Why was this so criminally overlooked? For anyone who doesn't know, this is survival horror, with action and adventure. You are employed by an organization known, by the few who are aware of its existence, as The Spookhouse. Taking on the role of The Stranger, an enigmatic man with an unclear past, who is by far one of the single most awesome leads in VG history, you combat all and any evil you come across. They somehow put in just about every single imaginable incarnation of such found in fiction... succubi, vampires, demons, ghouls, werewolves, zombies, and a variation on Frankenstein's infamous creation. There are a couple I had never heard of before, as well. The locations are magnificent, letting you explore the old ruins of a German castle, a graveyard, and 1930's Chicago, including a jazz-club. This has extraordinary atmosphere, skillfully built up, and an effective sense of your surroundings being jam-packed with danger, ready to pounce you at any time(this feeling does get lesser after the first time, since this holds no randomization in that area, and little in general). Helping to establish it are the graphics, which are excellent, if perhaps dated today. This has shadows and lighting of impeccable quality. Not everything looks perfect. Fire is pretty nicely done. Animation is smooth and detailed. The audio is incredible, from the ambient SFX, through the cool instruments of bringing death to those who aren't exactly alive, and to the monsters, who all sound *exactly* as they should. Not to mention the well-composed score, the music is all amazing in this. The voice material is not all spot-on, if the picks of actors tend to fit. This is creepy, eery and provides great scares(granted, a lot of them are of the jump shock type). It is rather dark, as well, with bleak, engaging and involved plot line, that holds several surprises and twists. They managed to squeeze in many common horror clichés. It is separated into four chapters, and arguably, the undead aren't evenly divided between them. #1 has solid, spanning choices, the second is fairly limited, the 3rd has only one kind, and the motto of the last is "if we ain't got it, it's not unholy". Not all of the exposition is equally subtle. This actually has a remarkably interesting and unique cast of characters, all well-written and credible, and it would frankly be a fantastic idea to allow us more time with them. I would love to see a sequel to this, if anyone would take the chance. The level design varies, some are reasonably obvious, and they are linear, overall. This arms you well, with an automatic(!) Crossbow, rifles, a Tommy, a Flamethrower and the standard dual .45's, and that's not all of them. The last-mentioned can be loaded with different ammunition depending on what you're up against... in fact, the majority of foes in this have specific attacks against them. All of the guns in this have a laser-sight(or, when it comes to the ones not as accurate at a distance, a "cone") attached to them, that makes it easier to tell what you're pointing them at... and if you wield one in each hand, meaning, the pistols, and have Auto-Aim on(hint: you should), you can be shooting at two targets at the same time. I would also advise having the healing set to happening on its own, another ingenious feature. The AI is quite good. Enemies pursue you, and actively use their abilities against you. At portions, you have a partner, and/or are protecting someone, and they're relatively smart. Objectives aren't too alike. The camera angles are marvelous for the mood, but bad for playability. They're static, like those of, for example, the Resident Evil franchise, that may hold greater ones(it's been a while since I had an experience with that series), and sometimes, they're so extravagant(don't get me wrong, they're exquisite, without exception) that they render it tough to determine where you are, and, also massively important, where those who seek to harm you are. I think it would have been worth it to try for a third-person view option, at least as a possibility. The only way to get close to that in this is to use the battery-eating, and "experimental" night-vision. This is almost without bugs, and they are usually minor glitches, and I've found no issues with stability. The ladders and inventory stuff can prove frustrating, due to how they are done. Control could be stronger, you turn and equip slowly, among other things. The puzzles, whilst fun, aren't the best, or largest amount, I've seen, and the jumping-based ones suffer under you not being an athlete. There is only one difficulty to this, and it's not terribly long or complicated, and frankly, experienced players may complete this in a weekend, and re-playability is low. Beating any of the 4 parts will earn you a level selector, that equips you with certain, fixed arsenal that does not go by what your real one was like, for better or worse. There's a nifty epilogue if you complete them all. They're all available from the start, so you are free to finish them as you wish to, in spite of them being in chronological order, as they're self-contained enough to. This has harsh, though not overly frequent, language. As you may have guessed, this has gore and violence... dismembering occurs often, like when you chop off limbs, with something like the axes. Blood can be tracked, leaving footprints if you walk through a pool of it, and it will drip from the tip of used mêlée weapons. This has mature themes, and does not shy away from nudity. It can be set to Teen Rating, in the menu, to censor it to an extent. I recommend this wholeheartedly to any fans of the genres that it covers, in particular those who like things that use Gothic symbols and the terrifying forces of the supernatural. High marks on concept and execution. 7/10
