Recent reviews by GoodCoffee

➖ Must Have
➖ Excellent
➖ Good
✅ Average
➖ Not Sure
➖ Definitely Not


What is the game like?
It says it is an "Illustrated text-based RPG." When it says text based, it is the primary centerpiece of the game. This is closer to a book than it is a visual novel. Think of it as one of those books you picked up that has occasional illustrations in it showing what's going on. This game definitely seems like more of a text adventure with occasional illustration changes. It is engaging mentally, but I would not recommend this for people who do not like reading.

Is it in early access?
No. It is fully released.

How long has it been released?
5 months.

Playtime & Enjoyment for $ value?
I'd say get it on sale. Right now I got it for 30% off.
I enjoy it quite a lot and it is engaging, but I would heavily recommend a sale.


Good ✅
✅ Highlighting people's names as they're speaking in a lighter color
✅ Slow and direct introduction to in game mechanics
✅ Noise transitions from place to place, from day to night cycles, etc.
✅ The characters pop out, have good personalities, and the writing is nice.

Neutral ➖
➖ Focus is on text, and if you don't like reading and using your imagination other than the illustrations, I wouldn't recommend this game.
➖ It reminds me of a choose your own adventure story.
➖ If you have a good memory about what you have read previously in the game, it will serve you well with understanding how the characters interact.

Bad❌
❌Mostly brown/neutral colors in illustrations. No ability to change this to a different color palette in the menu.
❌Limited art - I wish there was art for the characters I meet, or for critical scenes
❌No autosave feature - This is mostly my fault, because I lost a save. However, I would suspect others might encounter a "hey, where'd my game go?" moment if they quit out.

Wait for a sale! I got it for 30% off. I'd recommend the same or lower. I have been enjoying the game overall though!

I’ll go ahead and say that I like roguelike games a lot, so this particular game is definitely in my wheelhouse. Other roguelikes that I’ve enjoyed without a doubt are Risk of Rain, Risk of Rain 2, Inscryption, Slay the Spire, and the list goes on, really. I think for me as well there’s a lot of hours that you can tend to get out of a roguelike game. There are so many iterations of a playthrough that you can do that there are limitless options. There’s a replayability factor that is up from the beginning and continues to go up once you realize what you can combine and do within the very large bounds of a roguelike game. Caves of Qud takes that idea and presents you with the ability to do mostly whatever you want.

I was interested in this because not only has it been in development for a while, but I’ve seen that it’s had an upward slope in quality, at least from what I’ve seen of the different releases. There’s also a “feature Friday” that they do, which is kind of neat to go to play the game and see a little patch note about whatever they’ve done to update it. That’s nice to see a game that is still being actively developed no matter how small the updates are.

While normally I do have some hesitancy with playing a game that’s been in early access for a while, because it can show that the developers have potentially abandoned the game, it piqued my interest because it’s a roguelike RPG, which seems like an unusual combination. I wanted to see what it was about, and here is what I think so far:


There is a lot that I can say about Caves of Qud that is good, and my mind goes to a lot of different places when I think of the good things that are in the game. I feel like despite the fact that I have almost 60 hours in the game, I’ve only scratched the surface. It takes the roguelikes that I’ve listed above and gives it more options. Here’s what I liked so far:

✅ Difficulty curve – When I think about the difficulty of Caves of Qud, Dark Souls 1, 2, and 3 are some games that I consider, but then others like Dwarf Fortress, and Darkest Dungeon. These all have varying levels of difficulty that some may consider difficult, and then others shrug it off because they’re used to these things. For me, Caves of Qud introduced a new way for me to understand and play a game. I gradually had to increase my knowledge by trial and error and encountering new things. It engages the way I think about the game, and also the different game modes. I’ve mostly played Classic (which is permadeath), and it has caused me to be more and more careful with how I treat the game. But for the first 20 hours of the game, I was wondering why I couldn’t just get past the first two areas. I was annoyed, but then you have to rethink the way you’re playing it, and it allows you to get better. Caves of Qud is difficult and fairly consistently so, but it isn’t prohibitively difficult.

✅ Character Iterations – I put it this way because it seems different than “Character Creation.” I realize it is creating my character, but the way that your character can change in the game is so vast. And I recognize that sometimes games give you items to be able to change the appearance of your character, but I mean the nonphysical attributes and the things that affect the way your character plays. Even if you play the same starting class every single time, you can continue to mutate your character in such a way that it isn’t the same Marsh Taur that you built the first time. You’ve gotten the ability to take a different mutation the second time and the third time.

✅ The story – There are some places in Caves of Qud that are generated consistently every single time. The two starting areas, for instance, are in the same place every time. And typically as someone who starts out playing the game fresh with no knowledge, it seems best to be able to learn the game from here. Now, you don’t have to at all. You can begin wherever you want. And that’s what makes the story different every time. Not only this but there are… hundreds? Of books. I haven’t even been able to keep count of the different books there are. And the books range from one page to five pages. If I were to try and absorb all of the material, I don’t think I would be able to. So there is a dual interest here of wanting to play the game and completely ignore the lore—which I occasionally do sometimes—and actually try and understand the lore of the game. It’s also interesting, because you can pick up items, observe them, and they can have some descriptions that relate to the world.

✅ The Art style -When I was originally playing the game, I thought that the art style was an eyesore. It would make sense if someone or many people griped about this. But if I’m being honest, not only has it grown on me, but it makes me understand that with all of the features that are in the game. I’m uncertain if there would be an ease of being able to add all these things in the game if it were similar to how Risk of Rain 1’s 2D style were adapted into Risk of Rain 2’s 3D style. Not to mention the movement of the characters is specific. This ASCII-esque art style works well for Caves of Qud. I can easily understand what everything is, I understand when my health is low, I love how shale is a specific color to indicate it’s rock, and I can also easily see that some things are glass or metal. After playing the game for some time, I feel like the world in my head is rich and lights up in a different way than I’m just seeing on the screen.


➖ No tutorial – This is a specific point, because I could see how this would turn people away. Now I do recognize that Wander mode seems to be Tutorial-esque, but if there was an introduction to the game, I think it would be more welcoming. It’s similar to how Dark Souls 1 seemed to be crushingly difficult with no guidance in sight whatsoever. In Dark Souls 3, and especially in Elden Ring, there are considerations for the user and it’s designed in such a way to teach you to how the game flows. I realize there’s pressing the F1 key, and reading all of that text. But if there was a tutorial, maybe it might be a bit more welcoming?


❌ No system of Reward – This is the biggest criticism I have of Caves of Qud that exists in other Roguelikes that I play. I’m thinking more specifically of Atomicrops and Risk of Rain 2. You died? Well, that’s okay. You still got something throughout the game to show that maybe you can improve your odds next time! Caves of Qud? You died? Okay, well. That’s it. There’s no ladder rung to hold on to. It’s a free fall back to the bottom. You can understand how you died and be on edge the entire time you play, but nothing will save you from the weird encounter of a legendary creature and a conga line of other creatures in front and behind you that maybe you have accidentally run into because you’re on the 10th hour of your run at level 17. It would be great to be able to have something that would be some sort of progression system or a reward for finishing other than being on a high score board. I would almost classify it as an arcade roguelike RPG in this case.

Where does this leave us? Well, I would definitely recommend the game. With as much as games are costing the consumer these days—Forespoken being a notable example at $69.99? I almost understand Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s cost at this same price, but the cost to the consumer has increased and I’m not sure the quality has gone up.—But at a $19.99 price point not on sale, Caves of Qud has plenty for someone who would enjoy a roguelike experience that maybe they haven’t had before in other games. I can think of combinations of games that this game gives you, but I can’t think of one that I’ve played quite like this.

Strong 7 to a light 8 out of 10 ✅✅✅✅➖

I have been wanting to get back into reviewing for a while and while sitting by and admiring the reviews of others is nice, I feel like I'm missing something if I'm not at least contributing something from my view especially with games that I've played a decent bit. In addition to that, there's a couple of special things about this review:

1. The only reason why I would recommend this game to anyone is if they have an active group of people that are friendly and go out of their way to encourage others to play the game, and help them. This is a scarce thing here. I got lucky.
   
2. My hours don't reflect hours played (70% of the hours are idle hours due to an unfortunate mechanic that underpins a lot of what can be done in the game)
   
3. I fully anticipate this to meet harsh criticism because I don't like a long running MMO, but this isn't a scholarly review. This is just my opinion.

Note: I am going to operate on the assumption that you already understand some MMO terminology, the structure of team compositions, etc. If you don't, then you can get somewhat of a crash course just by playing, stumbling into a guild., etc.

Interestingly, this is my first MMO that I've ever played actively. Like I've gotten on every day and participated in "dailies," "raids," "content." There are special terminologies that occur within the realm of MMOs that is actually fun and there are some terms that I can generalize to other games that I've played. With all this being said, there are some good things that I've enjoyed about the game, and there are some not some not-so-good things that I didn't enjoy about the game.


I don't want to just come back to reviewing and rake a game over the coals if I didn't like it. It's good to at least acknowledge "Why, even if I have 70% of my time idled, would I play this for 30 hours, and then write a review?" Well, I did have some fun. I really did. There are some interesting pieces about the game that I want to talk about.

✅ Professions/Proficiencies - I don't have many analogues for describing this from another game but what it seems to boil down to is this: Do you like Mining? You can literally spend your entire time playing the game mining. (This is exactly what I did.) I liked that once I worked hard enough to raise my proficiency level with mining that I was able to use less of my energy resources (I'll get into this later) to mine, and I produced more. This was awesome. Do you like fishing? You can fish. Do you like cooking? You can cook. There are a lot of options here. I can see this is where the RPG aspect comes in.

✅ Class and character creation - This was awesome. In my case, I had a group of people that wanted someone to play a particular class to fit into their structure. They already had healers, they had particular kinds of DPS, etc. but they needed a class, and so I spec'd into it. I was also able to flex into another class that was tangentially related to this class. Also what's really interesting is that you can pretty much be any class at any time (from what I understand.) There is a system of upgrading items and things that is very nuanced--if you're unfamiliar like I was--that can be a roadblock at some points.

✅ Kindness of some of the community and friends - I think for me if you find a group of people that get along and that you can laugh with, this game can be so much fun. I know that I found an awesome group of people that I really enjoyed playing with. They're such nice and good people. They were able to assist me through a good bit of understanding how I'm able to make my character from being a total newbie to something that is remotely palatable for PvE content. I didn't want to play PvP content myself.


❌Questing - Here is one of the most disappointing things. I like playing games for understanding their stories. (Sidebar: Yakuza 6: The Song of Life is a great example of something where I enjoyed the game mechanics and also the story.) With Archeage Legacy... This simply isn't there. From the beginning I realize that there were things where I can just skip through everything. I realized I was only at the beginning, and if I wanted to catch up with my friends, it would be a long time until I would be able to play with them. And so I just skipped.. everything. And I don't have any remote idea of why I'm close to the end quests in the game. But I wasn't made to care at all. In fact, if you did the side quests in the game with this "Fresh Start" server, it's actually going to slow you down from getting to be able to play with your friends. So why would I want to slow down and know the story?

❌Pay-to-Win Mechanics - I can't tell you here how much this irks me. I've been trying to basically hold off on explaining the main mechanic of the game that underpins a lot of what is done, but this pay-to-win nature is glaring. The more money you spend, the more you're able to have more energy resources to get better gear, and upgrade your current gear to make it more viable in PvP. That's it. You will run out of energy resources inevitably the higher the level that you are, and you actually run out quicker the higher you are in your level. BUT you can buy credits with irl money in whatever denomination in order to buy things that refresh and increase your energy resources. This, in turn, gives you more resources to upgrade your gear faster, and faster. This is an inescapable fact if you want to be on the top of the leaderboard. It has some to do with skill definitely, but getting your gear upgraded faster? This has some to do with how wisely you spend your energy resources, but also how much you invest.

❌The game mechanic that underpins everything that is done in this game -- Labor - Labor, labor, labor... Want to Mine something? Do you have enough labor? Want to upgrade your equipment? Do you have enough labor? Do you want to smelt something? Do you have enough labor? Do you want to open something? Do you have enough labor?

Seriously. This is something that underpins most actions in the game. I thought of this as a mobile game mechanic. It reminded me of a game called Necromerger that I loved! Until I realized that as I played... it would require me to spend more money to get more resources. And the worst thing about these types of mechanics in games is that you don't see the more serious nature of it until you've gotten a lot of hours into the game. Luckily, I haven't spent a lot of time on this game. And I've worked to get around the Pay-to-Win Mechanics. But even then, I'm not even dreaming of attempting to rush to the top of the leaderboard.

I cannot, in any good faith, recommend this game. There have been some genuine good aspects to this game, but this game hopefully isn’t one that catches on with the trend of game mechanics. The Labor mechanic that underpins this game could not be good for games right now or in the future. I don’t want to have to continue to spend money to do something I want to do to play the game. This ruins the game for me. I’ve idled something like 70 hours here to restore labor. I don’t want to keep my game open to do this. This is ridiculous.

Strong 2 to a light 3 out of 10 ❌❌❌❌➖

I'm not really sure what to think about Yes, Your Grace. Honestly, I like the fact that I can sit down, and play something that is engaging story-wise, and the mechanics of the game are easy to pick up. This is fantastic.

The thing that has a tendency to happen as I'm playing it, though,--(I played it once while I had Xbox Game Pass, and once now--is that I become a little disengaged, and maybe it's because of the gameplay. It is absolutely by no means bad, but I think I want to be engaged a little more than just the story.

This isn't me saying it's a bad game, but it's something where if you want a good story, making story-rich decisions that you can actually see matter, and something that you can pick up easily, you should get it! If you want something that's action packed--like a side-scrolling fighter, or something--, and something that engages you mechanically, then maybe go into this game with an open mind. Because despite the fact that maybe it's pretty easy to pick up, maybe you'll like it! I know I did.

Hello, my Dr. Pierce is name Glenn.

This game is great! Provides you with plenty of content and replayability with the achievements. I had a great time playing this. Only issue I had was when I tried to get the 30m speedrun achievement, I could only get as low as 32m. But it provides a significant challenge and shows you a different side of the game. I would definitely recommend this, though. Also there's multiplayer now!

I think I can likely lengthen the review whenever there is a full release of the game, but for now I can already say that I'm recommending the game.

✅ Amount of items that can be interacted with per stage. (e.g., you can play the piano and organ on some levels. There is also a handheld game that you can play. It's difficult but fun!)
✅ Enemy variation through episode 1 and 2. The enemy variation changes from episode 1 to 2. It feels palpable and like it's part of the same world, but this was an important feature. I felt like episode 1 and 2 were different enough to where I felt like I was playing BLOOD. This was valuable to me.
✅ Endless mode - This is obviously something that's just fun that the developer added in. It was a great way to test the different weapons that the game had available, and it was in a familiar setting that felt like it was very much one of the levels. There was a particular level of a church, and it felt like it was this level and a couple of other levels put together, and the enemy variation was mixed with this.
✅The amount of content - one of the questions that I'm always wondering whenever I get an early access game or a game that has been produced by a developer that doesn't have a lot of games out is "how much content is here?" And if I'm able to play it for a few hours, lose my sense of time, and realize I could go much, much more in depth and find all the little details in a game, then I am happy. If I feel like I am playing a game and it's difficult for me to look at it from a perspective of feeling like there's plenty to do, then there's somewhat of an issue.
❌ The color palette - All I felt was brown or some variation throughout the entire game. You get used to it, but it wasn't... aesthetically pleasing. I understand this has to do with the theme of the game somewhat, but it was also a point of frustration for me.
❌ Bosses - This was a little bit frustrating because it felt like the bosses were mostly similar. However I don't think that the bosses are the primary part of the game. I will say, the one boss that I found to be clever was the tank boss where you had to figure something out about it to be effective to defeat it.

My point with all of this being said, though, is that I recommend this game! It's great. I like it and I can't wait to see further updates.

At the point where I bought this game, I just thought to myself "well, a lot of people are saying it's good, so I'll try it." I also enjoy card games. I think Magic the Gathering is great, and it's different variations are great. You can play Magic the Gathering in one way, and that is the only type of the game that you experience; or, you can play the game in many different ways. I think with this game I just thought it was going to be a cool card game that I'm pretty much used to. I was very happy to be wrong as I was.


✅ The beautiful art style - I know I'm mostly talking about the game mechanics in my intro to reviewing this game, but the thing that catches my eyes the most to begin with is when the main person talks to you, and his eyes swirling. This isn't something necessarily hidden, but it's something that draws you in. In addition to that, the different art styles you experience in this game. I won't go too into depth what I mean about that, but there are several many different experiences you have in this game with different art styles. It is all pleasantly surprising. Playing the game is having arrived to somewhere beautiful, and as you dig deeper, you discover yet more beautiful things within this beautiful thing. It has been clearly given care and it deserves that acknowledgement. I'm no artist, but I feel as though I have a general sense of when I know something looks good. This is definitely one of those things.

✅ The Story - I won't go terribly into depth about all of the elements of the story, but there are a few stories woven into one. This also makes sense and becomes abundantly clear the further you go on. At first, you soak in what you think to be a pretty simple and straightforward experience, but as you move through the story, the great complexities begin to break through. You have what you first understand not shoved aside, but rather there are other threads and fabric that are woven into what you knew. Then other things that are woven into that. Eventually you have a tapestry that you can look at that all makes sense. It all comes together. And all along the way you meet these quaint and recognizable characters. There are varying levels of detail and interest that these characters have too, and you can afford to be attached to them, too. It's interesting. It provides you with a lot of creative pieces that come together.


✅ A learning curve that makes sense - There isn't a difficulty setting to the game, but there is most certainly some problem solving skills that you will have to learn in order to become good and eventually finish this game. You don't have to do the same thing over, and over again. It is difficult and you might end up losing by a very small margin, but the games seems to want you to succeed, and it is worth getting over one barrier to continue to the next one, and surmounting that one. I remember every single time I got stuck--which I did several times--I felt like I was able to get past this obstacle. The obstacle wasn't unrealistic. There is a curve of difficulty here to be able to make it over this thing, and you can do it. Once I completed this game, not only did I think it was worth it, but I felt like all of the struggle to have to get to the end felt worth it.

➖ Wanting more content after the end - This is something I've put in other reviews not as a downside to the game, but as just simply a "wow, I think I want to either play this again" or "I wish there was something more that I could do here that would be an alternate story that I could experience." Sometimes this isn't the case, and sometimes everything is wrapped up. But then sometimes we can have something extra that the creator adds into the game. I enjoy that. I would also say that I look forward to other creations from Daniel Mullins!


I definitely recommend it. Unequivocally. The story was compelling. I was a little frustrated at times trying to overcome the difficulties the game provided, but that process and the story combined are worth the price and experience.

I give this game a Moderate to a strong 8. ✅✅✅

Small note: My objective for my recommendations is not here to be scholarly, but rather to tell you why exactly I liked it. I will try to include some insights as far as the genre of the game -- in this instance visual novels -- even if I'm not particularly savvy with them. But I want to try and give somewhat of a comprehensive but not exhaustive view of the game. 😊


The thing that pulled me into this game was after I played it for a little bit. I'm at a point in my life where I really enjoy stories and I enjoy whenever I'm able to get to see character development and development of the environment as it relates to the story. I do enjoy an extensive development on the environment, but here it's rather simple, and it does it well. This game was fun for a run through, and it was a little short, but I definitely think it's worth it. I am not someone who plays visual novels very much, but this was one where I almost felt compelled to review it positively because it was a game where I did want to move forward to the end. But let's dive in and see what it was that compelled me to go forward, and also some of the things that weren't so great.


✅ Capturing the barista/customer experience and making it fun - This is something that I would think would be somewhat difficult, but here it feels pretty organic. There are these people that come in with their problems they endure during the day, and they rely on you for some enjoyment for their drink. Whether you're giving them their well needed caffeine with a triple espresso, or just a hot chocolate an they feel the warmth of it in from the difficulties they're experiencing, it feels smooth. I enjoyed the almost minigame atmosphere of the coffee making and that it went in tandem with the storytelling and characters. The storytelling was great, and all of it connected. It also gives you endings to all of the stories you encounter, and a dash of replayability!

✅ Character Development - It almost seems like they were keenly aware of this from the get-go. There is a little companion app that you have on your mobile device in the game that picks up pieces of information about each one of the characters the more interactions you have with them. It feels good to get to know them more intimately and, even though the interactions are scripted, you can feel your barista character getting to know the characters and having some stake in their interactions. I don't want to go too much into detail about what those interactions are, but there is a richness to it where you can feel like the personalities of the characters remind you of people you've met in real life. This is developed in each conversation you have throughout the game.

✅ The coffee minigame was cute and fun - There is a bit of depth to this. You have to remember what your customers ordered previously, you can experiment with drinks as well. There is an encouragement to experiment with different drink conversations, but it's also cool to just be able to remember what someone's drink of choice is. On top of this, you can make latte art, which can be somewhat fun. I don't know how accurate to life it is, but it's a nice touch. It really makes me wonder what it will look like in Coffee Talk 2!

✅ Pixel art and music - There are some familiar tunes in this game as well as just some wonderful coffee house vibes. I just enjoyed having this in the background while I'd be looking at and talking to the characters. On top of this, I LOVE pixel art, so I'm a little biased toward enjoying this game's visual style. I would say if you don't like pixelated anything, then definitely don't look at this. And that's okay if you don't.

➖ A little short? - I've put this at a neutral point, because when I consider price, I think about a combination of the number of hours that I've played, the memorability of the story, the quality of the writing, and how much I really enjoyed it. All of these things together are partially feelings and partially gauging my experience with writing. Now I'm not necessarily going to measure it academically or something, but there can definitely be things we can understand about maybe what's bad writing and good writing? And how that can affect our enjoyment. Here, we have an example of pretty good writing. The characters feel different and real. The story is good, too. And again, it makes me excited for the next one!

➖ I wanted more - again I'm putting this as a neutral point because, well, I didn't have a bar for this game or expectations, but I definitely wanted more. I played it for 5 hours and there may be <10h of gameplay--for me--in store. And then I'll max out what I think would be my full experience with this game. I'm anticipating something better for the next game, too.

Note: While I didn't think this game is perfect, I don't necessarily think that there was a glaring issue that I could really talk about that's important to point out.


Well, do I recommend it? Definitely. And with a 40% off price tag? If you tried your first visual novel and it was $7.79 and you absolutely hated it... Well, I don't think you'd be losing too much. There is a group of different characters whose stories are interwoven here, and it's charming. There is a second one coming out, and it should have promise. I'm looking forward to it. I'm excited for it.

For a more mechanical and numerical value, I can definitely give this game a Strong 7 to a light 8. ✅✅✅

I am having a lot of difficulty enjoying this game. I enjoy puzzle games that are horror--like Resident Evil 1--and puzzle games in general--like The Room. When you put kindof action horror games and puzzles together, I think they can be great. This game doesn't have that and it was frustrating to come back to. I wanted to voice this and write out why. A justification and not just a basic raking of it over the coals. It's better, even if you don't like something, to spend some time and really explain why it's not great.


I can talk about the aspects about this that are good because clearly there is a lot of thought and effort put into the game. At least it's trying to do things right, and maybe it's because it seems to be the only game that Spain-based Protocol Games has put out, that it turned out this way. That's alright, though. I still want to go into what i thought.


✅ What goes where? - There are pieces that really make you think and understand what puzzle pieces fit where. It's all kindof a big jigsaw puzzle and you really, really have to think about this. Remembering where something was because you got a new object to remove an impediment can be nice. It does this pretty decently, while it may fall short in other places.

✅ Character Selection - For me to be able to select from different characters with different voices and backgrounds is awesome. Allowing some amount of freedom of choice and seeing how different characters interact with the environment is cool.

✅ Wonderful environments - The environments here, too, are great. It looks really good and it feels kinda scary when I don't know what's around the next corner. The feeling of being under threat at any moment was present.


❌ Low in intuitiveness - I know this is something I talk about in my other reviews, and this is something, too where I'll bring this up. My explanation here may be slightly different, though. There are games that are low in intuitiveness or seem daunting to begin with, but that can be uncovered. One I've played recently that's shown me this is Getting Over It. Great game. Great homage to an earlier game that it seems to imitate. In the case of Song of Horror, unfortunately, there are puzzles that are glaringly unclear. To the point where It's unpleasant. I get, too, that there are puzzles that are difficult like in games such as Zero Time Dilemma. I understand that. Part of the shtick of that game is that the puzzles are difficult. Here, it seems like the game wasn't sure exactly what it wanted to do. It wanted to do a lot of storytelling, and really hard puzzles. It's a bit confusing to me.

❌Overly Punishing QTEs - This goes a few ways. I realize that this may be a common complaint maybe, but the QTEs here are... extremely unforgiving. Not just a little bit, though. If you fail this thing, you will entirely lose your character. You'll have had the reward of finding out all of the obtuse puzzles, and be destroyed because you didn't do the QTE right. I understand that there's a page explaining how to do it, but to remember that you have to run away from one of them, then jump in a hiding spot, and do a QTE, or run toward it and do a QTE can be exhausting. It takes me out of the game and I'm not as horrified. I'm more annoyed.

❌ Uncompelling - I'm not really caring much about the story unfortunately. The puzzles sortof take away from the story and my interest drains. I'm unable to really care about the story of the game. There are so many mechanics that are introduced that I'm more overwhelmed in that way. I get also that maybe I'm going to someone's house, etc., but I'm taken out of focus here. I know that I am a woman in a house, but I don't know entirely what for and who I am really. There is environmental storytelling that can do this well--like Amnesia: the Dark Descent--and cutscenes that can tell this well, too. The ones in this game were.. okay. But there wasn't anything that made me think it was going to be interesting.


It was fine. I think I may have to come back and play it, but right now I wouldn't recommend it. I got it as part of a humble bundle which was fine, but I wouldn't tell anyone to go out of their way and buy it.

Strong 3 to a light 4 out of 10 ❌❌➖➖➖

I'm a little bummed because I had a bit more hope for this game. I wanted to experience it for myself and I have.

I think the stories that H.P. Lovecraft put out are interesting, despite him being a bad person. That doesn't have to do with my review, though. Other than his stories. What I wanted to talk about were the pros and cons of the game.

✅ After playing Carrion, it feels like an extension of Carrion in a different direction. I like that.
✅ The H.P. Lovecraft influence is kinda cool and felt with the Cultists and such.
✅ I like the pixelated graphics

❌ The gameplay grows stale quickly. I was upset by this because I was trying to force myself to enjoy it after a short period of time. I'm going to continue to go back and play it and maybe even see the end of the game, but I'm definitely leaving this here for now. Even at a $5 price tag, I still wouldn't justify it. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is $7 currently and I would much more highly recommend that over this, even though they're in totally different genres. Or even Carrion at $11. I'd say it's a bit more interesting.
❌ I don't really care that much about the story and I understand there are these small cutscenes sandwiched in between fighting sections, but they don't seem to make much of a difference to me sadly.
❌ I wanted to have fun with this, but I couldn't seem to. I feel bad for that almost.


I would say maybe wait for a deep sale on this one. The $5 price tag might be fine if you want to try it for yourself. And you might not lose much if you spend that much on it.