Reviews - CustomStoryGatherers

Although I like what the FG has done to the environment and some game mechanics (e.g. matches and laying down on the floor), some other mechanics are not so good (e.g. sanity jumpscare, the lantern), the ambiance is mainly missing and the less is more horror of TDD is completely thrown out of the window.

The first thing I want to talk about is the environment, of course over time this has improved. It is not the most stunning environments I have seen, but it is is a big improvement over the quality of the environments of TDD. FG definitely put some work in scaping the environments and having different environments.

Unfortunately, I have been missing the ambiance in this game.

The game mechanics is a bit of a hit and miss, several things I like, as stated, the matches and being able to lie down on the floor to hide are good game mechanics. Even listening to the baby to increase your sanity makes sense to me, at least more than taking a sanity potion. There are also other mechanics that need improvement, like the lantern and the sanity jumpscare just needs to be removed.

The interactive system is not improved upon since TDD unfortunately.

The story is okay, it at least expands the TDD universe.

What this game completely misses is the horror. Its just not scary, there are moments of panic, but no real horror feeling like in TDD. This is due to several things:
1. A more 'outlast' approach to enemies, at least in my opinion. The first enemy gets spoiled many times with event jump scares, where you see it near you, looking at you or doing something. The second encounter is not scary at all, although the chase is nice IMO. And the last enemy is just a big lighthouse.
2. A forced narrative. E.G. Tasi spoiling stuff of the enemy ''I think he can smell me'' or Leon literally telling you to run when you have to. TDD never gave away crucial information like that.
3. The worst thing: the grabbing enemies. When they are near you, you just know what happens next, they will grab you and you will have a 'mashing buttons' event.

The fact that its just not scary is also half the fault of the engine. Its has more restrictions than HPL2. In HPL2, the enemies could just simply hit and kill you. whereas in Rebirth the enemy needs to manage complex states, what is tasi doing? crouching, listening to bebe? are her light sources on or off? This just gives off that the enemies are not a living, dynamic creature like it TDD that just does not care whatever you are doing, it just kills you.

The puzzles are sometimes intuitive and sometimes frustrating. The first puzzle with the orb seems very nicely done. But then you also have puzzles like the 3 big pillars....

Lastly, this game does have nice original stuff, but its not build upon it. I am mainly talking about the amulet that you can use to travel through dimensions. In the first half it has meaning, but it loses it completely in the second half.

What is also a complete missed chance is death has no consequence. I was hoping death would do something to the baby and create a terrible ending. But nah, its just non-consequential.

All in all, this just feels like a reskin of SOMA, stripped of what made SOMA interesting scary.

one of the most fun and scary games in the world. Its amazing that the developers allowed custom mods, because even after 6 years, its still scary and fun to play