Silence Of The Ancients - Elzach
Final Score: 4/5 Stars
The game starts with a brutal art style, with absurd line art. The menu is responsive and the music demonstrates the suspense I expect according to the story description.
While the rest of the menu is responsive, I noticed that the Options menu doesn't work, or at least it doesn't seem to work for me.
Just like the initial menu, upon starting the game, the Close Game responsiveness also proved to be nonexistent.
The HUD is simple but has the essentials we need to progress, as well as a simple inventory.
The pause button doesn't actually pause the game, which could become a problem eventually.
Just like the menu, the game's art direction, for something made in 7 days, and for something in the current indie scene of solo devs, is absurdly beautiful.
As we walk, we have a tutorial course explaining the game's keys.
The game has good controller compatibility, being as responsive on the keyboard as on the controller itself.
I don't think low FPS is native to the gameplay, because it would somewhat disrupt the standard combat of Souls-like games, so I reckon this is a flaw in the optimization.
The game showed significant frame rate drops in fullscreen, being more optimal in windowed mode.
The game's atmosphere is something that easily grabs attention. Not only that, but the fact that the game actually has a story to follow and the surreal elements that incorporate it.
In terms of combat, I noticed a significant lack of fluidity and visual feedback, which is a bit of a letdown, since our focus in a Souls-like game is always on gameplay and combat in general. This has been lacking so far with the first enemies.
The idea of mixing mystery with Souls-like elements is well implemented.
On a technical note, upon death, the player continues to be attacked by enemies.
Sometimes the camera collision glitches, causing glitches and allowing us to see parts of the map we shouldn't through walls.
The gameplay loop is interesting, with the idea of fighting, exploring to find clues, and unlocking new parts of both the story and the map.
Unfortunately, due to some collision errors in the library tunnels, I ended up falling off the map and into limbo; fortunately, the game recognized this and flagged it as a glitch.
Sometimes you can lock onto enemies through walls.
The Ballroom Boss has a different look from all the other enemies, which makes it stand out. Its moveset is slower, but at the same time it's very easy to avoid and defeat.
Defeating the Ballroom Boss doesn't exactly guarantee any reward, so it makes it a bit pointless.
Sometimes the enemy's idle animation glitches, and it gets stuck in A pose buried in the ground as if it didn't have a humanoid animation.
Overall, I was satisfied with the game, considering it was completed in such a short time. I couldn't finish it due to a lack of visual cues on what to do next.
Aside from that, the gameplay was lacking in combat, but the visual polish was immense.