10 Dead Doves

An adventure game that fails in the execution of its horror elements due to consistent tone problems, unlikeable characters, and a poor, also somewhat unclear, telling of its story. Play as Mark - the MC - with his buddy Sean, hiking the Appalachia Trail in search of a local legend called the Ant Farm, a place that can make your wish come true should you reach its center. Collect puzzle items, keys, and numerous forms of lore items as you make your way through the game; some lore items give Mark visions that you can watch, but are often unclear in their message or meaning. Creatures from another plane of existence will pursue the two hikers through the woods, as well as the Ant Farm itself, with only one instance of these creatures feeling like any kind of actual threat. Much of the horror and seriousness being attempted by 10 Dead Doves is completely thrown out the window by poorly attempted moments of comedy, creating a consistent tone problem from beginning to end. In terms of the story, it ends up being a somewhat vague and muddled affair, making elements of it unclear in its telling. Mark has been a pretty huge ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ his whole life, alienating his wife (who may or may n…

I had no idea what to expect, but this was way cooler, wittier, heavier, and LONGER than I ever expected. And also, INFINITELY more cinematic. It's quite rough in terms of visuals, audio, and clarity (by which I mean, the gameplay can be confusing sometimes) but you know what? That's just the mark of a true, genuine passion project. Its an intensely emotional journey and sort of an intriguing character study as well. This game has no business flying under the radar. Lets give it all the recognition it deserves.

I absolutely adore the atmosphere... is it insanely twin peaks/x files derivative down to the music? yes sure, but it is executed so well. Unfortunately, 2/3 into the game it just devolves into a sob pity story [spoiler]about some divorced guy who at no point in the story is even a bit likable. I really don't understand what is happening, all the pieces of a nice horror story are there but it really fails at this whole "the monsters were actually analogy for grief" type thing. I can't even enjoy it as a torture for a piece of ♥♥♥♥ guy like I would with let's say Silent Hill 2.[/spoiler] I am at the last act and I can't continue, that's how cringe the "serious" parts of the writing got. I recognize this as pretty harsh criticism but I still encourage you to make more games specifically for how nicely paced, pretty to look at and listen to this is one is. But consider doing more of "Show" and less of "Tell" next time.

At the beach, I was starting to get into the game, enjoying it, then got stuck in front of the meastro statue, quit, restarted and Mark was invisible. None of the dozen or so approaches to fix it have worked, the (discord invite) link to download a backup save file does not work, so I am not going to play this again from the beginning. It's not THAT good... (To be honest, Steam might be partly at fault, but that's not something I'm going to factor in here) I have had a similar case before, but the dev helped out real quick with a rescue save file. Sadly, this kinda sucks...

i don’t think i have ever played a horror game that is equally as surrealist and weird as it is grounded and human.

Waited for this game for quite a while and enjoyed the demo, but I am halfway through and bored to tears. It has been a walking simulator up to this point and the story really has gone nowhere and not a single threat, or interesting puzzle. This game does not really qualify as a point-and-click since the path is always obvious and you sit through mountains of dialogue to use the time.