100%PC

I got nothing but tiny little nitpicks. Awesome game.

100%PC

A retro, PS1 inspired, puzzle, time loop, horror game, with most the story being open to interpretation. There is no voice acting and a lot of reading however I heavily enjoyed my time completing it.

You can find my full completionist review here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mzalp7BUg58&t=0s

90%Linux

- SIGNALIS + OUTER WILDS
30 somethings sa stretavaju po dlhej dobe, niektori sa spravaju divne, postupne odhalujes preco, nieco sa stalo vo vasej minulosti, zrazu vsetci zomru

- JE TO HRA O OCD: uvedomis si, ze ako sa hra opakuje, ze ty behas po dome, opakujuc velmi specificke ukony, gombiky v spravnej polohe, vsetko ako ma byt

- naucil som sa vdaka nej O OCD, mam menej povrchny understading
dospelo (non show offy) napisana videohra

- kazda smrt je ok, vtedy sa deje storytelling

- pride mi, ze toto je jedna z tych, o ktorych budu vznikat hodinove eseje

zatial jeremy jayne potvrdzuje rolu najsilnejsieho odporucaca

90%Xbox Series X/S

The story a little clunky and the puzzles got a tad obtuse at the end, but still it was one of the most engrossing games I've played in a while.

70%PlayStation 5

I really enjoyed this game for what it was trying to be and the era of game it invoked but there were places it fell apart. Some sections had way too much text to read which is always a thin line to walk in modern games. I really liked the variety and number of puzzles in the game but it had some that just weren't apparent and having little to no hints didn't help. I also love that they added tank controls but then playing the game I remembered why we moved away from that style in the first place. The story is interesting and compelling for almost the entire game but towards the end I feel like it stumbles and left me unsatisfied. It was another example of the mystery being better than the answer. I still think it is worth a playthrough.

80%PC

I'm a bit confused on the story because I feel there are a bunch of plotholes but the puzzles were fun and interesting enough! The game is ~8hrs long (mine was a little longer because of a few smooth brain moments 😂). Homebody is definitely a worthwhile play, even for those, like me, who generally do not like scary games.

And thank you to the Grump fam for the key! I appreciate it and enjoyed the game :)

You can watch my livestream gameplay of the game over on my [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTCaUw3Cce8&list=PL0q93Rkkmx_u3r9r1MX38uqatjW6HjIM5&pp=gAQBiAQB]YouTube Channel[/url]

50%PC

I'm trying to keep this spoiler-free as much as possible, but there are very, very mild early-game spoilers in here anyway.

First off, a few positive things.

I think the visuals are done really well. It is kind of a mix between late PS1 and early PS2 visuals, with low-poly models and dithering found in PS1 games but the kind of texture fidelity and lighting that you'd be more likely to see in a PS2 game. It looks excellent. The only thing I didn't really dig was the deliberately choppy animations; it's just not my thing but it's a deliberate choice and I understand that a lot of people love that style, so it's fine.

The audio design is also done really well. The house feels alive, there's a bunch of environmental audio going on, clanking of pipes, footsteps, creaking, you-name-it. It's very atmospheric and I have no complaints here.

Now...

Unfortunately, story-wise, it didn't resonate with me. I think it does a good job with its themes of social anxiety, regret and others, but it just didn't really work for me. I couldn't connect with the characters or the story. Especially the side-characters often felt a little superfluous. Outside of the cutscenes, they didn't really play a role.

To make matters worse, I found the puzzles to be a little bland while they also didn't manage to find a good balance.
A bunch were way too easy to figure out - even without the clues found in the game - while others seemed a little too convoluted.
That some puzzles get spoiled by a character in-between deaths is not helping the game, either. At least give me a choice or only give me hints once I died multiple times in a row without making any progress.

The game is also, in my opinion, dragged down by the killer itself. It was surprising/scary exactly one time, the very first time it approached and killed the player character. Afterwards, the killer is merely a nuisance that no longer adds anything to the experience. Every time the killer came out, I found myself sighing, going "not this again."

Furthermore, the time mechanic didn't exactly help the game, either. A puzzle early on requires the in-game clock to have passed a certain time. However, there is very little indication as to how long you have to wait afterwards for the killer to be far away enough until you can continue.
If you don't wait long enough, the killer will be there almost immediately and you're gonna restart and you have to wait until the in-game clock has progressed far enough once again. This game does not offer enough activities to afford making the player wait.

Then, another puzzle, while not dependent on the in-game clock, requires precise timing/movement by the player. So precise that there is exactly zero room for error. If you move in the wrong direction even for a few steps, you will fail and you have to do the entire puzzle again from the start. This only adds to the frustration.

And as if all this wasn't enough, the game also has some control issues when playing with a controller or using the keyboard to move. Since it's using fixed camera angles, the direction a player needs to tilt the stick in changes when the screen changes.
Normally, games with these kinds of controls have "sticky angles" where the player can keep the stick tilted in the same direction (with a little bit of a dead-zone) to have the player character keep moving in the same direction as before the camera angle changed - from the perspective of the character.
This game, however, changes the direction of the player character about half a second after the camera angle changed, which caused me to accidentally move back a screen - or run into the killers arms - multiple times. This needs to be fixed. The movement angle should stay the same until the player significantly moves the analog stick/presses a different movement key on the keyboard.

As an enjoyer of the Game Grumps, this game has honestly been a disappointment for me. I wanted this game to be good and while both the premise and the overall concept are very compelling and have a lot of potential - the execution is unfortunately lacking. I hope I was able to provide some constructive feedback in this review. While I want to support the team behind it, I cannot in good conscience recommend this game.