Tache Noire

Short review because I didn't have a lot of time to play this weekend, but want to boost positive reviews. Pretty much every review will use the word "jank" or equivalent and surprise, surprise, they are all right. But it's also one of the coolest survival horrors I've ever played. A high "jank tolerance" is required for sure, but for those that are able to deal with it, it's really a crude gem. The effort and care here is commendable from a single dev, were I rich I'd give the guy a team and a budget because with that, the chances of an at least top 10 of my all time favorite survival horror games would be pretty high. It's the first game in years that made me actually feel tense, and I play a lot of horror games.

Wonderful RE-esqe survival horror fused with immersive sim, incredibly jank as well and it takes some time getting used to, but once you can manage it, there is nice game underneath for you to explore in typical immsim fashion: open drawers, read lore texts, find hidden items and places, box stacking puzzles, 0451. Weirdly, the combat also somewhat elevated by the jankiness. Solid concept and a very unique immsim survival horror that does not follow SS/Deus Ex/ Thief, Give it a try, note that the demo is outdated and does not represent the final game.

Fantastic experience - rough around the edges, but made with a lot of heart. Things I loved * Some levels are absolutely fantastic; the puzzles are consistently entertaining, and the Dawn Apartments in general are peak horror; claustrophobic, terrifying, intricate level design with very high tension and ambiance. * Exploration is deep and rewarding - especially how you're freely allowed to sequence break if you're creative enough. * The story is intriguing and has the same dreamlike/madness quality as games like Silent Hill 2 Things I didn't like * Buggy/janky. Heroic effort from a single dev, but the game definitely feels quite janky; never enough to ruin the fun, but you will encounter enemies going out of bounds, walking through walls occasionally, even respawning on occasion. My submachine gun and auto pistol both refused to reload most of the time so I couldn't use them. The sliding doors in some lategame areas are lethal and don't like to open (note to anyone reading: if you spam "pick up/throw" while looking in the direction you want the door to go, they'll move quickly) * Lack of enemy variety - the base enemy type is great, but it's also 90% of what you fight (with the occasional one throwing things at you or more tanky). The other enemy types are a bit frustrating and there's no enemy that is terrifying. The base ones on the Hard Mode definitely get there though, but that's not what most people will experience. * Low stamina - the map is large but can be tedious to navigate around when you've already explored an area because your stamina bar is extremely small. I wish it'd scale with HP or something similar, or simply not consume stamina if you haven't been in combat in awhile. * Not sure if it's a glitch or stylistic, but the Dusk Apartments had calming and beautiful music, which made it more relaxing and dreamlike than terrifying (which it otherwise might've been). * I wish hard mode was available from the start! I found the base difficulty rather easy once you get your first really good gun. --- Overall, very good fun, and I'd recommend to anyone who loves horror.