Reviews - Ecrusar

"That's the joke!", I hear you argue.

"Then why aren't I laughing?", I retort.

I'll be as fair as I can.

What's good:
-Some interesting ideas scattered about.
-While their aesthetic design isn't great, many levels had interesting layouts, if a little too corridor-y.

What's bad:
-Level design as a whole was dull. Most notably, there was a lack of detail and polish, and the lighting was downright hideous at times. Everything about it had such a sense of lifelessness that immersion was impossible.
-Monster encounters weren't exactly predictable, but out of all the ones I encountered only one felt interesting or intense, even though it was *heavily* scripted. For the most part, ESPECIALLY in the Wine Cellar, they were just plain annoying.
-A general lack of originality. I'm normally lenient on that sort of thing, but what really killed the mod for me was that I felt like, if I stopped playing it dead in the middle, I wouldn't miss a single thing. Nothing was particularly surprising or stimulating.
-There wasn't really anything scary about it. A few moments of intensity, but terror was scant. Nothing atmospheric or psychological about it, only monsters being hurled at you.
-Puzzles were over-simplistic and generally "meh".
-The story as it was presented felt lackluster and disconnected from the actual gameplay world.

To put things plainly, I didn't finish it because of the aforementioned feeling that I wasn't missing anything, a lack of feeling in the least bit scared, and not really having an ounce of fun. It wasn't *agonizing*, but I was bored and annoyed.

This was a solid little mod! There wasn't much new in terms of atmosphere or visuals, just the typical Amnesia look to it, but the collection of innovative gameplay mechanics made it feel fresh. Definitely worth checking out, it was fun all the way through. :)

While it is by no means bad, it could really use some work.

What's good

The lighting is beautiful and feels natural, and the level design (while not anything spectacular) is quite good.

There were only a few monster encounters in the whole thing. And while the second one is pretty "meh", the first encounter is surprising, intense, and genuinely terrifying without feeling cheap due to proper buildup and subversion of expectation.

There were a few puzzles, but one near the end was unique and creative.

The inclusion of multiple endings is appreciated, especially in a shorter mod.

What's bad

The mod feels unfinished. I have no problem with a shorter story, but in this case it just feels like it "ended". There wasn't really ever a climax or resolution to the story, so the endings just felt abrupt.

Speaking of which, the story is a bit of a mess. There isn't really an intro: it just drops you right into the thing without any explanation as to who you are or what you're doing there. There's also the relative flaw that the entire story is told through notes. The last problem with the story is that, by the end, there are quite a few gaping plot holes that are never answered.

Could be lumped with the story, but this is more noteworthy as a separate thing. Like I said, the story is told through notes. However, the writing in those notes is just kind of bad. The prose is too stilted and fluffy, so it doesn't read smoothly at all. Along with that, there were more than a few typos, including one in the credits.

While the last puzzle is quite creative, an overarching problem is that the puzzles are just too damn vague. I think this could've done with some more mementos, because the thing took me like an hour to beat, and maybe 35 minutes of that was running around, looking for some obscure item. The puzzles are all item based, which isn't necessarily bad, but many items are so obscurely hidden that you usually end up flipping over every box in the area several times over until you find it. For something like that, there really isn't enough lantern oil, so I started to get quite bored because I was digging through a bunch of empty darkness.

The mod is notably unstable. I am aware that the creator acknowledges this, but it's still worth mentioning. One thing which started to get on my nerves was the odd physics of the doors, where swinging them open would cause them to bounce right off the wall, and slam themselves shut. Other than what the creator mentions, there was one occasion where I fell through the map and died.

Summary

Like I said, this mod is by no means bad, and certainly has some potential and redeeming value. But, in its current state, it's too unpolished and frustrating to be great. So, in it's current state, it's just average.

Damn fine.