I love horror games. I buy them on sight, even if the game in question has the reputation of being a real stinker. Well this one doesn't have that reputation, so I'm even more inclined to purchase it. This is truly a treat, and I applaud the GOG team for doing such a fine job acquiring Horrosofts titles, all of which are grade A. Personal Nightmare is no exception. It begins simply enough... I arrive in the local inn, with a few people in plain view. I've played enough games from this era to know how the controls work. Either mouse commands, or Keyboard. I prefer keyboard, but to each his own. I type in LOOK. Immediately it calls off what's around me. The Barkeep tells me where my room is, and his lovely wife stands next to him serving drinks. A man sits at the bar, obviously drunk. I check this place out a bit, interesting, interesting. But nothing too interesting. As I exit, I start to take a general survey of the town layout. Church, house, house, gas station, etc. Nothing unusual. I find a building very near the pub that is unlocked. As I explore each of its rooms, I hear a noise outside. I run out to find the man drinking at the bar lying on the sidewalk, as another man runs from him shouting. Personal Nightmare is a game that will absolutely envelope you once you start playing. It's got all of the essentials that horror games need. Great Atmosphere, terrific story, just enough mysteriousness to keep you questioning, and high difficulty. If you've played Waxworks, you know the drill in these games. Difficult, constant deaths, constant saving. The difficulty of Personal Nightmare is not quite to the point of frustrating, but just keep in mind to save every minute or so. Also, keep in mind the interface of the game. Try typing in all sorts of things, not just the verbs provided on the side. Sometimes typing in a word you thought would do nothing (pray, for instance), suddenly unlocks a huge part of the game. Now for the bad things. I honestly have only one real complaint. No music. There is sound, which by the way is extremely loud and will scare the crap out of you unless you turn your speakers WAY down. Oh, actually I have another complaint. This game, like all of horror soft and adventure soft games, does not allow you to skip the opening credits. Not really a big deal but still annoying. FINAL VERDICT: Buy this game, just do it. Who cares that it's only 7mb. That doesn't mean anything! This is a fantastic horror game! If you are trying to pick between Waxworks and Personal Nightmare, I honestly would go for Personal Nightmare. If you have the cash, get both. They are each well worth the cash.
I'm a horror video game fanatic. Let's just get that out of the way to begin with, so you all know how incredibly skewed my view of "ObsCure" will be. I've been wanting to play this since it was announced on the fancy "upcoming" page on GOG. The additional screenshots showing gory, horrific beasts within interesting environments definitely added to my desire to play. So I purchased it right when it came out on gog. I had high expectations: the story sounded interesting, offline co-op (AWESOME) and some amazing creature design? That's a formula for success in the horror genre. Well I'm here to tell all you gog-ers that ObsCure delivers and fulfilled most of my expectations. Pros: *Awesome creature design, unique graphics *interesting non linear story *great atmosphere, essential to all horror games *offline co-op, lots of fun *co-op and other things create high replay value Cons: *Difficult controls (don't worry though, you'll probably get adjusted to them in a few minutes *short game, in general *dated graphics, but easily forgiven *somewhat annoying camera control (although not unbearable) Final Call: Definitely check this game out if you are a horror fan, it's well worth the money. If you aren't a fan of horror, I would probably check out a more mainstream title, such as Resident Evils 1-3.
