Considering the opening sequence, and indeed the game’s box art, pretty much signpost where this game is going to end up, and probably a more than healthy hint as to why, it’s testament to the skill of developer Movie Games that this is still such an engrossing title.
Perhaps inevitably, on first downloading this game, I was pondering where I might end up crowbarring a ‘fade to grey’ gag into this review. Having now played the game through to completion, I really don’t feel much like laughing.
I like playing Indie titles, although I recognise “indie” may be a slightly fungible term these days. Nevertheless, straying away from a pure diet of hyped so-called Triple A titles can be very rewarding. There are some gems out there.
Moons, is it? Not Mansions. OK, still meets the pseudo-alliteration test, still very clearly Lovecraftian, if the big generic sea creature tentacles on the box art and digital icons for the installed games weren’t also doing their bit.
Well, Supermassive Games have already done better than Universal Studios, as their Dark Pictures anthology has managed to survive long enough to actually put out its second title.
Strange bunch, us humans. We find fear entertaining, and not in the sadistic way of enjoying someone else’s fear. We actively seek out being scared ourselves. What makes something scary? A perennial topic for horror fans.
What makes a great game, and its universe compelling? Certainly, graphics can play a part in world-building. I still remember leaving Helgen for the first time in Skyrim and seeing the hold of Falkreath unfolding before me, it was breath taking, and that was pre-HDR
There sometimes comes a point with a well-established and well-loved brand/franchise/universe that anything new coming out of it is met with such enormous expectation that it becomes almost impossible to live up to, and, in some cases, the resulting work is then denounced and vilified
Kraven Manor started out life as a graduate project assigned to 13 students at Southern Methodist University in the US. It was of sufficient quality it built up momentum, winning two Intel University awards, is in the top 100 games over at Indie DB, and finally, following much polishing, was released on Steam by newly-formed Demon Wagon Studios. Having played through twice, I can say this attention and kudos is well-deserved, as this is a well-executed and highly atmospheric title, if perhaps inevitably a little brief […]
For those of you who don’t know, the director of The Evil Within is Shinji Mikami, who created the original Biohazard/Resident Evil. This has been at the core of a lot of preview articles in the media, as he not only created the series but revived its fortunes when he assumed directorial duties on Biohazard/Resident Evil 4, regarded by many as the pinnacle of the series. These credentials are touted with the greatest of expectations that with The Evil Within he would reinvent ‘Survival Horror’ for the new generation of games consoles […]