Recent reviews by The mere thought of China

This game is just absolutely phenomenal. Made entirely by a single developer, this game pushes both the horror genre and multiplayer experiences to a new level, and deserves the praise and instant success it's had. The premise is you and up to 3 other players are trying to identify what ghost is haunting your location- the thing is, the ghost responds to your voice. If you swear, if you call its name, if you yell, the ghost can pick up on it, and it might just decide to keep popping in to say hello. And eventually, it might even try to kill you...and you have no way to fight back except running and hiding.

There's a lot of mystery and fear in this game- at no point does the game really offer a solid explanation of exactly how to use the many ghost hunting tools at your disposal, which is by design. You're the professional, you need to learn how to use these things. In addition, the ghost can be shy and not make its presence known; or it can try to kill you as soon as possible. The range of different types of ghosts keeps you always on your toes.

Unfortunately, yes, there are a fair amount of bugs, and looking under the hood, some players have disassembled it and found that some things just don't work like they are supposed to. But again, this entire game is made by one developer, and after the insane reception, he's been working to smooth out bugs, make the ghosts feel more haunting, and has already added a new map.

Even after you learn how the game works, the ghosts are still often unnerving, feeling realistic to what your typical ghost hunting reality TV show is trying to make you feel. The ghost often acts unpredictably, and it takes a lot of guesswork to figure out just what it is and how it's screwing with you- and it makes you feel like a complete champ once you get good at ID'ing them quick.

I will admit I haven't played the game very far in (as far as I can tell), but it just felt bland. The first few kills had no challenge to them, as the game basically told me what to do. Then the next one, the butcher, found me in a room with no intuitive way to kill him at all as far as I could tell. I looked up a guide and without giving spoilers, it didn't feel creative or fun. Sure, it may sound like I want this game to both be easy and hard all at once, but quite frankly, if the in game journal didn't tell me how to beat the first kills, I probably would have wandered around this massive house even longer than I did. This game was advertised as being some interesting psychological thriller where I get to plot my family's demise and frame victims, but I didn't feel in control of my gameplay experience at all. I got a game that said "click this, put this here, someone dies", and if that's what I wanted out of a game, I'd have just downloaded The Sims and lit a house on fire.

I bought this game almost the day it came out, and I cannot bring myself to recommend it to anyone anymore. The game itself is extremely buggy, updates go nowhere. The last time I tried to play it, it could hardly run on my computer, and while game devs and community members alike tell me it's my computer that's the problem, that's just a cop out. If I can run triple A FPS titles and expansive RPS, why can't I run a half-completed sandbox? No matter how many times I come back to try and play this again, it always feels exactly the same as before, and just as buggy. I cannot recommend this to anyone in fear that they will waste their money on an unplayable game that will never be completed.

"I don't see why ya wouldn't want this game. I mean, this one time, me and my buddy Keith were playin' it, and like a Hunter jumped on him and I was runnin' to save him, but then a Tank came and punched me and some random dude playin' it with us through the air, and I flew so far that I lost like most of my health, and-"