Erie drops you into a visually stunning, yet terrifying scenario where your goals are to investigate, survive, and finally escape. It’s first person horror meets intense dark-ride with hidden, rotting cats. Erie begins in October 1966, when the Fermi 1 Nuclear Power Generator suffers a partial meltdown, and locals begin disappearing from a sleepy Michigan town. Oliver Victor is a Red Cross Investigator sent to find missing locals, but quickly finds himself trapped underground and being hunted by a product of forced-mutation experiments. Oliver’s rescue mission quickly turns into a struggle to survive, escape and uncover what’s been happening under the nuclear plant on the shores of Lake Erie. Developed by the University of Utah's EAE Master Games Studio Program.
This review may contain spoilers
What you have here is the beginning of a game, there is little drive or reason to continue from location to location. Pages of text is not a proper motivator unless it's really well written and/or folds itself nicely into the game.
The threat level is way too low, the monsters models are awful and the AI is bucket-of-hammers stupid. The atmosphere could have been much deeper by dumping the fog and midtone textures and adding a flashlight instead. Cliché or not, this would have reduced the visual repetition of the plainly designed corridors and rooms while forcing the player to slow down so the tension builds. Also, two whole monsters within the game (not counting the easily-escapable ending) is not exactly tension-fuelled. These creatures need to be more visually threatening and either in greater numbers or a hell of a lot smarter.
Further Suggestions:
Key assignments need to be clear and available, dev keys need to be removed. Simple resolution menu needs to be added. Run needs to be slowed and metered, it's way too easy to run through the game. Notes and pages need to stay visible until you press the use key again, there is way too much reading to be done in such a small time window - remove the highlighting, it's too hand-holdy.
There are one or two story points where the game takes control away to "show" you something. THAT is the type of thing you need more of. Not so much as the taking away of control, but a point of interest beyond exploration. I never felt "in" the game, nor any connection whatsoever.
It's a good beginning, it has possibilities, it needs some real narrative. My suggestion is grab a non-game designing horror-movie buff friend or two to give it a spin and offer up some ideas.
/2cents