that with something this good and building up very well, we'd get a satisfying, conclusive ending...we do not. Instead we get the map, bomb blows you up, you die, game over. WTF?! Is that even an ending to begin with?! It seemed like the game just stopped and refused to go on after that point. Its downright LAZY and slap in the face to those who wanted an actual ending! Everything you do in the game becomes IRRELEVANT at that point!
Had the ending not been so abrupt and complete ******** than this game would've been an eight or nine but a 7/10 is the final score for me. I'd reccomend it if you want a scary experience which I definitly had (for the most part). But if abrupt and lazy endings bother you (As in there isn't an ending at all), pass on it because this game has no ending.
Really anticlimactic ending and it dind't resolve ANYTHING in the story.
Frustration was on the high for the mod. Just because you know what's what doesn't mean the players knows. This mod had a good idea and I love you're thinking outside the box on it but the monster was scary at first but then became annoying. I wanted to explore outside but that was tarnished by freezing up. Those oil barrels should be able to be lit up to stay warm. The environment was good though with an interesting location but the level design was too boxy in design hidden by dark lighting. GG feels like it could of been worked on longer...