Approachable Survival Horror gameplay with a cutesy (but still dark) aesthetic for players who always say "I get too scared to play that genre."

Really enjoyable game overall. Everything feels kinesthetically satisfying, the pixel art and animations are lovely, exploration is as you would expect. There is, however, no map whatsoever. You do have to remember locations and unfinished puzzle spots in your head, or otherwise re-scout spaces when you forget about them. This, combined with some puzzle-solutions being randomized every run can make some parts of the game a little tough to think through, mentally.

In terms of combat and resource-management, you'll explore thoroughly to find a variety of weapons, ammo for them, healing, and lore + collectibles. You can always swing your Combat Knife, which costs Stamina, and a quickstep/dodge, which does too. Hitting 0 Stamina will Stun you for enough time that an enemy could come and hit you, so it's ill-advised, but not too challenging to manage. Just make sure you're letting it regenerate and watch your spacing.

Items are scarce enough on Hardcore, and enemies and bosses hit you hard enough, that brute-forcing through healing items is not an option. I recommend playing your first playthrough on Normal to enjoy the atmosphere, exploration and story, while getting a feel for the game's layouts and areas.

On the note of the story, some of the characterization can be a little annoying, but it's entertaining how self-assured and full of herself the player-character is, which I enjoyed. The story, especially if you find a good amount of lore notes (ideally all of them) also has quite a lot of empathy for the villain, a woman who found herself in a terrible situation and was herself a victim of circumstance, which i found pretty distinctive for the genre.

If you enjoyed this game and found its gameplay loop (explore, fight, gain access to new areas, repeat) compelling, I urge you to do your best to play other Survival Horror games, and potentially even Metroidvanias as the genres have a degree of overlap between them. Signalis is a great next step, it is more horror-heavy than Evil Tonight but features a similar pulled-back perspective.