Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Immersive"

Scary. Simple, but effective, and the only way to describe this game in one word. You start the game staggering through some corridors attempting to remember your name. You succeed! Your name is Daniel, and you live at Mayfair. The first 30 minutes or so are filled with atmosphere setting noises and motions with the occasional note on a desk explaining a small part of the story. Dosen't sound scary does it? Wrong. After this 'comfort' period you are thrown into a horrific journey throught the sections of Brennenburg castle.

You start the game with only a lantern, which requires oil to run. You can pick up oil from around the castle. You can also pick up tinderboxes to light up candles. To get through the game you must solve puzzles ( like making acid to break through a gooey substance blocking your path, or making a drill to open kegs for explosives ) these are fairly simple and mainly involve finding objects. Hindering your path through the castle are ofcourse, monsters. Unlike other horror survival games you have NO means of fighting them, so your only choice is to run and hide. This makes the game all the more scary, as even when not being chased by a monster, you know that if you encounter one, you cannot kill it. The further into the game you go, the closer you get to these monsters, and the closer they get to getting you.

Your character has a 'sanity' bar, and a health bar. Health is fairly obvious and it takes about 3 hits from a monster to die. Sanity however is something fairly new to me. Your sanity drains when your in the dark, or when your looking at a monster. When your sanity drains completely you will begin hallucinating monsters and eventually you will just pass out. Progressing through the game and standing in the light will restore your sanity.

I struggled to complete the game and at many points found myself saving and logging off for the night as i couldn't bring myself to walk down a scary tunnel, or open a menacing looking door. This game is VERY scary, and should only be played in the dark, and by yourself. This way you get fully immersed into the story of young Daniel and there is no one to save you from the monsters!

All in all i gave this game a 9/10. Purely because, even though it sacred me silly, i still enjoyed my time playing it, and it still ranks first in my scariest games of all time list. Enjoy!