True Fear excels at elevating the point-and-click genre through genius design layouts and storytelling. While the gameplay and plot will keep players interested, some pacing issues and lack of horror elements weaken the title. The issues are not enough to outshine True Fear's excellent features, however, as the title creates a memorable experience. True Fear: Forsaken Souls – Part 1 is a must-play for any fans of the genre.
Overall, True Fear: Forsaken Souls Part 1 is a solid addition to the hidden object genre with a horror twist to it, so if you enjoy the genre already, you are likely going to enjoy this game as well (and vice versa, of course...). If you're just a horror fan though, you may find the constant stream of puzzles to be annoying as the puzzles definitely out-weigh the story here, so just make sure you know what you're getting into (this isn't Silent Hill or Resident Evil after all!).
Really good example of a classic PC "adventure" game (that's the genres name!).. most 'adventure' style games center around dialogue, puzzle solving using items, and finding hidden objects or items, sometimes to combine to solve puzzles, advance in an area, and even for combat. King's Quest and Quest for Glory, as well as most modern 'hidden object' games have reinvigorated this genre of gaming for those of us who want more substance and story, using our powers of creativity, intelligence, and observation over quick reflexes and hand eye coodination. The graphics are nice, great puzzles, nice instructions/training for players new to this genre of gaming. I loved the first chapter and can't wait for more. If you want a really good Adventure series try one of the best: The Longest Journey, or it's sequel TLJ: Dreamfall, or it's continuation Dreamfall: Chapters. All three are masterpieces of the genre and really will give your brain a workout.
The thing is, point & click adventure is, as a category, much more competitive than hidden object game. It’s great that True Fear: Forsaken Souls – Part 1 tries to be something more than a generic hidden object game, but based on the evidence, they probably shouldn’t have even tried.
Aa its core, it's Point-and-click adventure set in a spooky/horror setting. The puzzles are good, intuitive and satisfying with adjustable levels of difficulty. The music is okay, and there's a fair amount of recorded spoken dialog that is also pretty good. I didn't think I'd like the game at first, but I have to admit, I was **** in by the challenging and rewarding puzzles and spent 4 hours in the game and am still only half way through.
Graphics: 6
Gameplay: 9
Audio: 7
Story: 7.5
Point-and-click games have been around since the late 80’s, and despite present day games offering many varied options, the “genre” still has a loyal following. While they have never been my cup of tea, the premise of this title intrigued me. You’re tasked with finding your missing sister after receiving a strange letter from her requesting you meet her at a place from their childhood. Despite the building appearing vacant, there are signs that someone was there recently, which later proves that you are not alone in the house.
The gameplay is fairly basic, as you would expect from this type of game. You’ll explore the decrepit locations solving minor puzzles and collecting items to progress. Unlike most of my attempts at this genre, I found the navigation as well as the interactions with the world to be intuitive. While similar titles make moving from scene to scene a chore, you’re given multiple options for traversal here. My personal favorite is the option to quick travel throughout the area using a map, which highlights areas that still have actions or items remaining. In addition to this option, you may use the D pad or use the icon to highlight the direction you wish to move to, much like selecting an item to interact with. I found this option to be the least appealing, as it will tend to open your inventory or cause you to move in the wrong direction. With the exception of this, the game controls extremely well, with the cursor moving as quickly as you would like throughout the scenes.
While the puzzles are frequent, few of them require much brain power, as most are common sense based. The only portions I struggled with were the puzzles that required multiple steps to complete, meaning you need to be thorough in exploration. If you do get stuck, there is a hint system which is completely optional. In addition to the hints, you can turn on the option to have items that can be picked up or interacted with to be highlighted. This limits any frustration, which was a big draw back for me in previous attempts at the genre.
The visuals offered are on par with similar games in this style coupled with some full motion cut scenes that would have been awe inspiring if added to the original Resident Evil or Silent Hill entries. While they are not going to win any awards, they do keep the player immersed in the game world; its biggest draw will be the story which clocks in around 3 hours, depending in how quickly you can solve the puzzles. The story kept me engaged throughout my time with it, which is the first entry in a planned trilogy.
For fans of point-and-click or horror games, True Fear: Forsaken Souls is a pretty enjoyable experience, albeit a bit unpolished at times.
True Fear Forsaken Souls Part 1
One of the best hidden objects games I’ve ever played.
In True Fear you play as Holly, She gets a letter from her sister that she hasn’t heard from in years telling her to come to the family home
and this takes you on a creep adventure of figuring out what happened to your sister, and who this creepy girl is that seems to be following you everywhere,
This is a hidden object puzzle game…
and probably my favorite one I’ve ever played…
I actually really enjoyed the story and trying to figure the story out..
Though this game doesn’t give the complete story...
This is part one of an eventual trilogy… It’s made of up 3 acts that take 5 hours to complete, but included is a bonus chapter that adds another hour to this game, making it a total of 6…
The story is told with a mix of great cut scenes, letters, and statues hidden throughout the game...
but the gameplay is very point and click... It’s all about interacting with objects in a room until you can’t anymore, leaving and going to another room and doing the same thing...
and every puzzle here makes logical sense,
Eventually you’ll have a bunch of items gathered to interact with different items to get new items, it’s all about essentially setting up dominoes... getting the right items to proceed through the game…
and this is probably one of the best paced hidden object games I’ve played as well which helps it feel so enjoyable...
I never felt stuck...
There are occasional puzzles here that are varied enough to keep the game feeling fresh, and they’re all really simple, giving your mind just the right amount of engagement...
But my favorite part of this game is easily its map system...
You won’t have to trek to different rooms one room at a time...
There’s a map system that will show you all locations and an exclamation mark on that location if there’s something you can do with the items you’ve collected…
and if that isn’t a hint enough, you have a creepy doll companion to give you hints on what to interact with or what to use…
So if you’re interested in just the story aspect, all of these systems help you enjoy this game if you’re a fan of this gameplay style or not..
But being a fan does definitely help…
This is a very simple game with a great story that has me hooked...
it keeps you guessing... its constantly filling you in one clues to who this creepy girl is..
I was surprised with how much I ended up enjoying this adventure…
I give True Fear Forsaken Souls
a 7/10
while the game itself is actually a good game and i'm looking forward to the next game, it is basically unplatinumable because of a time requirement on a certain puzzle . with this in mind coupled with the fact that they wont actually let you replay the game on the same profile in order to obtain missed trophies or just to replay a chapter for fun i cannot in good conscience give this game a positive score. hopefully digitl lounge puts a bit more effort into making the game consumer friendly in their next installment,
2/10
I can't stand click-and-click games, it shouldn't be on Ps4, a weak, worn-out story, and a dragged-down game, with slow controls, and I don't even know why I played more than five minutes.
SummaryWhat if everything you knew about your life, everything your family ever told you, turned out to be a lie? A strange midnight visitor could change your life forever... Find out the truth about your past in True Fear: Forsaken Souls, a chillingly exciting Hidden Object Puzzle game!