There is a lot to love about this game. The environmental design, pacing, atmosphere, are all excellent. The game feel like a love letter to 90s era survival horror made by people who truly understand the genre. It evokes early Resident Evil in its lavish environment, Silent Hill in its creature design, but really those comparisons do it a disservice because it's very much its own thing. Camera angle hide enemies for some pants wetting reveals, the audio design ramps up tension when needed, and there are locations that manage to immediately invoke dread in a way that fans of the genre's finest example will absolutely love. It's not perfect though - the story is classic lovecraftian fare, which is good, but the game's big twist is obvious from the very start, although the way some of the gameplay mechanics are woven into the story is definitely pretty interesting. The biggest issue for me though is that the lead voice actor makes the main character sound like someone with a real attitude problem. roughly 80 percent of her dialogue sounds like an annoyed teenager, and it's hard to reconcile that obnoxiously negative persona with the character's expressions and what is ultimately a fairly heartfelt story (predictability aside). The fact I'm still giving it 5 stars should tell you just how good everything else about the game is though. My criticisms are ultimately very minor when looked at as part of a package as good as this. With some story tweaks and a more sympathetic performance for the protagonist, this would stand shoulder to shoulder with RE2, Silent Hill 2, and Fatal Frame 2 as a classic of the genre. In most ways it already deserves that accolade. That said, all of those titans of the genre seem to have a 2 in the title, and a sequel is in the works, so lets let the devs cook. I, for one, will be back for the second course.
