Recent reviews by ControversyB

Really enjoyed exploring here. Creepy vibe, interesting things to look at, that inherent feeling of dread - it's all here. Glad to say it doesn't seem to be weighed down by the typical backrooms/liminal space slop of monster chases and odd puzzles. I wasn't sure if the demo was meant to end when it did, or if the game crashed? There was no menu to speak of. The game just started, and then the second room of the second level is when the game just closed. Based on screenshots available, I'd wager that was the intended end of the demo. All-in-all, I spent just shy of an hour running around looking at things and then progressing through. If you like the Complex series, this is akin to that and I'm excited to see a fully realized version of Project: Null Hypothesis!

Really fun and a fair bit to see, though I've only played the demo thus far. Usually, anything in this genre will be an asset swap or a downright forgery of similar titles, but Liminal Shroud is something new and unexpected. Certain moments had great tension. Environments were unique, made it fun to explore and see what else was around the corner. It's no copy-paste Backrooms/liminal walking simulator. Definitely worth checking out the demo and here's to hoping the full release is even better!

So there are some strengths here, but I need to point out that I got this on sale at $9.99. I'd feel a lot differently if I'd paid full price. The story is intriguing, a slow burn - and clearly the visuals are pretty spectacular for the most part. I enjoyed the suspense continuing to build, the few moments where it paid off. There's a lot of detail put into spaces and things that the player never sees or meaningfully interacts with. Corners and spaces with love put into it that most people will breeze right by. I love when a game does that - not trying to sell the idea to the player, but to genuinely build and flesh out the world entirely so that there's no need to try and sell the player on it being real.

What this game gets wrong is mobility and movement and how much that means to the player, what makes a game fun in general (even if it is just a walking sim), and general quality-of-life things that quickly begin to erode the experience into "I just want to get this over with." Firstly, movement is slow. Sluggish is putting it politely. I was irritated the moment I found out I could walk, or walk a little faster. I know they were going for realism, but we suspend our disbelief all the time when playing a game. Having the character turn when I tell them to turn would make a frustrating time a lot less so. It felt like my computer was writing a handwritten letter and snail-mailing it to the character for every input I made. If they wanted solely to stick with realism, I think they should have opted for a short film. It may not have made as much money, but we also wouldn't be sitting here warning others about what they're getting and NOT getting with Fort Solis.
I did read reviews prior to buying, so I managed my expectations enough to not feel incredibly disappointed. I should also add that I love walking sims. I love being able to take in the environment, the soundscape, the atmosphere, without needing something to shoot at or a bunch of tools at my disposal. However, one thing I rarely compromise on is the reduced controls, i.e. the walking, being so slow or poorly implemented that I can't enjoy it.

It's been mentioned already but the game industry at large has yet to listen - QTE does NOTHING for the player. When things finally ramped up here and there and I was watching as though it were a movie, I was suddenly met with the fastest decaying quick-time event I've ever seen. I failed at least half of them. For such a slow-burn, I want to enjoy the moments where things kick off, not scroll the screen with my eyes for the next button call-out. How can I enjoy the culmination of all the reading and exposition I've sifted through for the last hour when I have to anticipate the next .5 second "E" button prompt. Absolutely absurd. No, you cannot turn it off. I tried.
Lastly, I hated the ending. It felt unfinished. We can make a million assumptions on what happens next, but we'd been led to believe that the thing we are worried about might be the wrong thing..... without spoiling too much. Or at least that's how I understood it. Our trust possibly misplaced... maybe? That was never fleshed out in any way, and even setting that aside, the end was abrupt and frustrating.

I want to end on another positive instead of a negative because I enjoyed the game enough to see it through and do some of the tedious bits of exploring, reading through docu's and video logs, etc. The world is believable. I didn't doubt for a moment that there were other places on the planet that humanity was thriving - or at least surviving - in. I would've loved to see more of it rather than read and hear about it, but it was meant to be a short story and game. I loved the voice actors. I think they did a fantastic job, all of them. No one sounded unsure of their role and how to portray it. I don't think Fort Solis was meant to be a cash grab by any means, even if it comes up short in a number of ways. It wasn't slapped together overnight, that's for sure. There is love and care and hard work put into this. To anyone reading, I don't think there is any harm in giving this a try. You just might enjoy it. If you can't stand the first hour, you might as well stop because you won't enjoy the next few but you'll still be in the window to get a refund. Give it a go, see what it's about.

This is a masterclass in thriller horror that set a bit of a standard for the gaming industry a decade ago. It's influenced so much of gaming ever since, but I WISH so badly that it would have the same impact in its own family of Alien media (Alien: Earth as an example). Romulus was enjoyable, but there's something so simple and horrifying about this story that modern renditions of Alien stories refuse to adapt. I've played through a couple of times now, but I played on Novice my first time because I was wildly overwhelmed. It became a bit of a breeze, but I'm not interested in punishing challenges and I also go to therapy so I don't need validation through difficulty settings. I highly recommend experiencing this though, regardless of whatever difficulty you choose. I'll just say this - if it's not fun, you're not doing it right.

Fun, short little horror game. I was a bit annoyed that it was so short, but it's par for the course with games in this subgenre. I'd love to see one of these devs really flesh out something expansive as some others have done - a few hours of narrative-driven gameplay, multiple ways to accomplish something, different endings. Haunted Property does have two endings, I should mention. I played to see them both. What really makes these kinds of games fun for both the average and casual gamer's alike is the interactive environments. Light switches, random objects, being able to do things that aren't necessary to progress the plot. It gives them a bit of charm. This game doesn't have a ton of it, but it's no exception either. I think this game is just fine for the price and it's fun to kill a little time (no pun intended). I'd definitely recommend it, and look forward to checking out more from the dev.

Maybe my mind will change here, but as of right now, I spent money on this and haven't wanted to touch it since. I was playing and trudging along (spent hours stuck in a limbo of combat), thinking it will certainly get better eventually. Alas, no. I just could not get over how janky it is. I don't know if it was trying to do or be too many things at once, but there's a lot of QoL that's lacking and cheapens the experience. It's also wildly repetitive. It's fun to kill robots for a little while, but the decision to keep them repairing continuously, non-stop, and then letting the player know that sometimes it's better to not engage - what other option is there? There is no stealth. You cannot annihilate an area for some peace, because the repair bots are there before you even finished off the enemies. You fight, or you run until you are inundated with 50 enemies on you. You get mere seconds to enjoy the atmosphere and the cool world they built. There were definitely better ways to do this without making it feel like a never-ending nightmare. I just expected a cleaner experience with invigorating gameplay, driven by a story. The "dungeons"/bunkers for upgrades are tedious and so much of what you're doing, you'll do 10 more times in the next area. I love the idea of the world this is set in, I love the concept, and I love the look. Everything's really cool in that regard, but you get dropped in and feel like you must have missed something right out of the gate. Heck, the path forward 90% of the time involves jumping or dropping or maneuvering to an area that looks like it would be out of bounds, off limits, or not the intended pathway forward. Good games gently guide the player along a path, while finding ways to nudge them back to the correct path if they seem lost or are not progressing. Something like a companion or NPC making a radio call after 5 minutes reminding your objective, the player character remarking on what seems to be the way around an obstacle, or even some debris falling or something in the environment to help force a player to look at and consider a certain direction. If you play Atomic Heart, you'll see exactly what I mean. It's not about hand-holding, no one's asking for that. It's about game design. I intend to finish the game some day, and maybe my mind will change when I do, but as of right now, I haven't wanted to bother. TLDR; a great vision not fully realized. It works in some areas while under-serving anything but repetitive combat in most others. It sometimes feels as though one game was being developed, then scrapped for another while keeping a majority of the components of the original vision.

The only negative is that TLOU I Remake and II Remastered have utterly ruined every other game for me. The emotional storytelling is unlike any other, the attention to detail is otherworldly, the motion and animation is brought to life and never lets loose its grip on you. I could go on, and on. I think about these games daily now. I plan to replay again, even though I explored and admired so many details that my first play-through was almost 80 hours. I cannot help but to sing the praises of the powerhouse that is Naughty Dog. Watching Grounded I and II is so inspiring. Seeing a team of people who are passionate about what they're doing will give you life. Or bore you to pieces, maybe, but to each their own. I truly hope that the "controversy" around this game translates as a compliment to the entire team behind it. The characters and the story mean so much to people, that they spend ridiculous amounts of time arguing about how terrible it all is - all the while, they spend so much time engaging with the media and the story regardless. In my opinion, TLOU II is an epic tale, but that tale does not belong solely to Ellie. I personally connected with the other characters we were seeing, and the complicated feelings it brought up were refreshing. The game explores some very dark themes and topics in such a riveting way, all set in the world we've come to love and fear. I suppose I cannot guarantee to any fan reading this that they will love where this journey takes them, but I can most certainly promise you will appreciate the detail, the craft, the game-play, and how those are impacted by the story beats.
Play it. Even if you despise it, you will crave taking the next step.
P.S. Be sure to check out the Extras, which include three "lost levels" that give a little more insight into both the developer experience and the story. Well worth it.

This was a great game, until it wasn't. I enjoyed it's initial release, really enjoyed the new release, and then Suburbia happened. I've spent more time trying to figure out that level than I spent exploring the four or five levels leading up to it. It is not visually rewarding nor exciting enough to make that immense amount of time feel like anything other than an aggravating waste. Dev said they made changes, but did not clarify what needs done to pass the level. A walking sim about exploration would imply simply needing to find the exit, but suddenly there's a mechanic involved that is not told to the player, let alone even an on-screen hint saying "push this button and find the exit" or "push EVERY button to find the exit." I tried it again, and it's as vague as before except with the addition of roadways. Calling it a loss. You will enjoy the levels leading up to Suburbia. You will not enjoy Suburbia. It is a frustrating and jarring change of pace and quality from a smooth, rewarding forward progression to a sudden halt.

Incredible scenery, incredible music, incredible all around. There are some genuinely moving moments - between the glimpses of horror and loneliness comes the occasional calm, and other times nostalgia. Love the ambient sounds in some scenes that lend so well to the horror or the "I miss my childhood" moments. I feel as though Lost Tapes gets passed up on a lot in the Backrooms/liminal space area, and I wonder if it's because of the entity encounters found in the first level of both tapes thus far. I don't care for the entities in Backrooms games, and usually avoid games altogether for it. However, Lost Tapes has a lot of beauty past that first level. I think horror is more effective when it's implied, when the scene is set but the player's imagination takes over. The unknown is always far more frightening. Am I being followed? Am I being watched? Those moments are far more memorable for me than the "entity chases you" nonsense. In any case, getting past the first level in both tapes is well worth it imo - don't let the entity encounter stop you from experiencing the rest. The story gets a little weird and injected with nonsense in the second tape (some SCP stuff that feels a bit out of place), but the settings themselves are unique and fully worth exploring. The voice actors are believable and do a good job of selling it, even if the story is odd.

Shows good promise, but it's incredibly short as is. Visually, looks great. I don't care for the map with the weirdly thin walls comprising a strange maze - a maze is fine, but the walls look odd and I think just having a maze with walls all the way up to a tall ceiling could be far more intimidating and avoid having an "unfinished" look. I also don't care for voice-acting in liminal space games, but that's mostly because they never sound believable. It usually doesn't match the emotion one would expect to hear from someone ripped out of their dimension. That aside, I think the dev has potential to do some cool things and hopefully we'll get to see more from them.