I'm totally in love with the concept behind this game, and while it can be clunky and rough at times, it succeeds in being an actually scaryI'm totally in love with the concept behind this game, and while it can be clunky and rough at times, it succeeds in being an actually scary multiplayer experience that offers a unique kind of fun you won't find elsewhere.
While this is a recommendation, there are several things I should note before you make your purchase:
- $20 is quite high for the amount of content currently in the game, and updates seem to be coming rather slowly. The developers have not yet abandoned the project, but they are a small, inexperienced team. This may be better as a sale purchase if you're uncertain.
- There are a high amount of technical issues in the current build. Many players report unplayable, slideshow framerates no matter how powerful their rig, though this sometimes randomly resolves itself through reinstallation or other fiddling. There are also occasional crashes that can ruin a match. I've only had one so far after several hours of play, but it's still frustrating. Thankfully, host migration is fairly seamless.
- The playerbase is fairly small at the moment. While it's possible to fill up a lobby with random players, and there are generally a small handful of public servers running at any given time, you're much better off having a consistent group of friends to play this with.
With all that said, I'm having a ton of fun with this game and it just comes down to the great idea and clever design behind it. The levels are all creepy, dark abandoned buildings like hospitals, asylums (lots of asylums), hotels, a factory, etc. The monsters themselves all have unique mechanics that require patience and vigilance from both the human and monster players. They're all deadly and can take out a survivor in a single blow, but have some sort of limitation on when they can attack, or how they move, or even how they see. It means that even as players become more experienced, the battle of wits and "does he know that I know that he knows..." mindgames make for exciting matches. Despite the competitive nature of the game, there isn't a big emphasis on the competition and it's more about having fun. The monster player has to be very very patient, naturally keeping twitchy, aggressive players out of the game.
The simple requirement for the survivors to explore and find keys keeps things active and prevents extended campfests, though it can be rather difficult to coordinate an escape in a public game with all the different players grabbing different keys and not communicating about what they're unlocking. But it almost doesn't matter, because even with random strangers the tension and buildup and panic make things exciting and fun, and creates one of the most friendly communities I've encountered in a PvP game so far, mostly devoid of the usual rudeness you might expect. A shame there only tend to be a few servers at a time, because managing to keep a full lobby going from beginning to end of a match makes for a great time even with strangers who don't speak your language.
I really hope the devs continue to add to this product, as the groundwork here is already a lot of fun and there are a lot of great ideas on display. I also wish this game would have caught on a little more, because the idea of a competitive game with emphasis on wits and evasion and awareness rather than just fighting each other is a sadly untapped niche for the most part that could do with more love. Even as someone who generally hates PvP games, I'm a big fan and want more.… Expand
