Oct 2023
It would appear I let the year get away from me more than I realized… whoops.
Also, to remind, every October I do a streaming event with a group of people and we rate each game’s scariness by skeletons, so you will see that during this month’s reviews.
Though this sequel adopt the darkness from the first, it does abandon just about everything else save for some shred of physics puzzles. No madness or advisement to stay in the light though the enemies do still patrol various areas. That is the majority of the scariness this game holds. Save for a few moments the game does not build much atmosphere nor give many or strong horror events. Most puzzles are extremely straight forward and often are as simple as a push of a button (or few). Though a few puzzles will catch you by surprise in their cleverness. Despite that, this game more feels a bit closer to a walking sim with some stealth and the occasional chase sequence. What the game does particularly well is the themes it portrays and the visual symbolism that grows as you draw closer to the end and figure out what lies in the past of this new protagonist. In the same breath I would say the story still lacks a bit and at times things feel as though they are just happening. At the very least it is a bite sized game.
Recommend? It’s a fine game though nothing of great interest nor does it pull much from it’s predecessor.
Skeleton Rating? 3 out of 10 skeletons
Rating? 4/10
Truly a unique experience that gives much nostalgia for old Atari games. Despite it’s bit restrictions it actually does quite well with it’s horror. Certain events will make use of rotoscoping and jagged rough designs that will give you absolute unease. I would have liked if it had used it more, to be honest. It also uses text-to-speech for it’s dialogue, though for some people it may wear thin after some time. The game is composed of 3 chapters with several endings per chapter (not to mention a plethora of secrets and lore) so there is plenty of replayability. The minor grief is that some chapters feel far longer than others so going back to find what you missed can be tiresome.
Recommend? Absolutely. It is a one of a kind experience and holds it own and the realm of horror.
Skeleton Rating? 6 out of 10 Skeletons
Rating? 8 out of 10
A creepy point-and-click adventure that starts out fairly strong but loses itself quite a bit in the middle. Fran, a child stuck in a mental hospital after her parents horrible murder. She finds a bottle of pills that allow her to switch between realities, which you must use to solve puzzles and make your escape. The difference and suggestions between realities is absolutely horrific and great all the while maintaining a slight palate cleansing humor to stop from full morbidity. Though, as I said, the middle chapter takes a strong turn from it’s core concept and drags it quite off the path before circling back. Still, a cozy and endearing little adventure that kept things interesting… for the most part.
Recommend? Yes
Skeleton Rating? 2 out of 10 Skeletons
Rating? 6.5/10
Easily my favorite game that I played during the month. Something about having you do generic work to keep your focus while having creepy events occur around you is just the perfect mix for my horror fix. Even when certain spooky events reoccur they are still just as scary as the last thanks to the focus with the task(s) at hand. As you may guess, you handle dead bodies in a mortuary. Essentially you go down a list of tasks for each body and execute them in order. Though, you’ll quickly find you are not alone in the mortuary and must find a way to expel the demon as escape is no longer an option. The game is just riddled with secrets and since there is no linear story path, you can enjoy each session as it’s own thing. Allowing each night a chance to uncover more secrets, see new events, and just enjoy the gameplay loop. The only grievance is that for important tasks or general gameplay that some important steps or moments that are not particularly clear. As well, the game could desperately use a snap to option controls for mouse and keyboard.
Recommend? 110% you will pee your pants.
Skeleton Rating? 10
Rating? 9/10
From the get go this game is far more action packed than the first. Upon taking your first step you will be swarmed by enemies with guns… maybe even unfairly so (something consistent throughout the game). This may have been done to offset the lack of insta-kill moments the first game loved so much. Needless to say… due to it’s age and time… the combat just didn’t age well. Still, it did have it’s fair share of odd and unusual puzzles to solve… maybe even a bit more unusual than usual but certainly there. It’s hard to explain other than the over reliance on poor combat but it just kind of fell a bit more flat than the original.
Recommend? Not really.
Skeleton Rating? 1 out of 10 Skeletons
Rating? 3/10
DLC: Ruin
Taking place after the events of the base game, a friend of Gregory is in search of him and must traverse a much more broken down Pizza Plex in order to find him. To start off, it was a treat revisiting this place even despite it’s disrepair. The new mechanics and old enemies were a nice mix for the downloaded content. That being said, I wasn’t a fan of the general level design in this. The levels were much more linear but ended up being more annoying and down right unfair at times for certain encounters (especially for collecting everything). Not to mention I rarely felt any genuine danger from the greater enemies.. save for one specific encounter (which was great and terrifying). Performance, though a bit better from the original release of the game, still suffered a bit and I encountered far more crashes, glitches, and what have you throughout my playthroughs.
Recommend? Yes, though maybe discounted.
Skeleton Rating? 6 out of 10 Skeletons
Rating? 7/10
Another game that uses a mix of generic job tasks while sneaking in horror throughout to create an enjoyable horror game. Sequel to the Burger Barn game you must manage and handle a fast food restaurant all the while engaging in odd encounters. Though you are not limited to your job as you will find you have a home and a small town to traverse in that may just hold a few secrets. Visually the game is super gritty and has a fantastic Playstation original graphical vibe to it. The general gameplay loop is great, finding secrets for progression is fairly intuitive, and the encounters give much unease. Later in the game as you uncover more it is clear to see there were dropped events and areas that were never quite developed. This is a bit disappointing especially when you end up wasting your time investigating everything. Additionally, there seems to be several points of no return which is not terrible in itself unless you wanted to return to the (seemingly) unending gameplay loop. That being said, there is an endless mode but it was not quite what I expected. Essentially you start a shift that never ends… until you die anyways. I was more hoping it was just a constant day in day out work flow that had every possible option available each shift. Still, an enjoyable experience with lots to offer.
Recommend? Very much so.
Skeleton Rating? 5 out of 10 Skeletons
Rating? 7.5/10
Atmosphere. Atmosphere is the one thing that this game does best. It’s not always in your face scary, but it builds up and when the tension is highest… it pulls the trigger. You are “trapped” in a house that you must investigate. Though the game is split up into chapters, you are always exploring the house in between them and can access them in any order. Each chapter has a focus as well as it’s own set of lore and collectibles. They can range a bit with some being absolutely terrifying and deep while others don’t quite hit the same mark but still have great ideas and themes within them. It should also be noted, and the game is clear about this too, that this game does NOT hold your hand in the slightest. You must absolutely be prepared to use your head and eyes to figure out puzzles and notice details to make any semblance of progress. Even saying that I would not say the game is always at peak difficulty or requires some sort of higher cognition but it will require your full attention most of the time. For me, I took a long time to notice a simple thing… so much so it took me out of the horror element for a bit but it was my fault alone. The only issues I found, other than a lackluster chapter and maybe slightly dissatisfying end, is that the game occasionally has some bugs and even had it crash a few times at a particular scene.
Recommend? Without a doubt, this is a great horror game.
Skeleton Rating? 8.5 out of 10 Skeletons
Rating? 7/10
A short game made by Lixian (Editor for Markiplier) that held some surprisingly decent scares in it’s very short game. You are hired to clean up someone’s apartment. There are multiple endings and even some neat little modifiers to mess around with.
Recommend Yes! It’s free and well worth your time.
Skeleton Rating? 7 out of 10 Skeletons
Rating: 7.5/10
Replayed Games:
Resident Evil 2 - PSX/PS3 - Leon A and Claire B
Fatal Frame - PS2/PS3 - Rank C
Silent Hill 3 - PC - Hard Difficulty, 4.9 Stars
Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles - PS3 - Normal Difficulty
The Evil WIthin - PC - Nightmare Difficulty, 150 Deaths
Congratulations on all of your assassinations! (=◉ᆽ◉=)
I wish I was brave enough to completely watch the stream for The Mortuary Assistant but even just the audio was spine chilling. Looking forward to next Spooktober!!
Thank you kindly.
It definitely gives next Spooktober a lot to live up to. Certainly more spookiness to come!