Well, this certainly was strange and unpleasant.
Overall, I rather enjoyed myself here. I did find the board game puzzle slightly obtuse and lacking of maybe like ONE more hint to give you some idea of what to do. It was only being familiar with Ludo from childhood that even gave me the option to guess at all.
I do appreciate the restraint in not filling the game with killer clowns chasing you. Hearing the voice recordings and being in a weird funhouse as you slowly put two and two together was plenty...
...which brings us to the topic of the AI images featured in the game. Personally, I am an opponent of AI generated creative content, though some leeway is considerable when dealing with non profit things like this.
However, the AI images add truly nothing to the experience here. Aside from a few hallways where you might see some (very obvious) AI clown portraits, and I assume the final portrait, they really don't add to the game's atmosphere, and it's not like you don't understand you're dealing with a Clown themed game without them. If anything, removing them might make things creepier, cause it would allow you to paint your own image in your head. Now they're just there to be there and be mildly spooky-looking, but they kind of fail at that, too. I really see no reason to have them included at all for the purpose of telling the story you're telling.
But anyway . Coulrophobia was bizarre, spooky, and gets thorough unpleasant once you realize what things are actually about, which I can appreciate. Very solid work here!
Overall, I rather enjoyed myself here. I did find the board game puzzle slightly obtuse and lacking of maybe like ONE more hint to give you some idea of what to do. It was only being familiar with Ludo from childhood that even gave me the option to guess at all.
I do appreciate the restraint in not filling the game with killer clowns chasing you. Hearing the voice recordings and being in a weird funhouse as you slowly put two and two together was plenty...
...which brings us to the topic of the AI images featured in the game. Personally, I am an opponent of AI generated creative content, though some leeway is considerable when dealing with non profit things like this.
However, the AI images add truly nothing to the experience here. Aside from a few hallways where you might see some (very obvious) AI clown portraits, and I assume the final portrait, they really don't add to the game's atmosphere, and it's not like you don't understand you're dealing with a Clown themed game without them. If anything, removing them might make things creepier, cause it would allow you to paint your own image in your head. Now they're just there to be there and be mildly spooky-looking, but they kind of fail at that, too. I really see no reason to have them included at all for the purpose of telling the story you're telling.
But anyway . Coulrophobia was bizarre, spooky, and gets thorough unpleasant once you realize what things are actually about, which I can appreciate. Very solid work here!