Horror games are definitely not my favorite genre, but I can appreciate when they are well done, and I definitely think this has potential! In my opinion, there is a lot that should be updated still; because this is a horror game, getting the immersiveness just right is critical if you want people to really enjoy it when it's released.
This is going to be a longer post, because I've got a lot of nitpicks about the experience that I had, so bear with me! Here is all of my feedback under the categories you asked for, focusing on immersiveness over all else:
Sound/FX
- The ambience sounds/music should be balanced more, in a way that accentuates scary moments, and also provides lulls during less intense moments. For example, I found the ambience track to be too loud while I was inside the cabin during most of the initial exploration section where you have to find the tapes. It would be better if that track would dip down, change or turn off until there is some significant event like a jumpscare/etc. Likewise, in the corn maze section, it would be nice if the track started less intense and grew as the time limit approaches or when the farmer is nearby.
- I found some of the footstep sounds to be too loud, mainly the ones inside the cabin - sometimes it almost sounded like I was hitting the ground with a hammer!
- I personally did not like the AI voices that much - they overemphasized certain syllables and words, and didn't bring out the emotions that I would expect from real people. None of the characters really sounded scared, worried, or distraught in the way that some voice acting could accomplish. I especially found the main antagonist 'alien guy' to be quite nonthreatening, partially because of the voice.
- The farmer guy in the corn maze should make sounds as he moves around, especially when he's walking right through the corn stalks. Also, he should probably have more of a cooldown between voice lines so he doesn't repeat himself when he attacks you, and maybe should occasionally say things when he's far away from you so you can get a general idea of where he is. Some explanation for why he's there in the first place would be appreciated.
- In the corn maze, there was some crying/screaming sound effect (not exactly sure what it was) that played when I was walking through some of the corn, only to cut off abruptly when I walked forward a bit more. I assume that is a bug?
Story
- I really liked the presentation at the beginning of the game with the flashback scenes and the radio-like voice filter, but, I think it could be better if you find a way to integrate some simple gameplay into it, or build it out into the first level of the game. As it is right now, the cutscene just feels a little longer than necessary, and that can be a big turn off for a lot of people. If possible, I would suggest starting with gameplay almost immediately so the player feels more involved.
- I would highly, highly recommend getting a writer to help clean up the characters' dialogue; currently there are a number of grammatical errors, and some phrasing that feels very unnatural. This is a very common problem among other horror games out there, often because the writers either don't speak English natively or don't have much writing experience, but IMO it is too underrated. Getting the dialogue just right (including using real voice acting) is paramount if you want to truly captivate the player.
- Having an element of mystery is definitely a good thing for horror games in general, but I think it works best when you have more context/worldbuilding to work with. It can be a tough balance between overflowing the player with too much story at once (Metal Gear Solid anyone?), possibly taking away from the interactiveness and making it feel too much like a movie, and not giving enough context for players to feel like they care about what's going on. Right now, I think the game's introduction falls a bit into that first category, while the remaining portion falls a bit into the latter.
As mentioned earlier, I think having some gameplay in the introduction could help a lot, but I also think you may want to consider doing more worldbuilding before the main threat of the game is made clear. I know that this is an unfair comparison, but just for reference, games like The Last of Us and The Walking Dead do a great job of building up the characters' backstories both early on and throughout the entire story so the players can get to really care about them. In your game, I want to care more about the main character, his daughter, the woman who communicates to you, and the antagonist. But with the way it's currently structured, I have to do some crazy unexplained scavenger hunt to apparently save some people that it feels like I don't even know, from a guy in an alien mask who, to me, just seems like an angsty teen wearing a party store halloween costume (again, voice acting can help here tremendously).
To summarize, I might suggest clearing up some of the mystery surrounding the story earlier on, leaving only one or two big ones to direct the main plot point of the game, and doing more worldbuilding to flesh out the characters a bit more.
Visuals
- I like the general aesthetic that you're going for - going with a stylized look instead of a realistic one is usually a smart choice for any developer without a large budget. The green texturing in the logs and other wooden elements gives a unique vibe that helps to make the world feel even more unreal, pairing well with the blue fog IMO.
- While I think the materials are pretty good, I think more work needs to be done to give consistency between the texture and object scales. The floor and ceiling of the cabin had a noticeably larger texture scale to them compared to the walls and other smaller details; those should be scaled down, or you should create a higher-resolution version of those textures so it matches up better.
In a similar vein, some objects felt too large or too small, though maybe this was intentional? Idk, but certain details did feel out of place, like the large doll toy compared to the tiny keychain. - The flashlight definitely needs some work, it cuts off at such a short range to the point where it feels like you're holding a candle! It should probably have a much longer range. I also noticed that the light would sometimes show up on the wall of the cabin beyond the point where it faded out on the ground, leading to some visual bugs. And certain objects are a bit too reflective or uv mapped in ways that don't interact well with the light, mainly the photos in the cabin that required me to move the camera to a weird angle to decipher.
- The characters could use a bit of polish too. It would be really nice to give the character models some facial rigs so they feel more alive when they talk, and just a bit more cleanup so they fit the rest of the stylized world a bit more.
Even though you didn't ask for feedback on the gameplay, I feel like I need to mention a few things:
- I was not able to make it past the corn maze section. I replayed it 5 times, and really, actively tried to find the remaining toys, but no matter what I couldn't find anything beyond the keychain on the ground, the doll on the tractor, and the ufo on the well. After the 5th try, I just didn't have the patience to try again. I even was able to jump up on top of the tractor to get a vantage point, but that sadly didn't help.
- Please, please, please make it so you can skip the audio playback after the first time you listen to it. In fact, that should probably be how it works by default, so players like myself who die over and over again can get right back into the gameplay afterward.
- There need to be some in-game visual and/or audio clues, or text clues that can help the player figure out where the items are when they get stuck. Get creative! Make it make sense in the context of the story, there just needs to be something. Like how the keychain was lit up on the ground - maybe there could be some other lighting effects for all the other toys too?
- Please show the 3 minute timer in the game somehow - maybe the main character can set a timer on his phone or watch or something? It's important to be able to tell how much time you have left so you can make better decisions about where to look and what paths to take.
- The character's walking and sprinting speeds felt far too slow - to me, the sprint felt more like a brisk walk. If you don't want to increase it for some reason, you might consider just making the sprint the default, and removing the walk altogether.
- In the parts of the game I played, I did not find any need to jump. Perhaps it becomes useful after the corn maze section, but I wouldn't know. Regardless, it would be nice to give it slightly more purpose if it's going to be a prominent game feature.
Even though I was very critical in this review, I still did have a good time while playing your game! I just want to see it be the best it can be, and live up to the full potential. I wish you the best with your future development efforts!