My review about Tape 2 – Nikolas (SPOILERS)

[Darshana [FR]]

This is my humble opinion about « Tape 2 - Nikolas ». 
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LEVEL DESIGN

This tape is bigger than the first one, I was stunned when I played it for the first time, and I really liked that. You did a great job.

Introduction : I was more than happy to see « SCP Foundation » with the Logo written on the wall’s facility. It gave us good lore. It makes sense to me that the Foundation have some portals or machinery to create a breach and enter the Backrooms.
Also, keeping SCPs into the Backrooms is a good idea. As we know, in the Kane Pixel’s videos it was shown that the MEG (or another Foundation?) wanted to use the Backrooms as an infinite storage space, and even build apartments in this place in order to stop destroying the Earth with buildings and dangerous products (nuclear garbages, etc.).

Level 0 : I like the way you managed to create the Backrooms here: it’s different than what we got during Tape 1 – Josh. It’s the same yellow walls, the same carpet (obviously because it’s the same Level), but somehow you succeeded in create a different liminal space, and that’s a good thing.
I missed a little the strange and distorted corridors and corners we got in Tape 1 – Josh.

Poolrooms : I liked every Poolrooms area you put into this Tape (same goes for Tape 1 - Josh).

-The Neon-Slides Poolrooms : It awoke my inner child. At first I felt kind of joyous when I walk into this area. Then, I began to feel uneasy, because the more I walked, the more abnormal this space seemed to me (that’s a good thing). Also, the moment when THE BIG ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ DOOR OEPENED BY ITSELF, I SCREAMED LIKE A LIL’B*TCH!! ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. You scared the sh*t outta me with this one.

-The Dark Poolrooms : I was scared by this place because I was afraid to get lost. I had difficulties finding my way. As a player, it’s a good thing because getting lost and never finding your way to come back home, it’s what makes The Backrooms dangerous (and monsters, of course).

-The Ocean Poolrooms : Okay, this is my FAVORITE area ever. I love water, poolrooms and ocean. It’s calming and relaxing. Walking there with the sunset and the water’s sound, I felt my mind quiet. It was like a good dream. I forgot it was a horror game. It was a good break . Thank you.
That said, when the sky began to be darker, I was like « Ah, yes, it’s a horror game… Relaxing time is over! ».

The Hotel : I want to take a moment to talk about this place and THOSE ♥♥♥♥♥♥ MIRRORS THAT ALMOST GOT MY SOUL OUT OF MY BODY !
That was scary as hell. The fact that we couldn’t use the flashlight, the fact that we couldn’t run, the fact that we saw the little shadow coming out from the mirror… This was great horror. When the light went out, I jumped out from my seat and screamed. XD

The Supermarket : Another great horror level. This looked so familiar, like a real supermarket, yet it was distored, abnormal, different... empty of people... as if everyone had to leave in a rush. The feeling of « something bad happened here » .
I was a little sad that the only way out was to find a code, since we already had to do that in the beginning. That said, I understand this choice: it's a way of asking us (the players) to explore this level in its entirety. If we didn't have a code to search for, we could have walked near the wall until we found the exit door. With a code to search for, we had to explore, search, walk in this area.

The Classrooms: My stress level was high in this place. You did a good job with the menacing black balloons, the bell’s ringing... I got lost more than once with all these corridors and my heart was racing. It’s a huge map.

The Maze : Okay, this area was frustrating to me. It took me some time to understand I needed to interact with the cubes. And it took me more time to figure out the cubes were poping at random places/stones and I had to went back into the maze to find them. Fortunately the lights helped me a lot finding my direction. After that, the « spirits » were a good addition to contribute to the horrific atmosphere.
With the update you closed some corridors and make this level easier, and I want to thank you for that.:)
Also, I’m not claustrophobic but this level activated this sentiment. I was suffocating and I felt like I was claustrophobic. The walls are very narrow and all the corridors look the same (it’s a good thing). I was uncomfortable. I wanted to get out of this level. It was a new kind of horror to me.

The Ocean: Getting lost in the Ocean with nothing else...it’s a wonderfully horrifying feeling.
To be honest I was wondering if this was the end for Nikolas. I was ready to die at this moment. Then the sapceship came to rescue us, and I liked that.
Is he Josh’s friend, or is he « The Astronaut » mentioned in Tape-1 ? Is he someone else Jennifer knows about ? How does he come and go into the Backrooms with some kind of spaceship ? So much questions… It's okay if I never get answers to these questions.:)

Changing levels : It’s great that this time the way to go from a level to another was not always the same. In Tape 1 – Josh our exit was always the elevator, so we knew the moment we found the elevator that we could move on. And it was reassuring. In Tape 2 – Nikolas, we have different ways to move on, and we manage to do so because we are helped by The Foundation, and that’s good.

GRAPHICS

It’s beautiful. I have nothing else to say.
No, wait. I have a lot more to say actually.
I love the design of the buildings in the Ocean Poolrooms. It was so eerie, clean, I loved the little gold here and there. It looked like marble.
The lighting effects were good, except maybe in Level 0 because it was difficult for me to see the flickering lights when SCP-173 was after me. This level was pretty dark on my computer (same goes for the Dark Poolrooms zone).

SCP-173

As I said earlier, it makes sense The Foundation uses The Backrooms as a prison facility for some SCP.
It’s a good idea to have put a SCP-monster as an enemy instead of a classic Backroom’s monster. I’m a little sad it has to be SCP-173, because every time there is a game involving the Foundation, this SCP is always here. That said, I understand your choice : it doesn’t need « animation » because it’s a statue so is body doesn’t move, and SCP-173 is an important figure in the Foundation’s universe (EVERY GAMER knows this monster).

SOUND DESIGN, EFFECTS & MUSIC

The voice acting is very good. Great job to everyone ! It was nice hearing Jennifer. I don’t know her but I already like her character.
I loved the music, and the sounds (waves/water, walking, classroom’s alarm, etc.).

ATMOSPHERE, LORE AND EXPLORATION

I feel like this Tape-2 was more horrific oriented than Tape-1. There are well placed « jumpscares » (I’m not sure « jumpscare » is the good word for it but you know what I mean).
The overall atmosphere seems more dangerous.

I’d be glad to see more lore parts (I enjoyed the video about the Smile-virus from Tape-1) in the future Tapes. Lore about The Backrooms or about The SCP Foundation.
Also I’m curious about Josh. In Tape-1 it seemed to me that Josh didn’t understand what was happening to him, but with Tape-2 it seems that Josh knows some stuff about this place. This thickens the mystery.

I’m happy there is no stamina anymore. I can run when I want to run without being afraid of losing all my stamina.
I had pleasure wandering inside the differents levels of Tape-2 (except in the Maze for the reasons I explained earlier). I got scared more than once.

CONCLUSION

I love this second Tape.
I can’t tell you if I prefer this second one or the first one. I think I love them both equally for different reasons.
You did an amazing work.
Congratulations.