Knoyleo wrote:Knoyleo wrote:The Exit 8
Had this on my wishlist for a while, then saw Jacob Geller had done a video on it, so decided I had to play it now before I watched that and spoiled it.
It's fun. For what is essentially a memory game, it's also a very effective horror game. The mundane setting really lends itself to the feeling of unease you get every time you turn a corner and spot a new anomaly, that then feeds into an even more tense feeling as you round the corner yet again and can't spot an anomaly, but search in detail for one. I've had more than a few instances where I've scoured for a change, have been sure there isn't one, only to head on to discover I must have missed something. I'm yet to complete the game and make it to exit 8, so still have a few more anomalies to spot. Put about an hour in and it flew by. Looking forward to finishing this off next time round.
And complete! An excellent little game for an hour's play (Steam says 67 minutes to complete with all anomalies found) and it's impressive how tense it becomes as you get closer to your goal, worrying about winding up back at square 1. Looking forward to the sequel that's on the way.
Played and finished the follow up to this,
Platform 8It's more of a puzzle game (loosely) than the memory game that Exit 8 was, as progress isn't gated behind spotting hidden anomalies, but instead in navigating past them. As a result, a lot of anomalies are much more obvious, but also much more likely to harm you to send you back to the start. It feels like a more conventional jump scare horror game as a result, rather than the surreal creeping unease of Exit 8. When there are "hidden" anomalies, there's actually a sign on the door to progress to the next carriage that tells you not to progress until they've been found and then disappeared. In fact most have some instructions in the level that tell you what to do to progress. It feels like the maker was worried about people not necessarily understanding how to progress in a set up more complex than "turn around if something's different," and so it just instructs you throughout. Exit at least felt like it left you to discover the anomalies on your own without guidance, while this is far more guided.
All this means the game is much shorter and easier to complete. I reached the end, still with lots of anomalies unseen.
It was still enjoyable, though, and while the change in gameplay makes it feel different in style to the predecessor, it's still infinitely preferable to a repeat of the exact same game in a reskinned environment.