The Lone Survivor thread

[sabrage]

The venerable Rock Paper Shotgun presiding.

I had to stop reading because I became uncontrollably excited. Amnesia gave me tremors. I love a game that can scar/e me. Needless to say, I'll be playing this later tonight.

Why should you care? The game's creator (and sole programmer) created Soundless Mountain 2, a Silent Hill 2 demake, a few years ago. The original posting states it was "Made for a bootleg NES with Super-GFX chip and expanded sample memory!" which I believe is gibberish but the game looks interesting nonetheless. Here's a video for you visual types; I've never played SH2 (I was waiting for the HD Collection...) so I can't comment on its similarities to the original. This demake may have made a splash back in 2008, but the internet's memory doesn't really run that deep so this is the first I've ever heard about it.

[sabrage]

I love it. It's kind of like Out of This World with some heavy Metroidvania-esque exploration. It's definitely an adventure game though; there's no platforming here. The Silent Hill influence is pronounced; your character has no idea what's going on and I already found a giant, mysterious hole in my walls.

[J T]

It took me most of the trailer video to realize the main character has a face mask on to protect from disease. I thought it was a big goofy smile.

Anyway, it looks like it could be good. Do you think the game is actually scary?

[sabrage]

It took me most of the trailer video to realize the main character has a face mask on to protect from disease. I thought it was a big goofy smile.

Anyway, it looks like it could be good. Do you think the game is actually scary?

I've only played about 20 minutes of it. The prescription on my glasses is long overdue so playing in the dark makes my eyes hurt. I have an appointment this week so I'll be playing it later this week when it doesn't make my head explode! But from what I saw, it's definitely a "fuck with the player" kind of game. The pseudo-retro graphics definitely dull the impact of what you're seeing, but I'd still put this above, say, FEAR in terms of scariness. The monsters have that certain jerky, twitchy quality to the animations that always makes my skin crawl. It's clear that the developer has a keen grasp of the grotesqueness of "a place that can not be." Finding holes in the walls that are inconsistent with the map and hallways that don't fit right evokes horror classics like Kubrick's adaptation of The Shining, Lovecraft stories and Danielewski's House of Leaves in a way that's very appealing to me.

[Opa Opa]

I played the demo and enjoyed it. Is this strictly a digital-download or is there a physical copy available?

[Opa Opa]

I played the demo and enjoyed it. Is this strictly a digital-download or is there a physical copy available?

I think I'll answer my own question.

Yes, digital-only.

I bought the game. I'm about 30 minutes into it.

To summarize my thoughts so far in a very short sentence: A Silent Hill clone that does everything right.

[AppleQueso]

I played that Silent Hill 2 demake a while back.

It did a really good job and was pretty damn faithful to the original.

[Opa Opa]

I feel like this game could go without the eating/sleeping aspect. I know it's trying to make the character seem more "real" by getting hungry and tired but I find it to be an annoyance.

You'll be walking down dark hallways trying to sneak past enemies and a huge text bubble appears "I'M GETTING KIND OF TIRED" or "I'M STARVING". It kind of breaks up the mood when there are more pressing matters at hand.

[sabrage]

I'm ashamed to admit that I've yet to put any more time into this game... Not for any particular reason; I liked what I saw, I just haven't been playing much of anything in the last 6 weeks or so.

Indiegames just put up an article on it that provides an interesting counterargument to Opa Opa's complaints about the game (which were fleshed out in much more detail in some other thread... "What Are You Playing" maybe?). I only skimmed it so as to avoid spoilers, but I thought at the very least Opa should look over it.

[Opa Opa]

To summarize my thoughts so far in a very short sentence: A Silent Hill clone that does everything right.

Oh how foolish I was.

I'm trying to beat this game again as I just got it on Vita. I figured that some time has past- maybe the game sucks a little less than it did before. But now I'm finding new issues with the game...

I'm walking through a hallway and I'm like "Gee, I wonder if I'm going the right way?" I hit the map button and little dipwad on the screen says "I don't need a map. I know this place like the back of my hand." What's the point of the map if I cannot use it????? And what is even more perplexing is that I can look at the map in some places. Some hallways and rooms are fine; other rooms he's like "Nah, I'm good." Well here I was thinking I was the one playing the game; No, no, the game is screwing around with me.

And after all this time, I still don't have a clue how the hunger and sleep functions have any impact on the game. And there aren't any status bars or stats to check hunger/tiredness levels; other than the character interrupting the game with a dialog box.

Ughhh... This game feels so unfinished.

~~~~~
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Sigh: Edit: Figured out the "problem". When you start a new game you have the choice between Easy and 'I know my way around'. The latter choice is what I assumed was hard mode and I selected it. What it really means is "I know my way around and, despite holding a map, I cannot look at it." From what I read that is the only difference between the two modes.

So for some just starting the game for the first time, pick Easy. The game is a bit weird with moving around.