Gloomwood Demo

Im very sorry to say, but so far my experience with this title was mediocre to say the least. Maybe comparing it to Thief is a bit unfair. After all Thief is a masterclass in gaming development. The problem here is that the crators of Gloomwood do everything in their might to make that comparison valid! It not only sports the look and atmosphere of Thief. It straight up copies almost every mechanic of Thief: leaning, noises on surfaces, distracting by throwing bottles, the shadow crystal mechanic, and you can even pick up cheese wedges. For some it may be great, but for me it is simply unoriginal - it falls back TOO MUCH on the beloved classic. Unfortunately it lacks a certain something. Although Gloomwood borrows heavily from Thief it doesn't quite give the same feel. The demo holds you by your hand, you walk through pathways instead of exploring a level and learning it manually, you're not encouraged to think for yourself. The existence of different weapons frankly contradicts the stealth/survival aspects. You have a cane-blade, a revolver and a rifle, coupled with quite a lot of ammo. Technically you can sneak past enemies but there is no difference in that approach compared to open conflict. The game does not favor one over the other - which ultimately makes stealth pointless. The game even suggests you kill at least half of the enemies. There is also no drawback to using loud guns - even if jumped by 3 guards you can easily blast them into oblivion with your rifle. But it's not dynamic enough to make gunplay fun. What's the point? There is also no story whatsoever. You don't know who or where you are. Your goals are nonexistent. You are obviously walking after curfew and massacring the local guard unit. Are they oppressing you or are they just doing their job? What is the motive behind your actions? Where are you going and why? Absolutely no explanation for any of the above here... Lastly, for a game that sells itself as survival horror, it's quite mild.

Amazing title!