Welcome to Mundaun, a small village in the Swiss Alps where you play as a man named Curdin who has come to lay his grandfather to rest. There was an unfortunate accident involving a barn fire, and when Curdin arrives on his grandfather's land it doesn't take long to realize that things are amiss. The village priest says that his grandfather was buried in the cemetery, but you've seen with your own eyes that the body still resides in the barn; trapped in the ashen remains and charred lumber. A mysterious man appears to Curdin and burns his hand and despite now having physical proof that something is awry, no one wants to talk about what exactly is going on. It's up to you to explore these Alps, and figure out exactly what dark secrets your veteran grandfather has been hiding all of these years.

Mundaun has a unique black-and-white(ish) aesthetic that's authentically hand-drawn with heavy, almost oppressive, thick-leaded pencils; there's a great mini-documentary on YouTube that follows the developers on their trip to Switzerland and shows where they got inspiration for their textures, building structures, and environment design, as well as how they transitioned the paper drawings to in-game textures and character models. MWM Interactive and Hidden Fields put in a great deal of time and effort to produce something that's accurate to the life of pre-modern Switzerland, and their hard work shows superbly in the outstanding atmosphere and crude beauty of Mundaun's visuals. To miss it, you would have to deliberately ignore the loving craftsmanship that went into every detail of this title's visuals. At this time, there is no other video game with this type of hand-drawn imagery.

The flowing mist and fog that overcomes parts of the Alps makes the location feel otherworldly at times; peering down into what would be a network of villages, only to be met with marshmallow-like clouds conveys the feeling of floating in another dimension. At times this fog overtakes portions of the map that you explore, and it allows the developers to gently force a guided linearity to the story; something that's necessary due to just how large the six-area map truly is. Although the gameplay is linear, it never makes you feel like you're 'on-rails'... there is always a good chunk of land open to scouting to your hearts content. Taking the time to survey the landscape, not only for the spectacular views, pays off with tangible items such as bullets, matches, and stat upgrades, as well as some extra additions to the plot through notes and optional encounters.

It has been said before, but it's worth repeating; the atmosphere in Mundaun is simply incredible. The days are well lit, but cloudy. Sometimes there's rain, sometimes there's snow. The nights are usually clear, with star-filled skies and a bright full moon, though sometimes there are lingering snow clouds. Although this is a horror game, the nights feel especially calm and peaceful, and you can almost feel yourself breathing in the crisp, cold, fresh mountain air; of course, that is until the monsters show up... but that doesn't happen all the time. The developers were even able to add in some wind effects here and there, and there's sections with a rushing flow of water coming in from a waterfall. I'd usually gripe about how there's no soundtrack in a horror game but much like Dark Souls, Mundaun just doesn't need it; the footsteps of your character and ambience from the natural environment works outstandingly well to immerse you.

Rarely is a game perfect, so of course Mundaun has its own shortcomings. Most importantly, the combat is dreadfully clunky. Hitting an enemy requires players to press and hold a button for a seriously lengthy amount of time before being able to actually execute the hit; this extends to all weapons but it only makes sense for aiming the rifle, and using the pipe to thwart bees and beekeepers is the worst offender. The cumbersome mechanics become increasingly frustrating and you're better off avoiding combat all together if possible, but that brings us to the second major annoyance; enemies can hit you without even aiming at you. This issue is predominant with the Haymen, who shoot hay at you and can do so from an ungodly range. If you're on the right, and they're pointing left, their hay attack will still make contact with you.

Ultimately, the monster encounters in this game just do not add anything to the overall experience. In fact, they detract quite substantially from it. Added to the underwhelming combat system is a 'fear' mechanic that doesn't make much sense, in that you'll be 'afraid' and move slower even when you cannot see an enemy, and doesn't seem to get much better even when it's fully upgraded. As a side note, you can max out fear resistance, health, and combat by finding items, but only the health upgrade truly seems to matter in the long run since it lets you take a couple more hits.

Despite its pitfalls, Mundaun remains a labour of love that's worthy of every word of praise it receives. Visually, the game is a breath of fresh air in a genre that has started wearing its redundancy like a favourite cozy sweater. Although much of the aesthetic leaves you feeling calm, there's still a certain unsettling ambience and overarching weirdness that you can't quite shake, and for good reason. The story is like a good book that you just can't bring yourself to put down, and you'll have a hard time not seeing it through to the end in one sitting. There are five endings that you can obtain, and each one requires a new playthrough; though whether the 4-6 hours to do multiple runs is worth it is ultimately up to the individual. If you're looking for a new experience that you're guaranteed to have not come across before, no matter how many horror games you've played, then this is the game for you.

The Horror Network Curator | Group Click for Gore

Welcome to Mundaun, a small village in the Swiss Alps where you play as a man named Curdin who has come to lay his grandfather to rest. There was an unfortunate accident involving a barn fire, and when Curdin arrives on his grandfather's land it doesn't take long to realize that things are amiss. The village priest says that his grandfather was buried in the cemetery, but you've seen with your own eyes that the body still resides in the barn; trapped in the ashen remains and charred lumber. A mysterious man appears to Curdin and burns his hand and despite now having physical proof that something is awry, no one wants to talk about what exactly is going on. It's up to you to explore these Alps, and figure out exactly what dark secrets your veteran grandfather has been hiding all of these years. Mundaun has a unique black-and-white(ish) aesthetic that's authentically hand-drawn with heavy, almost oppressive, thick-leaded pencils; there's a great mini-documentary on YouTube that follows the developers on their trip to Switzerland and shows where they got inspiration for their textures, building structures, and environment design, as well as how they transitioned the paper drawings to in-game textures and character models. MWM Interactive and Hidden Fields put in a great deal of time and effort to produce something that's accurate to the life of pre-modern Switzerland, and their hard work shows superbly in the outstanding atmosphere and crude beauty of Mundaun's visuals. To miss it, you would have to deliberately ignore the loving craftsmanship that went into every detail of this title's visuals. At this time, there is no other video game with this type of hand-drawn imagery. The flowing mist and fog that overcomes parts of the Alps makes the location feel otherworldly at times; peering down into what would be a network of villages, only to be met with marshmallow-like clouds conveys the feeling of floating in another dimension. At times this fog overtakes portions of the map that you explore, and it allows the developers to gently force a guided linearity to the story; something that's necessary due to just how large the six-area map truly is. Although the gameplay is linear, it never makes you feel like you're 'on-rails'... there is always a good chunk of land open to scouting to your hearts content. Taking the time to survey the landscape, not only for the spectacular views, pays off with tangible items such as bullets, matches, and stat upgrades, as well as some extra additions to the plot through notes and optional encounters. It has been said before, but it's worth repeating; the atmosphere in Mundaun is simply incredible. The days are well lit, but cloudy. Sometimes there's rain, sometimes there's snow. The nights are usually clear, with star-filled skies and a bright full moon, though sometimes there are lingering snow clouds. Although this is a horror game, the nights feel especially calm and peaceful, and you can almost feel yourself breathing in the crisp, cold, fresh mountain air; of course, that is until the monsters show up... but that doesn't happen all the time. The developers were even able to add in some wind effects here and there, and there's sections with a rushing flow of water coming in from a waterfall. I'd usually gripe about how there's no soundtrack in a horror game but much like Dark Souls, Mundaun just doesn't need it; the footsteps of your character and ambience from the natural environment works outstandingly well to immerse you. Rarely is a game perfect, so of course Mundaun has its own shortcomings. Most importantly, the combat is dreadfully clunky. Hitting an enemy requires players to press and hold a button for a seriously lengthy amount of time before being able to actually execute the hit; this extends to all weapons but it only makes sense for aiming the rifle, and using the pipe to thwart bees and beekeepers is the worst offender. The cumbersome mechanics become increasingly frustrating and you're better off avoiding combat all together if possible, but that brings us to the second major annoyance; enemies can hit you without even aiming at you. This issue is predominant with the Haymen, who shoot hay at you and can do so from an ungodly range. If you're on the right, and they're pointing left, their hay attack will still make contact with you. Ultimately, the monster encounters in this game just do not add anything to the overall experience. In fact, they detract quite substantially from it. Added to the underwhelming combat system is a 'fear' mechanic that doesn't make much sense, in that you'll be 'afraid' and move slower even when you cannot see an enemy, and doesn't seem to get much better even when it's fully upgraded. As a side note, you can max out fear resistance, health, and combat by finding items, but only the health upgrade truly seems to matter in the long run since it lets you take a couple more hits. Despite its pitfalls, Mundaun remains a labour of love that's worthy of every word of praise it receives. Visually, the game is a breath of fresh air in a genre that has started wearing its redundancy like a favourite cozy sweater. Although much of the aesthetic leaves you feeling calm, there's still a certain unsettling ambience and overarching weirdness that you can't quite shake, and for good reason. The story is like a good book that you just can't bring yourself to put down, and you'll have a hard time not seeing it through to the end in one sitting. There are five endings that you can obtain, and each one requires a new playthrough; though whether the 4-6 hours to do multiple runs is worth it is ultimately up to the individual. If you're looking for a new experience that you're guaranteed to have not come across before, no matter how many horror games you've played, then this is the game for you. [h1]Rating: [b]4.5/5.0[/b] - Excellent, highly worth playing.[/h1] The Horror Network [url=http://steamproxy.net/steamstore/curator/28221963/]Curator[/url] | [url=http://steamproxy.net/groups/thehorrornetwork]Group[/url] Click for Gore