Atmosphere and Story:
- The atmosphere was really well done through the entire runtime, especially the first sections of the industrial area, a lot of the scares worked effectivly (fallen body, rat coming out of body's head, etc...) and the general sense of dreadness was ever present. The story was pretty clear from the start, but the intrigue comes from how did we arrive to this situation and what is happening on the outside world, combined with the fantastical anomalous elements makes for a really strong mistery and makes the plot constantly move forward, not wasting time and every area having at least a degree of importance. The personality of the protagonist was also very funny and helped release some of this tension, especially the moments when it got anxious and would move rapidly from one place to another. The only thing that kinda kills the atmosphere are the fullbright combat backgrounds, I think adding a vignette effect or lighting to these backgrounds would inmensely help them feel more connected to the overworld gameplay
Exploration:
- The objectives and path to follow were a little bit obtuse at the start, but after figuring how to get the HUD modification and getting access to the first explosive it was all smooth sailing, with tons of clear backtracking and some really satisfying even if simple puzzles.
Graphics / Music / Audio:
- The pixel art in display here is nothing short of amazing, everything combines perfectly and really delivers the horror style the game was striving for, with lots of creepy areas and scares with the clever use of audio cues and small pixel animations. The only thing that feels out of place are some of the combat sounds, which again makes it feel more disconnected from the overworld. I would suggest making them a little bit more metalic-robotic like, cause they feel a little too gamey right now.
Gameplay and Combat:
- Gameplay was pretty simple but functional and wasn't really the main focus for a big part of the experience, but the controls still felt very good to use and the collisions of the background items felt concise, as it was always clear were you could pass through boxes. The combat is kinda rough but fun, needs more polishing to make it the same level as the main overworld but is already on its way to be even better.
Thing I really liked but probably a lot of people didn't notice:
- The wet footsteps after going through a poodle.
- How every container has a different animation for scavanging scraps and other items.
- The little pieces of characterisation for the MC which can be pretty subtle.
- How you can interact with every small piece of the enviroment even if they don't work (like lightswitches).
Things that would improve the game:
- Combat polish, a little more guidance for early objectives, adding some extra variants of boxes so they don't repeat so much.
Bugs:
- The Lurker in the chase scene can grab you the moment it spawns.