Escape the Backrooms (2022)

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Summary

Review

This is a very indie game and not so much in the way that I typically laud. More just very amateur. The actual areas you explore I enjoy, the visuals are interesting. But the enemies are a bit too janky for my tastes. They come across as being very artificial. Like I said, I know it's an indie effort, so I don't wanna come across as punching down or anything. If the game were less prone to putting you through the grinder with some of these enemies, I'd be nicer to it though. There are some core mechanics I take onus with.

First, I don't like that sprinting is so limited. It doesn't serve a purpose but to slow you down. Whenever you're in the chase sequences or in proximity to an enemy, the sprint seems to be infinite. But when you're just exploring, you can sprint for 2 seconds and then start breathing heavy like you just got done eating Thanksgiving dinner. It just serves to slow you down for no real reason. Either have an actual set amount of stamina (and work that into the chase bits). Or get rid of the limited sprinting.

Second is the sanity. You have a meter constantly ticking down and must drink almond water (?) to get it back up. Different areas have different sanity drains, some very little and others quite a lot. There's no real indication which you're in. Other than you'll find yourself going through more almond water. I don't like this mechanic at all. I feel we a society have moved away from the sanity mechanics of yore. For good reason, they're never really used to all that great an effect. So they mostly just represent a mounting annoyance to the player. But at least if you look at like an Amnesia The Dark Descent, your sanity starts slipping for discernible reasons. Not just a tax on being in a place. There's no reason for this to be here. It only adds faff. Get rid of it entirely. In fact, I feel you could get rid of pretty much all of the consumables and have a better experience. The drinks that make you run faster for a bit will fully wear out after 4-5 seconds. Why is it even in my inventory then?

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