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[Dusk Golem]

As a horror enthusiast who follows reviews, horror games have a very high chance at polarizing scores for a number of reasons. Not the least of which because the direction, execution, and themes strike with people differently. IE, one person can HATE that a game has over the top disturbing scenes simply made to shock you while another might love it, or someone might love slow atmospheric exploration while another finds it dull.

Because horror games more than many game genres are based on 'narrative loops' rather than 'gameplay loops' (narrative loop isn't cutscenes but a scene with situational context design rather than gameplay context design, and in fact horror games are often anti-typical game design or may make elements of the gameplay worse or less fun to emphasize the horror and situations), it can vary a lot in how people take the game. It also doesn't help that different people want different things out of horror and some are more or less influenced by their bias going in.

I'm not saying how horror games are reviewed is wrong, but horror games usually have a harder time than most genres in the review space because of their subjectivity, especially ones that aim for specific experiences not really aimed at everyone. I haven't played this one yet, but reading the reviews it looks like this is in heavy effect with this game. It's an experience some may love, some may hate, which is refecting here in these reviews.

 

[Jedi2016]

Anybody here play it yet? Worth the asking price?

 

[prag16]

Quote from the Destructoid article. That's absurd. Nothing should be off limits for this medium. FFS.

Also the reviewer seems to indicate the Daredevil should be offensive to blind people considering what he says in the review...

The majority of the Destructoid review was absurd. I haven't played the game but what little I've seen looks pretty good.

3/10 is supposed to mean a bad game that may be close to fundamentally broken. This is pretty clearly not that. His reasoning largely seems ridiculous. I have a mounting back log and very little time to play anything lately, but I'll be keeping this one in mind. Cool concept that seems to be fairly well executed.

 

[Enordash]

Anybody here play it yet? Worth the asking price?

I started it this morning. I'm not sure if this is massively ironic or not, but the game really hurts my eyes after a very short time. I've only finished the first act so I'm not sure if I can give the best answer to the above question, but I will say that I expected more than a house of (attempted) jump scares which is what I've mostly experienced so far.

Edit: On the positive side, the navigation mechanic is pretty cool although you are incentivized not to use it. The voice acting is pretty good so far, and the sound design is decent. The game runs smoothly.

 

[Bate]

Anybody here play it yet? Worth the asking price?

Yes. I backed it on Kickstarter and was really looking forward to play it because of the innovative premise and the stylish screenshots. Sadly, my first impressions are really bad. The voiceover narrative feels unnatural and is full of stereotypes. The story behind the narrative sounds even more clichéd. I could've stomached that if the atmosphere had been eerie enough to let me forget the stupidity of the plot. Unfortunately, the game completely lacks any subtlety. Things go bump in the night from the very start. After half an hour you have seen countless things moving by invisible hands, ghosts lurking und things slam shut loudly. It's like an haunted house tour at the carnival.
Really annoying is that your only method of seeing or, well, perception is some kind of sonar you can use by the thumping of your kane. However, loud noises attract ghosts that apparently chase you. What a shit idea.
The gameplay is basically completely linear. The corridors and halls are full of boxes that obstruct your ability to traverse the mansion or doors open and shut by the will of the narrative. A click of a button lets you see your next objective and you have to reach that and the next events happens or door opens. There is no real exploration or sense of discovery. I still am in chapter 1, but I have no motivation to go on.