Reviews - Hollowinside

***WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!***
If you don't want to be spoiled about anything that the mod has to offer then simply click away!

I shall write a full review shortly.

***WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!***
If you don't want to be spoiled about anything that the mod has to offer then simply click away!

I shall write a full review shortly.

***WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!***
If you don't want to be spoiled about anything that the mod has to offer then simply click away!

A very well-made custom story. I definitely recommend this mod since I had lots of fun playing it and there's quite some new stuff to be seen. However, I think it's only fair to say it does have quite a big number of "frustration-overload" levels and a very weak, non-existent Storyline. This is what I have to say about the mod, in short;

POSITIVES: The first thing that impressed me here was the Level Design. It was amazing! I can only begin to imagine how much time you put into detailing those rooms and corridors to such perfection! In my opinion, this is the mod's trump card here.

Your Ambiance was also very creepy and always had me feeling uneasy and prepared for the worst. I am not saying it couldn't have been better, but it definitely shouldn't leave the player with something more to be desired.

One more thing that amazed me here was the amount of creativity in new things that this mod offers. It's always fun to explore such new ideas and even more so seeing them go live in mods. One such thing, as an example, was the opening cut scene.

NEGATIVES: The Storyline was a huge turnoff for me, and needless to say that what little we get to see from it was full of obvious plot holes. Also, even if this was or wasn't a dream, why was our protagonist forced into numbered doors as a "test subject"? This looked way too orchestrated to be considered a dream. But then again why would anyone send mindless Grunts to do the job (kidnapping) only to leave them wandering around, risking to be seen?

An other thing that ruins this mod's score for me (always keep in mind, this is just my opinion) was how frustrating it was to play during the 3rd Test Room. Yes, I get it that this sounds weird since I said a while ago that I like seeing new ideas being implemented, and I wasn't lying. I just think you did this in a wrong way, thus maybe ending up executing it badly. The room with the "3 Grunts Chase" was annoying for me since it took me a good damn while to realize what I had to do, and then I had to figure out how to get there as well.

One last thing that severely affects the mod's score is how much you overused poofer jumpscares. After a while they became predictable, and just not scary at all. For instance, when this Brute appeared in the Cellar of the 4th Test Room, I knew it was a poofer. It was obvious. So I literally just stood still, "let the virus complete it's circle", and then carried on with a "meh" face.

Despite my Negatives section overtaking the Positive one, this is still a great mod in my opinion and I would easily recommend it to everyone else. 9/10 for me.

***WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!***
If you don't want to be spoiled about anything that the mod has to offer then simply click away!

Given the fact that this short custom story was released back in 2011, I must say it was actually pretty ok (the game was pretty new back then and no real or actual "standards" of what makes a good mod had been set back then).

The mod in itself is not bad, but not that great either as it had many lacking aspects that should have been there. The Level Design is mediocre at best, as it includes a lot of easy-to-spot glitches and you can often see the map's limits and whatnot. The Ambiance even worse since this mod includes no music at all. The few notes that existed were very well-written, giving the player a glimpse of what happened during this mod's timeline and unveiling the plot behind all that he/she is left to witness. However, the story in itself feels empty as it leaves said player with a lot of unanswered questions. There is no real enemy encounter here, though this didn't keep the mod from being scary towards the end (I actually felt uncomfortable as **** crawling my way through that series of prison cells holding Grunts inside of them. I still liked that plot twist at the very end, yet I can't help but feel that it was a bit rushed. That same exact ending would have had way more value if the creator had put a little bit more time to build and play around it.

***WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!***
If you don't want to be spoiled about anything that the mod has to offer then simply click away!

Alright, so... Where to begin... Let me start off by saying that, for some reason, I am actually glad I played this custom story. Even if it is meant to be a Holiday mod and I just finished it during late August, it still din't fail to get to me. When I placed the parcel and the story ended, it took me a while to fully grasp the whole situation and the Doctor's last letter. I was there, staring at my monitor without showing any superficial signs of life for a while. What you did here is very different from the oldschool Amnesia mods, but, by all means, that does not mean it is bad - it's a whole new experience. It definitely felt like Amnesia as it still kept some of the game's original elements, but from a different perspective.

POSITIVES: A very good story. Though short in length, it does not lack of meaning, emotion and substance. Voice acting is there, and it is quite good. The level design is awesome and very well done for the most part (there were some things which didn't quite fit in to the story, such as the drawings in the upper floor being all up and down as if multiple earthquakes happened). I didn't happen to come across any music that does not already appear in the original Amnesia, but those custom sounds of the little girl scared the **** out of me. Fear Factor was actually good here which is really surprising coming from a mod with *no enemies whatsoever*. Yeap, that's right. There's not a single enemy to be encountered here, and despite this fact, the mod still manages to instill a weird sort of fear to the player. I'll have you know I was on-guard from the very first moment (after the introduction cutscene ended) to the last. I did not happen to stumble across any kind of bugs while playing this.

NEGATIVES: Other than the Doctor's 3 notes and the 2 keyes you are meant to pick up, there is literally nothing else for you to gather for yourself, which makes the whole act of exploring feel way more dull. Forcing the player to explore is always a good thing in Amnesia as it helps a lot with building tension and immersion, but the player should also be rewarded in order to feel like he/she accomplished something out of this small feat of bravery. Though you can interact with most (if not all) of the entities, having nothing to pick up for yourself indirectly promotes linearity, and this is always a bad thing, especially in games like Amnesia. Also, the fact that I couldn't pick any light source at all to take a better look at your amazing level design kinda throws it off, at least for me. It would be much better if you gave us the opportunity to look into the time and effort you put into creating the rooms, from the smaller ones to the biggest there is. The lack of subtitles during the introduction scene is also perceived as a negative point in my book.

So there you have it. Overall 8/10. It is a good score, but you could have made a much better mod with just some small, extra touches here and there.

Full review incoming in the near future.

Full review incoming in the near future.

***WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!***
If you don't want to be spoiled about anything that the mod has to offer then simply click away!

Considering this was your first ever custom story, I have to say you did very well. This custom story had my impressions all mixed up because on one hand it is accompanied with a very well-made Level Design, good Ambiance, it was honestly scary to play, and a whole new custom enemy... yet on the other hand, there was no real or actual Story/Plot at all. There is not much sense in a person who loves castles and is willing to die in order to explore one even though an otherwordly creature is chasing him. Voice acting was ok. It wasn't the worst, it wasn't the best. The overall number of scares was actually quite good, and they were not repetitive or boring to experience. It felt like they had the correct amount of "time distance" between them as well. The ending wasn't good in my opinion, as it is as plain as it can be, yet confused me while I was going through it. The puzzles, on the other hand, were either nonsensical or too easy (like the Pipe puzzle in the Drain area). Very few in number as well. My advice would be for you to put more effort in your storylines and puzzles. Then, add more Notes/Diaries/Mementos.

For the rest, well done! 9/10

***WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!***
If you don't want to be spoiled about anything that the mod has to offer then simply click away!

Your ideas per se are good, but were executed kinda badly, so your mod was not done justice by that execution. However, it is actually a new experience with some likable (yet easy?) puzzles, and it is a nice break from the casual "oh hey i woke up in a dungeon cell and I don't remember anything but I must save my wife/kid/dog and get out of here!".

To break it all down;

-Level Design; you are AMAZING!. Keep going like this!

-Voice Acting; it was really good! I liked the voice acting shown here! The actors were good!

-Fear Factor; The Orphanage was unnerving as **** from the first second I got inside! Well done!

-Atmosphere/Ambience; Those 2 and Level Design have to be your forte, I swear.

-Music Selection; Was there, and it contributed a LOT to the Fear Factor.

-Plotline/Story; This, sadly, is were things are going bad for you. There actually was no rational, logical, sensical, or properly created storyline with many plotholes.

-Number of Bugs/Crashes; I experienced some here and there. Game actually crashed once, but this must have been my computer's fault and not the mod's.

-Puzzles; Fun, yet I personally found them to be way too easy. There was hardly any challenge in understanding the word "Backwards" written "sdrawkcaB" or in digging old chemicals and Easter Egg items.

-Notes/Diaries/Mementos; The lab text was great, but still needed fixing. For the rest, these elements almost felt non-existing throughout the rest of the game.
So Storyline, Notes and Puzzles are were you need to work some more, imo. For the rest, very well done! It was a good experience with interesting cutscenes and lots of fun! I think it's a solid 8/10.

*EDITED as of 30/07/2017 (dd/mm/yy): Fixed some grammar mistakes and added a spoiler alert.

***WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!***
If you don't want to be spoiled about anything that the mod has to offer then simply click away!

A stunning, perfect mod. It is a very nice and flawless sequel to the original ALND with new creative ideas (including a custom monster!) and some mind blowing plot twists!

I enjoyed every bit of it, including the "ending room" in which DeAngelo shows his creations and talks a little bit about them and where he got the inspiration from. The custom content added in total is also very good, and I loved having to search through the house's maps in order to find something that didn't quite fit.

Just like the first part, it is mostly a story-driven mod with lots of emotional ups and downs, which means I would not recommend it if you want a jumpscare fest, though it does have its fair share of creepiness and eerie tension. I think that overall this mod is scarier than the first one. The only thing I didn't quite like (but this comes down to personal taste) was the mod's length. It would be so much better if there was more space for the story's unraveling and for building some extra anticipation.

Nothing more to say. You are awesome DeAngelo! A solid 10/10. I am quite sad to see that you are leaving Amnesia, but I guess it's only reasonable seeing as how the community of this game is not exactly dying, but always declining. Good luck in whatever you may decide to do next, and thank you for creating such an awesome mod!