Ouroboros: Prelude

I am upset. I am genuinely very upset. I want to love this game, or, at the very least, like it. It is visually stunning, and the concept is simple, I know I could get lost for hours trying to find my way out. HOWEVER. It's just way too dark. I understand adding to the atmopshere and wanting to nudge your players to using light sources, but jesus. Candles are so few and far in between, and IRL my eyes would have adjusted better than that. I don't disagree with having some areas be pitch dark and require candle light to see, but overall it is just too dark. Another fatal flaw is that you cannot remove the head bob during movement, and, for me at least, that makes me have extreme motion sickness. I can't play this game, and I can't recommend it as it is now. I'm very upset. FIX IT DEV SO I CAN ENJOY MYSELF PLZ

Ouroboros: Prelude is a rogue-like horror game that heavily borrows ideas from Amnesia: The Dark Descent. The player controlled character is susceptible to going insane, with the sanity meter dwindling over various elements; currently it seems to be only from monster sightings. At this time, the game has no real discernible story, the only thing that's known is that you have woken up in some incredibly dark, dank dungeon, and that there are monsters lurking somewhere in the labyrinthine chambers. The developer, Dreamverse Entertainment, has done a good job so far with creating a very creepy and foreboding atmosphere. Ouroboros: Prelude definitely has a lot of potential, and it's important to keep in mind that the game is still in its Alpha stage. However, there is still a lot of polishing that needs to be done in order for this title to actually be enjoyable to the masses, and that is why I cannot recommend it at this time. This review is going to be aimed more at the developer rather than the general audience for now, regarding the improvements that need to be made. Right off the bat, the game is way too dark; it's nothing like what is shown in the trailer. Everything is black a…

Way too dark. Clunky, convoluted controls. Even once you figure out how to read the note, which is amazingly awkward to do, it's too dark to read them (with brightness cranked up). Your warning about sanity is valid.. if I forced myself to suffer through more of this horrible execution, I would go nuts. To be constructive, these aspects can easily be fixed; games like Penumbra have a similar feel, and somehow they manage to be usable. Hope this helps to make version 1.0 actually playable.

I really did want to like this game, but the whole idea behind video gaming is for entertainment and this is too confusing and broken to be entertaining. First thing I notice is there is no tutorial of any kind, which fair enough, I skip the tutorial half the time anyways because most of them are a waste of time. Wouldn't be too far off the mark here however as it takes dying again and again or restarting to learn anything and every time you restart it everything changes. Second thing I notice in the dark cell you start in is that there is a table with some items on it. You can pick up flint and steel, 1 candle, tinderbox, and at first there was a candleholder (which then disappeared on subsequent attempts); as well as there being a note on it that you can't actually pick up only read. Once again here is where a tutorial wouldn't be off the mark however because first time trying to light the candle in the candleholder I ended up dropping it with no way to extinguish it or put it in the candleholder; only able to carry it around with the mouse, until it dies out. Third thing, the note I can't even read due to the tiny print and how dark it is. Honestly if the controls were a little …

Negatives: - Unbelievably dark even on max brightness setting. - The first abomination was stuck on the cave wall and I was able to just walk past him. - The player constantly gets stuck in crouch position and is super annoying to unstuck. - Contrary to logic even when the players sanity is at max the view is constantly being distorted and at points it just becomes a blurry mess. - The terrain is god awful to walk in. - Moving objects is very amnesia-like which is nice but objects just feel 10x more heavier, harder and more annoying to move than in amnesia. Positives: - Audio and sounds are on point and give the same eerie amnesia atmosphere.

Love the dark atmosphere and mazes that this game offers. It is pretty easy to get lost and the map seemingly changes around you when you are exploring. This game is sort of like Agony in a way but in many ways it is not. If you are a fan of mazes and dark atmospheres this game is for you. As of right now I have 0.7 Hours and it seems like a good game that has potential. Forgot when I snagged this but its been on my list for a while and decided to give it a go. However there are its flaws too but since this game is in Early Access I will comeback and change my review if it ever leaves Early Access.