ADEPTUS CRITICUS GAME REVIEWS

Developer Retrofiction Games

Publisher Retrofiction Games

Platform PC

Purchased: I received a review key from Retrofiction games. (But I will also be buying a copy)

The Story

I am only briefly going to go over the story as I do not want to give out any spoilers I am also not really going to go over what any of the environments are as again I do not want to spoil anything for you.

You play as Miles Windham a private investigator in 1985 England who’s still dealing with the suspicious death of his Wife and Daughter in a fire. Your adventure starts when you receive a tape recording shoved through your door inviting you to the Island of Velvet where you are promised answers on the death of your family. Once you arrive on the island you notice that the inhabitants are wary of you and as progress their behaviour gets stranger. There are 15 NPCs to interact with all with their own story to tell. The developer has really put a lot of effort into this story, and it kept me on the edge of my seat wanting to know what happens next which something I haven’t experienced for quite some time.

Gameplay.

For what the developer is trying to achieve the gameplay is perfect and, in my opinion, you can clearly see that there is an influence from games such as OG Resident Evil and OG Silent Hill, which is no bad thing, but I can confidently say that this game is its own entity. The core gameplay loop is satisfying the controls being nice and tight especially when aiming your gun as you cannot run and gun. Playing as a detective you would expect to see some detective work going on and that is brought into the game by the detective mechanic that simply highlights points of interest and through finding documents on table or in cabinets you can explore those further by going into your inventory to find hidden items or passageways and of course to help you with the games puzzles which are well thought out.  

I found progressing through this game superbly paced, resources are as you would expect in a survival horror game so pick and choose when to fight an enemy. The use of clues and combining with the corresponding objects further adds to the feel of progression as you are encouraged to really look at all your surroundings. There are the mental aspects of the game you also need to keep a tab on as with each encounter it eats away at you and start to hallucinate this is something is very cleverly done I won’t go into any great detail on how this impacts the game as I do not want to give any spoilers but it really does add an extra dynamic.

Graphics and Art Style. The developer chose to go with a 2D pixel art style which was well done this choice did not take anything away from the atmosphere the story is creating the environments and there are 7 areas on the map are detailed with the use of lighting really adding to the sense of dread as you explore the island the enemies look grotesque as you would expect them to be and the death animations as well are superb especially if you watch the trailer and see an NPC get ripped to pieces (glorious pieces). The bosses all look fantastic, and you really feel their presence on screen they look imposing, and you just want rid of them as soon as possible.

Sound and Music

The Sounds and the music really elevate that the feeling of dread as you explore, going from tense music to no music at all creating the anticipation of something sinister about to happen. The developer’s choice to have voice actors really pays off as they bring the game to life and really add to that atmosphere and the story, when you hear the breaking of glass and a scream from an off-screen character it is believable and not something just tacked on.

Replay value

When you finish the story you unlock new difficulty settings and also new game+ where you can carry forward your upgraded weapons. ( I will definitely be playing through this again).

Performance and technical aspects.

I did not come across any bugs or glitches the game does not require you to have a supercomputer to run which is always a plus in my books.

Pros and Cons.

The Pros.

• Story
• Characters are all fleshed out and not there for filler
• The music and sound effects
• Game play.

The Cons.

• None

In Conclusion.

Dead Of Darkness is absolutely excellent, I have thoroughly enjoyed playing this game the care the developer has taken in  making this cannot be understated I cannot think of anything to criticize this game with but obviously this is just my opinion and you may disagree with me and that is perfectly fine but I do encourage you to check out the demo or just take the plunge and purchase this excellent game.

I have always said I would never give a game 10 out 10 but on this occasion I will break my rule and give this a 10 out of 10 not just because the game is excellent but because it brought me back to a time in my life where I had first played Resident Evil and bringing that feeling of dread and excitement and to want to keep coming back for more.

This is a MUST play for any survival horror game fan.

 I am thoroughly looking forward to seeing what the developer Retrofiction Games brings out next.

The official release is 23rd January on Steam and I believe consoles at a later date.

Score 10 out of 10