The Painscreek Killings

I love this game! The setting, the ambient music, the well developed characters, the red herrings, the story, all of it. It's a bit too scary for me at the end, but that's not a critique of the game! Just something for others to be mindful of. Brilliant game.

Great game, super complex yet solvable. Just the right amount of no linear story, having to remember details for later/get creative with hints and still being able to piece things together :)

An amazing game the likes of which I haven't seen before. The detective, crime-solving game with open world and zero hand-holding is a very nice touch and provides (somewhat) authentic experience of solving a murder mystery that occurred years ago. I absolutely love and adore the concept. Admittedly, I didn't have patience for meticulously and honestly going through every place and evidence over and over again, when stuck. There's no worse frustration when you spend days on searching every nook and cranny to see where I missed a key or forgot a clue I had, only to realize I hadn't flipped the photo/item over to see a clue written right on it in the very last room - thus, I had to refer to some guides. Another point is a slow creeping fear and anxiety. I'm very susceptible to horror and jump scares, I'm easily scared, I know that. So, just the lighting and the sound design was enough sometimes to drive me up the wall in anxiety. I had to remind myself over and over again, "it's just an investigative game, there's not going to be slasher or chasing or running away" [spoiler](had to eat my words on that one, I did, yeah)[/spoiler]. And that's not even touching upon the story…

There are still a lot of questions. Who killed [spoiler]Scott[/spoiler]? With proofs I mean. Where the package? What's in Inn's [spoiler]tool chest[/spoiler]? Who is [spoiler]Derrek[/spoiler]'s father? Etc. But these questions are actually the sigh of how much had to be written in a story in order to make it alive. Oh, the story which grows and sprouts for 25 years straight is not easy to write. The authors did it. Well done. Excellent. THe story is sad, but is very nicely done. And definitely there are much to think about. I actually agree with what's said in a closing letter - the story could turn completely different... but alas. Thank you very much.

I refunded. Game is just too boring......................................................................... Its the type of game that expects you to actually treat stuff like a full time job. FInd a key: where does this key lead? Who knowwsss??? Then there's also the other part, which is the lack of stakes. You are literally. just a newspaper woman. like bro. not even a detective. you are just a busybody, doing ♥♥♥♥ for work......??????????????? If I was an actual detective maybe I would get drive enough to work through the slog of the early game. Not for me and not for you if you expect a product compatible with a game. This is like if you were given the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ killers of shadows of doubt to deal with but you have to play while the game actually sabotages you by putting unrelated information next to your clues just to make you waste time on purpose.

Really really good. Mild Spoiler: [spoiler]There are two "jumpscares" which I was NOT appreciative of, given my understanding was this was a quiet detective puzzle game, but in hindsight it really helped with the uneasy feeling like everything you do is being watched. [/spoiler] Super intuitive without really any dead ends Iran into. Every secret code you find can be cracked, and every key you find has a corresponding lock. Information is easy to cross reference, as long as you can keep names and dates straight. Atmosphere, music, and visuals were really nice overall. So much detail went into this game, I definitely recommend!!!