The Holyburn Witches

"The Holyburn Witches" is certainly a novel idea and a genuinely made game, which is all too rare when you consider how many shady low effort shovelware games are dumped onto Steam. So kudos to the developer for doing the right thing, and also doing the right thing by also making this free. What do you do in the game? It's a short survival adventure game, and the gameplay takes place within a series of 360 degree panoramic shots. So basically Google Street View, the game. Fair enough I guess. Unfortunately it's unpolished and buggy, the story is more atmosphere than anything coherent, and the survival mechanics are a little too brutal, taking away too much from the narrative. The graphics in this game are passable, but could be better. And while it's vital for any game to have impressive visuals (gaming is a visual medium, after all), there's more to a game than just the graphics. To be worth a gamers time, the game must match top tier visuals with top tier gameplay, and that's not happening here. It's free... now, but it wasn't before. The developer was charging $8 USD for this. Price barriers, especially on low quality products, can be a direct cause of failure. It's…

The Holyburn Witches takes a stripped-down approach to survival horror, placing atmosphere and vulnerability ahead of elaborate combat or complicated progression systems. Developed and published by Moolion, the game brings players to the isolated surroundings of Holyburn, Maine, where an abandoned village and its neighboring forest carry the scars of disturbing events. What begins as a seemingly straightforward struggle to survive gradually develops into a supernatural mystery involving witches, ritualistic activity, and the unsettling history of a place that has clearly been left behind for good reason. The basic survival loop is easy to understand but effectively supports the horror. Daylight provides an opportunity to explore the forest and gather firewood, while nighttime turns those preparations into a matter of survival. The bonfire acts as the player's main source of protection, making every piece of collected wood important. Once darkness arrives, allowing the flames to disappear can leave the player exposed to the witches lurking beyond the safety of the fire. This creates an interesting relationship between exploration and resource management, since wandering farther dur…

fun game, but its a little buggy, the first play was fine till i realized i could not in fact open my inventory, and then i quit and retried again and this time i opened the inventory right before the timer went off and when the next screen came up i couldn't close it, but other then the menu sucking its a fun little point and click

After reading some reviews I was skeptical but I thoroughly enjoyed the game. The forest setting feels dark and creepy with the realistic sounds that they added to keep you fully immersed. It took two tries to finish the game, the first try I was alone and nearly jumped out of my skin hearing the witches. Second was with friends who were all jumping with me until I finished the final night. For just a point and click game that makes you pick up mushrooms and wood it sure does a good job at keeping you scared the whole time. All in all, it’s an easy and unsettling horror game. 4/5

Do not waste your time with this "game". You simply walk the same path each day. There are not enough mushrooms and pieces of wood to get you past the second night. Total waste of time. Rating: 1/10

There isn't really any gameplay to this game at all. It's mainly just hover over a button that takes you somewhere and collect wood if it's present. I cannot open the inventory at all, despite it telling me that there was an option to. This lead to my health decreasing to a point that I would have died had I not given up on this game. The idea is unique and did evoke some scares, but I don't think it was effective enough to be made into a game.