If someone had told me there was YET ANOTHER horror game reusing the same assets, gameplay mechanics and assembled with minimal effort- I'd be furious, but I'd still play it regardless~ That's how much of a sucker I am. Anyhoo, point is some are genuinely brimming with potential like Little Terror or my more controversial review of Locked Up. Isn't it common now for art to imitate life and that which then borrows from other masterpieces?

At first glance, I had no idea that Pombero: The Lord of the Night (PLN) went down that path too! But I'll tell you what I did do almost instinctively- Googled it and apparently tis was the name of a folkloric creature from Paraguay which is where solo dev Inside Studio hails from! He's also working on another 2.5D platformer The Last Soul and providing regular updates to the former. I stress this, because this game is in a sorry state now! Don't misunderstand- it's functional but amusingly and aggravatingly so~


https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2362043612

The Gist:
Albert Hertz's mom passes in a brutal but puzzling fashion. He sneaks in her place to investigate and discovers a will pertaining to a property far away from the city. Why was it kept a secret? Could it have anything to do with her sudden death?? Perhaps some things are better kept locked away~

! If you thought the name wasn't intimidating- you'd be right!


(a) Rare Sighting!
Gameplay is self-explanatory at this point but it's your common walking simulator. Which I may come off as unimpressed but really, it's good because I can just get straight into the meat of things! The source of lighting which you must monitor its lighter fluid level, the camera to capture objects revealing a change. Strewn about are notes detailing the lore of an off-putting creature as well as the backstory. If you're feeling out of it, have some ibuprofen to take the edge off~

What was slightly unique was the 2nd area of the game where the objectives are vague and you have to rely on your wits and Dora the explorer intuition. If the object can be picked up, then you have to lug them across the map to the other end. Ah but you've got to watch out for the wildlife and wild-dead. I said what I needed to~

(b) A Will to Die?
This game in three words? Texas Chainsaw 3D. Who said that's an awful thing!? Come on, there's an inheritance to a property the protagonist has never knew of before, then there are friggin chainsaws of course. One thing I'll say, it actually has a unique and chilling story that has to do with Paraguay's own history with war.

As for the setting, I thought it included a nice blend of claustrophobic and dimly, okay pitch-black areas! There's the apartment your elevator stopped at, the wacky hospital scene, then the more open (leaving you exposed) field in the countryside and of course the piece de resistance (butchered the language) lies in the mansion(?) housing an utterly vile presence!

(c) Time Doesn't Heal...
PLN story isn't very clear cut and that's where I come in to dissect it! Firstly, how well-acquainted are you with your family history? What if you discovered you came into some riches but also inherit the suffering and anguish that comes with it...?

Secondly, the isolated, rural life can be quite upsetting. Being shut off from technology and the wider society isn't so bad until you realize that it’s not so much about reaching out than it is to keep secluded.

Lastly, superstition has always been colored with skepticism but the devotion and underlying anxieties for not complying to these "old-fashioned" ideas is so ingrained that it feels wrong. When obsession feeds into the equation, you end up with even more disastrous results!


https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2362045151

(i) What A Massacre!
A multitude of bugs; some you can stomach and others that could flare up that seizure. The first has to do with inventory- particularly key items where a lever remains in your possession despite having been lodged in the mechanism it belongs to. As for the "diary" that supposedly logs all your current objectives, when in actuality it ceases functioning beyond the apartment segment.

Now the most major glitch- the lighting! Which is way off and the shadows, rays stutter endlessly. Sometimes turning the lighter on and off adjusts it, but it still proceeds to act out... There was a part where I got instant killed when I tried to burn a skull elsewhere and not the designated spot XD

There are crashes too at the mansion when facing at a particular angle (right side) by the entrance. Achievement-wise it's just the measly ONE (zoom in camera) but even so it doesn't seem to trigger. I have to also point out the English translation, which is by no means amateurish but uses odd synonyms and some words get pass the spell-check!

(ii) A Botched Experiment~
The interface is lackluster which could be engine-based but the interaction cursor is finnicky and picking up items can be a grave ordeal. The AI of the both crazies and randomly spawning creatures in the field with their sporadic detection radius only dumb down the game further.

I never touch on this because my PC is a potato. But it's poorly optimized and for one thing it doesn't have any options to tweak the Vsync or FOV which the game appears to be really jonesing for as it "tears up" every so often!

(iii) Oh For The Lord of...!
Now for the scare factor- while it boasts an otherwise unsettling atmosphere initially, it is clingy with its loud noises cranked up to ear-rape decibel and so more often than not, I jumped at the sound without even seeing what it is I should be scared of! Even when the sound is sensible, I fail to notice whatever it was in the fervent darkness that's so shocking- my character had to gasp in terror.

(iv) Keep The Deed
I think with some more castor oil, Pombero can be worth the price it's given. With nothing to add toward its replayability besides trying to make heads or tails of the story by playing a second time- thus I recommend buying it when it's discounted (price recently got cut permanently, YAS). After all, there are no other Steam achievements aside from the one and only- which is a massive letdown as I could see there being a few for the maize-filled area alone!


https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2362535191

As bewildering as Pombero was, it offers but a glimpse of the true terror the folklore is based on. The remainder gets dragged through the mud by a few crashes, poor optimization and blatant scares. At least it gives you pleasure and laughs even if it wasn't intended~ It does manage to redeem itself with an alarmingly realistic and deliberate misnomer of a story! Though few and far between, it has its standout junctures of making you panic-stricken.

What's most depressing is that whatever makes it through untainted get jeopardized by the shaky, incoherent condition it was released in! Sure, you can straight up denounce the whole game as "cheap garbage" but that would be jumping the gun and uncalled for. This is one of the above average horror titles on Steam and the dev is working tirelessly to get to a more tolerably refined point! What this game did was introduce me to a completely unheard-of folklore and I'll always remember it for that~


Check back after a month or two and this game will be in peak shape!

Offerings and praises to RP for da key!

[code]Curator page here-->[url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/37670120/] DaRevieweD #63 [/url]<-- [i]New review every Sunday[/i][/code] If someone had told me there was YET ANOTHER horror game reusing the same assets, gameplay mechanics and assembled with minimal effort- I'd be furious, but I'd still play it regardless~ That's how much of a sucker I am. Anyhoo, point is some are genuinely brimming with potential like [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/DeadeGuard98/recommended/1311990/]Little Terror[/url] or my more controversial review of [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/DeadeGuard98/recommended/1258590/]Locked Up[/url]. Isn't it common now for art to imitate life and that which then borrows from other masterpieces? At first glance, I had no idea that [b]Pombero: The Lord of the Night (PLN)[/b] went down that path too! But I'll tell you what I did do almost instinctively- Googled it and apparently tis was the name of a folkloric creature from Paraguay which is where solo dev [b]Inside Studio[/b] hails from! He's also working on another 2.5D platformer [i]The Last Soul[/i] and providing regular updates to the former. I stress this, because this game is in a sorry state now! Don't misunderstand- it's functional but amusingly and aggravatingly so~ [h1]"The Lord of Naught~"[/h1] https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2362043612 [u]The Gist:[/u] Albert Hertz's mom passes in a brutal but puzzling fashion. He sneaks in her place to investigate and discovers a will pertaining to a property far away from the city. Why was it kept a secret? Could it have anything to do with her sudden death?? Perhaps some things are better kept locked away~ [spoiler] ! If you thought the name wasn't intimidating- you'd be right! [/spoiler] [h1][+] PROS;[/h1] [b](a) Rare Sighting![/b] Gameplay is self-explanatory at this point but it's your common walking simulator. Which I may come off as unimpressed but really, it's good because I can just get straight into the meat of things! The source of lighting which you must monitor its lighter fluid level, the camera to capture objects revealing a change. Strewn about are notes detailing the lore of an off-putting creature as well as the backstory. If you're feeling out of it, have some ibuprofen to take the edge off~ What was slightly unique was the 2nd area of the game where the objectives are vague and you have to rely on your wits and Dora the explorer intuition. If the object can be picked up, then you have to lug them across the map to the other end. Ah but you've got to watch out for the wildlife and wild-dead. I said what I needed to~ [b](b) A Will to Die?[/b] This game in three words? [b]Texas Chainsaw 3D.[/b] Who said that's an awful thing!? Come on, there's an inheritance to a property the protagonist has never knew of before, then there are friggin [spoiler]chainsaws[/spoiler] of course. One thing I'll say, it actually has a unique and chilling story that has to do with Paraguay's own history with war. As for the setting, I thought it included a nice blend of claustrophobic and dimly, okay pitch-black areas! There's the apartment your elevator stopped at, the wacky hospital scene, then the more open (leaving you exposed) field in the countryside and of course the piece de resistance (butchered the language) lies in the mansion(?) housing an utterly vile presence! [b](c) Time Doesn't Heal...[/b] PLN story isn't very clear cut and that's where I come in to dissect it! Firstly, how well-acquainted are you with your family history? What if you discovered you came into some riches but also inherit the suffering and anguish that comes with it...? Secondly, the isolated, rural life can be quite upsetting. Being shut off from technology and the wider society isn't so bad until you realize that it’s not so much about reaching out than it is to keep secluded. Lastly, superstition has always been colored with skepticism but the devotion and underlying anxieties for not complying to these "old-fashioned" ideas is so ingrained that it feels wrong. When obsession feeds into the equation, you end up with even more disastrous results! [h1][-] CONS;[/h1] https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2362045151 [b](i) What A Massacre![/b] A multitude of bugs; some you can stomach and others that could flare up that seizure. The first has to do with inventory- particularly key items where a lever remains in your possession despite having been lodged in the mechanism it belongs to. As for the "diary" that supposedly logs all your current objectives, when in actuality it ceases functioning beyond the apartment segment. Now the most major glitch- the lighting! Which is way off and the shadows, rays stutter endlessly. Sometimes turning the lighter on and off adjusts it, but it still proceeds to act out... There was a part where I got instant killed when I tried to burn a skull elsewhere and not the designated spot XD There are crashes too at the mansion when facing at a particular angle (right side) by the entrance. Achievement-wise it's just the measly ONE (zoom in camera) but even so it doesn't seem to trigger. I have to also point out the English translation, which is by no means amateurish but uses odd synonyms and some words get pass the spell-check! [b](ii) A Botched Experiment~[/b] The interface is lackluster which could be engine-based but the interaction cursor is finnicky and picking up items can be a grave ordeal. The AI of the both crazies and randomly spawning creatures in the field with their sporadic detection radius only dumb down the game further. I never touch on this because my PC is a potato. But it's poorly optimized and for one thing it doesn't have any options to tweak the Vsync or FOV which the game appears to be really jonesing for as it "tears up" every so often! [b](iii) Oh For The Lord of...![/b] Now for the scare factor- while it boasts an otherwise unsettling atmosphere initially, it is clingy with its loud noises cranked up to ear-rape decibel and so more often than not, I jumped at the sound without even seeing what it is I should be scared of! Even when the sound is sensible, I fail to notice whatever it was in the fervent darkness that's so shocking- my character had to gasp in terror. [b](iv) Keep The Deed[/b] I think with some more castor oil, Pombero can be worth the price it's given. With nothing to add toward its replayability besides trying to make heads or tails of the story by playing a second time- thus I recommend buying it when it's discounted (price recently got cut permanently, YAS). After all, there are no other Steam achievements aside from the one and only- which is a massive letdown as I could see there being a few for the maize-filled area alone! [h1]"The One That Got Away..."[/h1] https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2362535191 As bewildering as Pombero was, it offers but a glimpse of the true terror the folklore is based on. The remainder gets dragged through the mud by a few crashes, poor optimization and blatant scares. At least it gives you pleasure and laughs even if it wasn't intended~ It does manage to redeem itself with an alarmingly realistic and deliberate misnomer of a story! Though few and far between, it has its standout junctures of making you panic-stricken. What's most depressing is that whatever makes it through untainted get jeopardized by the shaky, incoherent condition it was released in! Sure, you can straight up denounce the whole game as "cheap garbage" but that would be jumping the gun and uncalled for. This is one of the above average horror titles on Steam and the dev is working tirelessly to get to a more tolerably refined point! What this game did was introduce me to a completely unheard-of folklore and I'll always remember it for that~ [h1]7/10[/h1] [b] Check back after a month or two and this game will be in peak shape![/b] [i] Offerings and praises to RP for da key![/i]