Evaluation

One is treated to a very eerie and mysterious game world when they embark on a journey into Autum and Curses. The music and sounds invoke a very unsettling feeling as one explores the game world. The developer noted some issues with lighting and although it is apparent that there is something not quite right, I do not think it harms the game as I think the darker tone can be viewed equally as an artistic decision as well. The Autumn theme with the colors and foliage definitely shines in this game. The game world is very large and gives a sense of wonder and a desire to explore, with the occasional gathering of animals like bears and deer. Though the world was so large that I was hesitant to explore it free-form, not knowing where it might lead me away from the primary goals.

I was very interested in the mysterious curse, especially after seeing the cursed man, but I was unable to complete the game. The Orcs down by the statues were too hard to defeat for me on my first time playing. They kept killing me in one shot and blocking did not help. Ultimately, after playing a second time, I was able to defeat the Orcs, but could not figure out what to do next after that.

I have a feeling I was missing something because I never did find a house down by the lake, but just some stone stairs to a stone platform with statues. Was that the remains of the house? I do not know. Eventually, I had to give it up as I was lost and could not move forward. I wandered around a lot and tried to find the means to complete my next goal, but could not. I'm a bit disappointed because I think there was much more to the game that I just couldn't unlock.

With some fixes, polishing, and fleshing out the game world, this is definitely something I'd like to play again and complete. There is definitely some good stuff here and I hope to see the game in its completed form.

Bugs

• Journal access is not working correctly. Developer has provided workaround.
• Some areas have invisible sphere collider that you have to skirt around. Most likely caused by trigger colliders not being marked as Ignore Raycast
• First time at the statues, nothing happened, but after saving and reloading from that spot, the Orcs spawned. It seems that maybe they should have spawned on first arrival, but I cannot be sure.
• Waypoint markers don't work correctly after saving and reloading a game.
• The road path sometimes vanishes below the terrain
• Character can get stuck in walls. Attacking and/or jumping can sometimes fix this.

General Criticisms

• There was no way that I could find to heal my character and he did not regenerate over time
• The world is very large and not enough to do. The character has to cross long distances on foot with nothing much along the way except possible bear attacks.