Author - Trevor Dyer

Gylt Review

2023/09/05

Geek News, News, Reviews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

Gylt had its Summer debut on Steam on July 6th, 2023 after its previous role as a system-exclusive game on Google Stadia. After Google Stadia’s closure, fans rejoiced that Gylt had made its way to being re-released via multiple platforms for all who enjoy the genre. Tequila Works and Parallel Limited worked together to develop this Horror-puzzle mystery so let’s go over a few things.

Gylt takes place in the old mining town of Bethelwood; a small rural area where our protagonist Sally resides. After her cousin goes missing and the case goes cold, Sally continues to put up posters around town looking for any clues to her cousin’s disappearance. Sally makes her way up into the mountains, where she’s met with bullies who pester her until she falls off a cliff. While making her way back, she discovers Bethelwood is now dilapidated and riddled with monsters and secrets. At first glance, Gylt is reminiscent of popular animated films such as Coraline, and faces similar dark themes whilst under the guise of a child-friendly cartoon. Going into the journey, the tone and atmosphere is the biggest payout. Both never become too exciting, but never too boring where you’d want to stop playing. Gylt does an amazing job at setting up for stealth that feels important; aside from a flashlight, your own two hands, and a fire extinguisher, you are ill-equipped to deal with the opposition.

In terms of gameplay and overall tone, Gylt is a bare-bones puzzle-horror and fits the genre well. It never gives you too much ease as to breeze by enemies but you can always find solutions without having to resort to a wiki or outside resources. The tone sets you up for the haunting reality you find yourself in, with all the dark crevices and flickering lights to add to the imperative stealth. The mechanics are fluid and functional, I would only opt to suggest being able to turn off the motion blur as it can be a little nauseating at times. Aside from this everything within the game is stylized and with purpose. With this being said, replacing weapons to only a flashlight is a welcomed trope changer; adding to the overall helplessness and fear of running low on battery amidst an attack- unlike other titles that get progressively less scary due to power creep and abilities.

Gylt’s sound design and music makes for a chilling experience, the sound effects of the monsters as they scour your previous movements and lurch through the dark environment with nothing more than broken lights and fire in your path is fantastic. I recommend wearing headphones to immerse yourself in your search for Emily.

Gylt is a good middle-ground game and I recommend playing it. It never strays from what it’s supposed to be. A survival puzzle horror with a solid story. The plot is a slower burn with reading notes and finding symbolism but it is rewarding to say the least. You could potentially finish the story arch within one sitting if you’re willing to put in a few hours or enjoy it over the course of a day or two. Whichever you choose to do, it is an experience worth having albeit a short, but entertaining and smooth running game.

Pros:

Stylized in a fun cartoon way
Smooth Gameplay
Meaningful stealth mechanics
Excellent Story

Cons:

Motion Blur
Too slow at times
Some sound / dialogue overlapping

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5

Preview of Eresys: Co-Op Lovecraftian Horror Comes to Life

2023/05/02

Trevor Dyer

Geek News, Halloween, News, Previews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

Eresys is currently available on Steam as an early access release. It became available to play on April 20th 2023, as the developers look for feedback regarding gameplay. Eresys is currently the second Cthulhu game this developer has produced, following its 2022 release of The Shore. The developers Ares Dragonis have been very active on social media showing off the different stages of their developmental process. This has done well to gain a following and keep the target audience in the loop and keep the excitement flowing.

Find the pages!

Eresys currently only takes place on one level, a remote island, however new maps and modes are within the developers’ current roadmaps. You take on the role of a group of cultists (or cultist if you so choose solo play) in an attempt to face down and thwart the Lovecraftian horrors that have risen. Eresys being in early access has some minor graphical bugs in the environment, however this does little to pull away from what it could be. Atmosphere during your stay on the island is a bone-chilling, and frightful experience, as you search the nitty gritty spaces of darkness for spell pages and various artifacts of Cthulhu. As it stands you have access to only one set of objectives and one mission. During this time, it is recommended to take on the challenge with a friend or two as the fun from Eresys comes from the teamwork and shenanigans that ensue. Solo gameplay doesn’t quite have the same impact here.

Current Optimization. Optimization in Eresys will hopefully be touched upon in future updates, even with a more powerful machine I found screen-tearing to be persistent and monster attacks to slow down frame rates. This detracts from the overall immersion, with a few questionable graphical choices when monsters get too close. Currently Eresys standing alone is worth checking out to have some midnight monster mash fun with friends; but waiting on this one would be a good option as well.

Beware the dark!

Story. Eresys is similar to other games in its genre, and has an overarching objective told to you at the start. The impact of it right now isn’t too high as it feels like a cookie cutter copy paste mechanic. It doesn’t matter if they’re Lovecraftian horrors, or small bunnies you’re trying to stop. The only difference here is what I’m more scared of running away from. With it being the Cthulhu mythos there is ample media and stories to take inspiration from, but as of right now it doesn’t feel that the story is important, and doesn’t quite make it investful. Behind the story however, it shows the developers love for the Lovecraftian mythos in regards to trinkets and lore you can find and collect to view in the main hub area, whilst listening to small snippets of inspiration. This may be unpolished, but by no means is it a terrible experience overall.

Sound design so far is serviceable, Eresys delivers ambient environmental sounds, and grotesque monster ques. This combined with the overall theme and look makes for an immersive experience while you hope the blaring eye at the bottom of the screen closes. Perhaps don’t come out from the scattered houses or behind the trees until the coast is clear!

Monsters abound!

Every update the developers introduce in their steam listing makes this game more enjoyable to play, while listening to their audience. Eresys is definitely an enjoyable experience with friends that I would recommend to those either looking for a couple of hours of laughs. Or even wait for a more polished gameplay experience in the future. Either way, I feel like it will be a win-win.

Pros

Love letter to the Lovecraftian genre
Good overall environments and sound design
Fun co-op experience to enjoy with friends
Player feedback and updates come in a timely manner

Cons

Early access you get what you pay for at this time
Still very unpolished
Very limited gameplay as of right now
Minor graphical and interactive bugs

Hunt the Night Review

2023/04/12

Trevor Dyer

Geek News, News, Reviews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

Hunt the Night is a game that began its journey on Kickstarter in 2019 and is set to release on April 13th, 2023 as of writing this review. Since its jump start on Kickstarter, the developers have put in a lot of hard work and dedication into their game, even going so far as opening their own group on Discord where they are active with their community and player feedback regarding issues and bugs found within its testing period. Hunt the Night, despite being made by a small team of indie game developers, has packed in a ton of fast-paced gameplay, enticing graphics are done fantastically well in their 2D representation, and an immersive souls-like atmosphere, so let’s get into it.

Hunt the Night Dialog

Hunt the Night takes place in a gruesome nightmare world with monsters, darkness, and a plaguing amount of blood stains on all surfaces. You play as Vesper, a member of ‘The Stalkers’ prowling through the monster-ridden corridors to unravel the mystery and secrets that Medhram holds. Don’t be fooled by the retro style, the souls-like, and Bloodborne inspiration is done justice with a gripping world that is fleshed out and packed with detail… and the difficulty to accompany. Starting off I didn’t think this game would be quite as large as it was, the open world map, quests, and sheer amount of attention to detail made it worth the delays in schedule. You’ll find yourself either slaying monsters continuously for Noctilium, the Stalker’s currency, or sitting at a waterfall getting lost in the water and flowers that surround them. Albeit this is a good way to die. Boss battles, oh the joy of any good souls-like journey, are not a letdown. You will find yourself being beaten down either within an inch of your life or dying horrifically but there is a method to the madness! Hunt the Night’s boss encounters much like the rest of the in-game abominations follow specific attack patterns and styles that allow the player to perfect their parry game, and take no damage. This however will only be after failing more times than you have fingers for. All in all, the combat is great, controls on PC may lead you to fall down a dark hole sometimes as following the cursor to see where your directional pull will take you is near impossible. However, it is much more forgiving for those that wish to use a handheld controller. I recommend this, it will save you a few Noctilium (and sanity). I do not think you will find more well-balanced and smooth gameplay with a souls-like retro game, it is rewarding to perfect the technique.

Hunt the Night

Let’s talk about interfaces and sound design. Hunt the Night has a lovely inventory interface; it is very stylized and serves its purpose of equipping new armor, weapons, abilities, and Moonstones. The only drawback again is to those using a mouse and keyboard over a controller; you may want to look into key remapping if you go this route as it can be a little clunky with key input. Is the tutorial immersive or too much? Hunt the Night pulls off a great new player experience by having the player (and Vesper) perform different tasks at different times, this makes for a much more immersive experience. This also allows for further comprehension of the game’s overall combat arch and abilities while also dabbling in how and when you should use them; IE switching from ranged to short-distance melee and other abilities Vesper may possess. No spoilers. All in all the UI is smooth; input commands are without stutter, and I never found myself getting too frustrated navigating the different processes.

Sound design. Hunt the Night captures all the right things in an inspired Bloodborne-Esq manner. During tense moments the music and sound effects that accompany really draw you in without going over the top. Playing with headphones is highly recommended to get the full experience, you will not regret it. Whether it be blood dripping from the walls, body parts falling and being spread around like leftover sausage meat, or the music that gets that adrenaline pumping. Nothing ever goes on without reason… The silent moments also add a great deal to the ambiance; they do not disappoint.

Dungeons. Unlike other souls-like games, Hunt the Night has a lovely dungeon system that takes old-school Zelda into the light. These assorted dungeons are of varying difficulty and are a nice balance of room-to-room combat and problem-solving to gain access to the next area. But be warned, every room is out to kill you and most of the time it will succeed in doing so, so be prepared before taking on the adventure. With no spoilers: always be sure to check every accessible area so as to not miss anything and have to backtrack.

Story. Hunt the Night’s story is told by many unreliable characters and witnesses. Without spoiling any of the game, the player must piece together fragments of the overarching narrative from crow feathers placed around the map. Following a good portion of the story is told to those who are willing to look for it like its sibling games. You will find a mix of exposition of characters, and reading backstory for yourself, be patient and theory craft as you go along.

Hunt the Night is a fantastic game that brings both souls games and 2d sprites into the perfect mix of terror and adventure. If you awaited this game through the years of its development and delays I believe you will not be disappointed. Hone your skills in combat and exploration, and bask in all the beautiful 2d rendered environments.

Hunt the Night has certainly earned its place in the community, give it a try and prepare to die, die, and die again.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5

Pros:

Incredibly enjoyable combat that rewards learning patterns
Beautiful environments with amazing horror aspects
Fleshed out characters and story so long as you pay attention
Tutorial is well integrated within gameplay and story

Cons:

Difficult using the mouse and keyboard at times
The cursor showing where your character is about to swing disappears when using the mouse
Some minor graphical errors with monsters that get stuck in animation

Barotrauma Review (PC)

2023/04/04

Trevor Dyer

Geek News, News, Reviews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

Barotrauma has been an early-access submarine survival horror game for the past four years and was finally fully released on March 13th, 2023. Despite its early access; Barotrauma has successfully gained quite a fan base and loyal members supporting it throughout its development via Discord and other social media platforms. Since its introduction four years ago, the developers have refined many aspects of their game ranging from monsters and other encounters to graphics, to managing the player’s submarine. Developers have taken into consideration feedback from their social following and have implemented changes based on this, fixing bugs and patching issues prior to the release date.

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Barotrauma takes place on various different submarines that the player can choose from, each with a wide range of style and difficulty. This makes for a fully customizable experience for those more dedicated players. Within your sub, you will be given the choice to man the many roles that are employed ranging from Captain, Engineer, Security, Medical Officer, and Assistant with one other being the Traitor which is only accessible through multiplayer. Barotrauma can quickly become more difficult and frustrating when attempting to play single player as you have to man all the roles and maintain the submarine’s stats by yourself. You must guide your submarine through various hazards, mishaps, monster encounters, and other varying issues which include environmental and external forces. I found as a new player that the tutorial didn’t feel fleshed out enough to fully help in guiding me in what I needed to do within the basics, and that it heavily felt as though playing alone was doing a disservice to the overall gameplay. With this in mind, it will take players that are just picking the game up quite some time to figure it out which may decrease interest in continuing. The player is thrown a large amount of information all at once through text dumps and small environmental cues which can be overwhelming. Character creation felt strangely out of place as I didn’t feel it was important to make any kind of character that I liked and more just placeholders for the submarine’s roles. The character creation wasn’t for me, it was just to get the game going as you will rarely get to see your characters in their full glory due to the game being 2D and rather dark at many times.

#image_title

The sound design was pretty spot on, I never found the music feeling out of place or found myself questioning why a decision was made for it to be played at any given time. Barotrauma is heavily stylized to those who enjoy the 2D side-scrolling almost roguelike gameplay, but with rather jarring ragdoll mechanics on your character in front of a still background. The ragdoll mechanics felt as though they took away from the immersion and seriousness that surviving had and could be seen as more of a comedy for those playing with their friends or online in groups. The gameplay definitely rewards those with persistence, you won’t master any given role on your first try and you will certainly die over and over again to simply figure out that you didn’t have the right item at the right time, or that someone on the ship has died somewhere and was the key to survival. The difficulty ramps up at random times as well, no two gameplays will be alike so buckle up for an experience and a half, it certainly does have its share of replayability. This can also be seen as a drawback for those looking for more of a casual game experience.

Barotrauma is certainly a well-thought-out game with many hours of gameplay to offer those who are willing to stick through it and learn from their mistakes, I would not recommend this to those looking to fill their single-player cravings but to those with friends who can enjoy the silly mechanics and events that may occur. That being said, it could definitely use a few tweaks in the guidance department. A “new player-friendly” difficulty would be a welcomed addition to better explain the variety of mechanics and prevent disinterest.

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5

(Our Rating System Explained)

Pros

Stylized 2D gameplay with refined graphical interfaces
Replayability
Social and comedic at times to play with a group of friends

Cons

Not single player friendly
Lacking a truly helpful tutorial
Jarring character movements resembling old flash games
Too many systems, roles, rules, tragedies, and gameplay mechanics are thrown at you at once

Ten Dates Review – A FMV Dating Simulator

2023/03/08

Trevor Dyer

Geek News, News, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 News, Reviews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review, Xbox One News

Ten Dates is an interactive motion video dating simulator; it is the awaited sequel to Wales Interactive’s previous installment, Five Dates. The game takes place in London with our two main leads, Misha and Ryan; the player can choose to follow either of their storylines and meet five different potential suitors each. After choosing your protagonist between Misha and Ryan, Misha explains to Ryan that she has signed them both up for speed dating; this is where you get to choose a few critical bits of their backstory and personal information before getting into the core gameplay.

After completing each section of the game as both Misha and Ryan, I came to appreciate the quality of the actors involved as their roles were very believable and smooth; there were seldom any issues with jarring cuts and emotional differences between line delivery. The few interfaces that the player is given are passable and do as intended; they don’t distract from the gameplay and are appropriately hidden with key binds that are explained at the beginning of the brief rundown. Ten Dates offers multiple choices that affect the gameplay and the storyline, so each person’s playthrough may be different from the next, making each player’s experience unique and giving the game some replayability.

What do you say?

Although the game is presented visually and audibly well, Ten Dates has some glaring issues. This game plays a very niche role in today’s gaming communities; I wouldn’t classify it as a typical video game but more so a semi-interactive soap opera. Ten Dates didn’t feel it posed a real motive for the player to perform these dates as self-immersion becomes difficult due to the playable characters already having their personality and readily made responses. The small response text you can select from also means that you can’t gauge how the playable characters are going to deliver that message. With it being an interactive romance, a little more customization would be welcome. For example, at the beginning when choosing a few personality points, such as an astrological sign, there is no choice for the player’s sexual preference. This means it can be a little confusing when thrown into different situations that you may not have been expecting. If you don’t give a player an explicit option for this, there should be equal representation of orientations throughout. As it stands now, only one character of the same sex can be pursued and it seems sort of tacked on in retrospect. In terms of gameplay, the game gives you little in the means of going back and replaying specific scenarios easier; a quick fix to this would be to provide the player with an option to quicksave so they could go back and choose each different option rather than going through the entire game. Players can use the TAB skip feature does little to move ahead of a proportional chunk of content that you would have already experienced in the first play-through but it’s just not the same. While the acting quality is decent, there is no way to tell how your choices are going to be delivered which can be pretty jarring when you may have intended for it to come across differently; this again is where a quicksave option would come in handy.

Deal or No Deal?

Ten Dates is a semi-interactive dating simulator, somewhere in between a game and a television show. Although I would hold back on actually classifying this indeed as a game, it has been made well for the niche audience that would find enjoyment in this particular genre, as the quality is there in terms of video, audio mixing, and acting. Although Ten Dates was not for me, if you like these kinds of interactive stories with little actual gameplay, this will be for you.

Ten Dates released on February 13th, 2023, on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Steam.

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5

(About our rating scale)

Pros:

Quality video, audio, and acting with smooth video rendering.
Characters are believable
Replayability for other endings

Cons:

No quick save
Subtitles are not always accurate
Very niche demographic with little in terms of diversity and sexual preference
Massive install file to be downloaded, bigger than some MMOs