Despair: Blood Curse

Okayish indie horror game. The game does clearly want to pay tribute to all the classics, and I appreciate it. I also like the vibe of the game, all this atmosphere with demons, vampires, that old manor, and the catacombs. That's pretty well done, we feel the love put into the game to give it its own identity, and that's where, paradoxically, I think the game falls short. The packaging is cool, but it stops there. The game does really feel like a pale copy of the classics it wants to pay tribute to, but badly designed and also very clunky. Fortunately, the game is pretty short, so it doesn't have the time to get frustrating, unless you want to get the achievements. Still, I did have fun doing the speedrun ach. Also, the lack of music/OST really bothered me sometimes, it makes the game feel kinda empty. Definitely wait for a discount. It's not worth it at full price, but definitely worth a try during a discount!

I don't want to be too harsh, as I'm pretty sure this is made by one person that really loves TPS [i]Resident Evil[/i], and it's close to being a respectable tribute in that regard; nails the atmosphere and the vampire hunter protagonist almost makes the game feel like a survival horror spin on [i]BloodRayne[/i], which I would totally enjoy if done right. It looks as well as it runs, which is quite excellent. Unfortunately, it fails in numerous core aspects. There's no introduction and subsequent narrative build up to make us feel compelled to care about the overarching plot hinted at in the discoverable journals. The speed and bee-line nature of the enemies encountered makes it more or less impossible to avoid any of them, counter what you'd expect for the genre, further compounded by a complete lack of stagger on the melee weapon. Everything is effectively a bullet sponge on any difficulty that isn't easy; considering you're forced to kite most monsters, that makes for an incredibly tedious combat loop despite gunplay being otherwise excellent. Other incidental positives? The puzzles are well-executed classics, though such an excessively limited inventory and needlessly large …

Short and simple, but I enjoyed it for what it is. The graphics are average, but the atmosphere still works, and the game does a good job keeping you engaged while exploring. I liked the limited inventory because it made me think a little more about what I was carrying. It gives the game that classic survival horror feel without becoming too complicated. Even though it is a shorter game, it still got me a few times. There were moments when I was not expecting an enemy to show up, and I actually said “awh!” out loud. That surprised me. It is a fun, simple horror game if you want something quick with some old-school survival horror elements.

Its a fun quick indie game. Its nothing special but it definitely deserves support. If you like resident evil or silent hill, it mimics the basic concept of them. I would love to see more done. My only complaint is the price. This is probably worth $3 to $5. Id recommend getting it on sale.

Good

An item I need to progress is missing. I've backtracked thru the entire accessible area about 5 times now.