The premise sounded intriguing - psychological horror adventure with constantly shifting hallways.
Too bad the execution is subpar.

Hektor is an underground military base/lab where the scientists conducted experiments on people, making them chug pills like crazy. You, an unnamed "subject", are sedated and sent into the depths of Hektor which is now abandoned. What follows is a 2-3 hour slog through some of the most nauseating and depressing enviroments in the last decade.

The game follows the trend of many indie Penumbra-wannabe games with story told through notes scattered around the corridors and innabillity to defend from monsters. I said Hektor was abandoned? Sorry, I lied. You will encounter either the scream-in-your-face-but-no-real-threat ghasts or the vicious Predator that can hunt you and kill you. Death is not a problem in this game, as you'll be sent to the last checkpoint with your inventory intact. The real problem comes from the so called JIGSAW system. It's pretty much a randomized/algorythmic system of world portal that sends you running around in loops until you figure out the way to progress the game. It's intriguing for the first 10-15 minutes after which becomes tedious as there's no real indicator to the JIGSAW's pattern. Another bothersome thing about it is that it may give the Predator an advantage when it's chasing you, sometimes even teleporting it right in your path.

My biggest gripe with Hektor is its insanity system. Yes, we've seen that in a bazillion games ever since Frictional Games' successfull Penumbra and Amnesia series, so I was normally expecting some blurring of vision when my character's sanity drops low. Instead, what the devs did is adding another layer of nauseating effects like swirl and color shift (thankfuly, these can now be toned down). Combined with claustrophobic hallways and narrow FOV, the game can cause massive headaches and motion sickness. I don't consider myself prone to motion sickness but I had to turn off the game a couple of times and get some fresh air because it made me feel ill and once I almost vomited.

After that's said and done, one can wonder what's in the game at all. Barely no puzzles (if you can even call casual scavenging a puzzle), paper-thin story and no real value for the games as a medium. The price of 15 euros (reduced from ludicrous 20!) is an insult to the injury, the value is terribly low especially considering some of the greatest indie games sold for less than that. Seems like copying Frictional Games' formula isn't so easy after all.

The premise sounded intriguing - psychological horror adventure with constantly shifting hallways. Too bad the execution is subpar. Hektor is an underground military base/lab where the scientists conducted experiments on people, making them chug pills like crazy. You, an unnamed "subject", are sedated and sent into the depths of Hektor which is now abandoned. What follows is a 2-3 hour slog through some of the most nauseating and depressing enviroments in the last decade. The game follows the trend of many indie Penumbra-wannabe games with story told through notes scattered around the corridors and innabillity to defend from monsters. I said Hektor was abandoned? Sorry, I lied. You will encounter either the scream-in-your-face-but-no-real-threat ghasts or the vicious Predator that can hunt you and kill you. Death is not a problem in this game, as you'll be sent to the last checkpoint with your inventory intact. The real problem comes from the so called JIGSAW system. It's pretty much a randomized/algorythmic system of world portal that sends you running around in loops until you figure out the way to progress the game. It's intriguing for the first 10-15 minutes after which becomes tedious as there's no real indicator to the JIGSAW's pattern. Another bothersome thing about it is that it may give the Predator an advantage when it's chasing you, sometimes even teleporting it right in your path. My biggest gripe with Hektor is its insanity system. Yes, we've seen that in a bazillion games ever since Frictional Games' successfull Penumbra and Amnesia series, so I was normally expecting some blurring of vision when my character's sanity drops low. Instead, what the devs did is adding another layer of nauseating effects like swirl and color shift (thankfuly, these can now be toned down). Combined with claustrophobic hallways and narrow FOV, the game can cause massive headaches and motion sickness. I don't consider myself prone to motion sickness but I had to turn off the game a couple of times and get some fresh air because it made me feel ill and once I almost vomited. After that's said and done, one can wonder what's in the game at all. Barely no puzzles (if you can even call casual scavenging a puzzle), paper-thin story and no real value for the games as a medium. The price of 15 euros (reduced from ludicrous 20!) is an insult to the injury, the value is terribly low especially considering some of the greatest indie games sold for less than that. Seems like copying Frictional Games' formula isn't so easy after all.