You black out and wake up in catacombs under a government building surrounded by monstrosities. Ugly monstrosities. You know what that means. Hammer time. Something draws you deeper. What do you do? You take an elevator down. Downturn. Downward. Earthward? Oh, yes please. You delve into the deepest depths of Earth after you descent. This is madness. Madness? This is Sparta? Uh, I think so. Next thing you know, you meet up with the Plato who tells you how he likes the touch and smell of chil#ren. Then you open the dog, smash the nurse, recycle the queen and black out again, wake up, red out, which you didn’t even know you could do. Then you turn into a fairy and fly away.




For real though, Psychopomp offers one of the more unique journeys you could embark on completely free of charge. A journey of traversing through bizarre places, talking to deranged NPCs and hitting a few monsters with a hammer. It’s a neat mix of a retro dungeon crawler, some point and click elements and a soundtrack that sets the tone perfectly throughout the game. I absolutely adore its music, tracks are super atmospheric. The only issue is they are very short and sometimes it’s noticeable when they loop.

Funnily enough, the game has a psychological horror tag on its Steam page. Is it scary? Not really*. You definitely feel uneasy due to all the weird noises, bad visibility in darker hallways and setting that's just slightly beyond your comprehension — alien and eldritch at times. The player is not defenseless though, you have your trusty “weapon” and can use it to smack anything that comes right up to your face. Which ultimately makes any threat less scary. Psychopomp is just not the kind of game you play to get scared, but rather to explore an interesting world with uncanny creatures and simply enjoy someone's vision. And that’s also great, not everything has to be pants-shi#tingly spooky to be good.




It’s becoming harder and harder to find captivating games that aren’t straight up toxicaly addicting or mid overall to say the least. Under a constant stream of bland “quadruple A” slop, indie games continue to prove themselves as a superior form, with Psychopomp being one good example.

In a couple of days since posting this review, Psychopomp Gold has its release, which I'm definitely looking forward to. It has the potential to be even more successful and memorable, it just needs to build upon already quite solid foundations. So far the story feels more like an intro for something much more grandeur, it’s sparse, short and cryptic, so you just wish to see more. Let’s just hope we will.


Rating:

Playtime: 1-2h

The game is GOOD for players who:

• are on a budget
  
• don’t have a lot of time
  
• look for something unique
  
• don’t mind the grotesque and disturbing nature
  
• are fans of conspiracy theories

The game is NOT GOOD for people who:

• don’t like spooks
  
• look for a complex story

*And that comes from a guy who was crapp#ng himself playing SOMA, while all the other horror veterans were saying Amnesia was way more terrifying. I’m definitely not the kind of person to pretend how nothing can scare me.

[h1]Certified schizo experience[/h1] You black out and wake up in catacombs under a government building surrounded by monstrosities. Ugly monstrosities. You know what that means. Hammer time. Something draws you deeper. What do you do? You take an elevator down. Downturn. Downward. Earthward? Oh, yes please. You delve into the deepest depths of Earth after you descent. This is madness. Madness? This is Sparta? Uh, I think so. Next thing you know, you meet up with the Plato who tells you how he likes the touch and smell of chil#ren. Then you open the dog, smash the nurse, recycle the queen and black out again, wake up, red out, which you didn’t even know you could do. Then you turn into a fairy and fly away. [h1]Ibuprofen for breakfast[/h1] For real though, Psychopomp offers one of the more unique journeys you could embark on completely free of charge. A journey of traversing through bizarre places, talking to deranged NPCs and hitting a few monsters with a hammer. It’s a neat mix of a retro dungeon crawler, some point and click elements and a soundtrack that sets the tone perfectly throughout the game. I absolutely adore its music, tracks are super atmospheric. The only issue is they are very short and sometimes it’s noticeable when they loop. Funnily enough, the game has a psychological horror tag on its Steam page. Is it scary? Not really*. You definitely feel uneasy due to all the weird noises, bad visibility in darker hallways and setting that's just slightly beyond your comprehension — alien and eldritch at times. The player is not defenseless though, you have your trusty “weapon” and can use it to smack anything that comes right up to your face. Which ultimately makes any threat less scary. Psychopomp is just not the kind of game you play to get scared, but rather to explore an interesting world with uncanny creatures and simply enjoy someone's vision. And that’s also great, not everything has to be pants-shi#tingly spooky to be good. [h1]“The world can be dangerous, be careful”[/h1] It’s becoming harder and harder to find captivating games that aren’t straight up toxicaly addicting or mid overall to say the least. Under a constant stream of bland “quadruple A” slop, indie games continue to prove themselves as a superior form, with Psychopomp being one good example. In a couple of days since posting this review, Psychopomp Gold has its release, which I'm definitely looking forward to. It has the potential to be even more successful and memorable, it just needs to build upon already quite solid foundations. So far the story feels more like an intro for something much more grandeur, it’s sparse, short and cryptic, so you just wish to see more. Let’s just hope we will. [b]Rating:[/b] [table] [tr] [td]Gameplay[/td] [td]7.5/10[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Visual style[/td] [td]8/10[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Audio[/td] [td]8.5/10[/td] [/tr] [tr] [th]Overall rating[/th] [th]8/10[/th] [/tr] [/table] Playtime: 1-2h [b]The game is GOOD for players who:[/b] [list] [*]are on a budget [*]don’t have a lot of time [*]look for something unique [*]don’t mind the grotesque and disturbing nature [*]are fans of conspiracy theories [/list] [b]The game is NOT GOOD for people who:[/b] [list] [*]don’t like spooks [*]look for a complex story [/list] *And that comes from a guy who was crapp#ng himself playing SOMA, while all the other horror veterans were saying Amnesia was way more terrifying. I’m definitely not the kind of person to pretend how nothing can scare me.