I purchased this game based on it's sterling reputation amongst dedicated gamers. It's a game with a great deal of promise and if a competant developer made a sequel I could see it really living up to it's potential. As of now... I don't find that it does. Pros: - Interesting plot (the notes you find in various locations are interesting, generally well-written and help flesh out the game.) - Some interesting weapon concepts (I love the Tibetan War Cannon. A living metal dragon gun? Sign me up.) - Using both spells and weapons simultaneously is a good idea. - They have a decent amount of different areas. Cons: - Interesting plot... dragged down by extreme campiness and terrible voice acting. The first boss frequently laughs like a saturday morning cartoon villain at the end of her generic threats. Hardly the stuff of great horror. - The combat is mediocre and unpolished at the best of times. There's very little punch to anything. Getting hit sends your camera spinning away from where you should be looking. - Spells and weapons feel weak and inconsitent in their performance. Even your basic revolver can be avoided by enemies when the bullet is in midflight (a lot of the enemies dance around the screen and teleport as well so it hitting them is, again, more frustrating then fun). The Tibetan War Cannon has an terribly implemented arcing feature, almost no range, and half the time I couldn't tell if it was an AOE weapon or not because of how spotty the AOE effect actually was (I've killed two howlers at once with it so I think it's AOE weapon? That never happened again despite similar situations). Shotguns don't feel powerful enough for their low ammo and load time. - The map design isn't good. It's mostly long halls, long mazes, and big empty fields. It doesn't create any interesting tactical situations and it only rarely enhances any kind of scare factor. This might be chocked up to technical limitations but it's still not good. Final verdict: Not good.
