Recent reviews by Zera

I'm a huge fan of Bloober's past work, and I enjoyed this game quite a lot! Although it's by no means perfect.

The Good:
-Incredible graphics, that's pretty easy to see right away.
-Good storytelling. The way they weave the story into how the game plays out is wonderful, and it's fun to start piecing it together yourself the more you learn.
-Really interesting puzzles that use the mechanics for the most part pretty well.
-The split screen idea of existing in both worlds at the same time, while also having chances to go into one world and then the other completely, lends for some cool ideas.
-Lots of fun easter eggs! All the nods back to Silent Hill was really nice to see, and playing a game that had such a similar feel was awesome.

The Bad:
-{MILD SPOILERS) I'll just come out and say it - the ending. It's sequel-baiting hard. While there's nothing wrong with setting up for a sequel - plenty of games do - those games also have completely and self contained stories. Here, there was no conclusive result to go off of. For a game that's so story-focused and wants you to be invested, that was the wrong approach to take in my opinion.
-The pace of the game is a little too slow. I don't mind taking my time with horror games like this, but this seemed intentionally trying to drag things out when it wasn't needed. Even the characters walk (and run) quite slow. There's nothing wrong with a shorter game experience! I liked Layers of Fear 1 for that reason. It was the perfect length it needed to be to tell the story.
-It's sadly not very scary. This is coming from someone who found Layers of Fear 2 terrifying in certain parts (The formless man is so unnerving!) Atmosphere is definitely top notch in the Medium, which is where most of my unsettled feelings came from while playing, but nothing to terrify me. Don't get me wrong, the Maw is creepy! I was relieved whenever I got past him, but in the latter half of the game, he didn't really bother me any more. Perhaps he's a bit overused?

That's the best I can summarize it at the moment. If you're a fan of Silent Hill, or even more, if you're a fan of Bloober's past work, you will find something to enjoy here. I would say, pick it up on sale though.

These games are such a blast with friends and family. We play them more often than any board game or card game now. Yes, even more than Cards Against Humanity.