Eldervale

About

"Eldervale is a single-player horror shooter game, paying homage to early 2000's classics, with a gripping 3-4 hour story. As Ophelia Delaney, return to your childhood home, Alder Stow, to face the unknown horrors, lucid dreams, and suppressed memories, now threatening your sanity. Explore and unravel the estate's dark past, using puzzles, combat, and stealth to build up story and mechanics in this atmospheric survival experience."

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

88%

Audience ScoreBased on 134 reviews

atmosphere32 positive mentions

stability4 negative mentions

The game successfully captures the atmosphere and feel of classic survival horror games like Silent Hill, providing a nostalgic experience for fans of the genre.
Puzzles are well-designed and offer a good level of challenge without being overly frustrating, enhancing the overall gameplay experience.
Despite its flaws, the game is a commendable effort from a solo developer, showcasing a unique art style and engaging story that keeps players invested.

Combat mechanics are janky and inconsistent, making encounters feel frustrating, especially with limited ammo and health resources.
The controls can be awkward and unresponsive, leading to a less enjoyable gameplay experience, particularly during critical moments.
The game suffers from various technical issues, including glitches and a lack of polish, which detracts from the overall immersion and enjoyment.

atmosphere
50 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
64%
30%
6%
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its eerie and immersive qualities, effectively combining visuals, sound design, and ambient tracks to create a tense and creepy environment. Many reviewers noted that the atmosphere enhances the gameplay experience, making it feel reminiscent of classic horror titles while allowing for player agency in combat. Despite some technical shortcomings, the overall vibe and consistency of the atmosphere stand out as a significant achievement, especially for a solo developer.
- “It's creepy and atmospheric; each floor/room has their own ambient track.”
- “Atmosphere - perfect mix of tense with mild respites in a few safe areas, but you never were safe long enough to be lulled into relaxing.”
- “One of the most important factors to nail in this genre is an eerie atmosphere; combining visuals, art design, and sound effects.”
- “The atmosphere, both graphics and sounds, are some of the creepiest out there.”
- “The camera and the combat are extremely wonky, but the story and the atmosphere completely make up for that.”
story
50 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
28%
66%
6%
The story is generally well-received, featuring a Lovecraftian and creepy atmosphere that draws players in with its intriguing lore and non-linear narrative. However, many users find the storytelling confusing, often relying heavily on text and interactables, which can make it difficult to follow. Despite these challenges, the game offers meaningful choices and replayability, enhancing the overall experience.
- “The story is good overall, not too simple nor complicated, cryptic enough to keep you pushing for answers.”
- “Also, the story is genuinely interesting and creepy.”
- “I appreciate how much attention to detail there is, and the story is ultra creepy!”
- “The story is a bit hard to follow, being delivered entirely by text and interactables.”
- “My only complaint is the story, which in my opinion was very confusing and felt incomplete.”
- “Every minute was spent figuring out the plot and advancing through the orphanage.”
gameplay
34 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
24%
68%
9%
The gameplay of Eldervale is characterized by a unique atmosphere and some enjoyable mechanics, such as color-coded locks for doors, but it suffers from repetitive environments and dull combat. Players have noted inconsistent hitboxes and awkward controls, leading to a preference for running over engaging in combat, which detracts from the overall experience. While it captures elements of horror reminiscent of classic titles like Silent Hill, many feel it lacks the strategic depth and fluidity needed for a more engaging gameplay experience.
- “Small QoL mechanic I like is that locked doors have their locks slightly highlighted in a color of the key they require.”
- “I realize Eldervale is not the prettiest game nor does it have 'cutting edge gameplay', but it manages to be an actual 'horror' game as opposed to merely being an action spectacle game wearing the empty husk of the survival horror genre.”
- “This game has a nice, unique atmosphere and is fairly scary, while employing some decent puzzles and some decent action gameplay.”
- “The gameplay is dull and involves opening what seems like hundreds and hundreds of doors that all lead to bare empty rooms that look exactly alike.”
- “Hitboxes are wildly inconsistent, and the blocking mechanic is a joke.”
- “As it is, the gameplay is a little derpy with the melee combat being quite awkward and the correct choice usually being to run, whereas the best action-horror games abide both running and fighting or at least employ the use of strategy in determining which is the correct decision.”
graphics
30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
70%
10%
The graphics of the game are described as a mixed bag, featuring a cartoonish style with faded visuals and a purplish haze that may require adjustments for optimal viewing. While some players appreciate the unique aesthetic and nostalgic throwback to early PS1 horror games, others find the graphics rough around the edges and minimalistic. Overall, the atmosphere is praised for its eerie quality, enhanced by the art design and lighting, despite some criticisms regarding the simplicity of monster designs and clunky controls.
- “The art style and atmosphere are a perfect throwback to those early PS1 horror games.”
- “This game has a really good aesthetic from the lighting to the yellow, bulbous glowing plants; it's unreal that one person made all this!”
- “The graphics are very faded and washed out with a purplish haze.”
- “The visuals/assets felt a little rough around the edges at first, but I figured out the gamma/contrast was way messed up.”
- “While the graphics weren't all to my taste, I must say the game really had a look of its own, and that's a very good thing in this age of asset flipping and other games trying to chase some trendy look.”
music
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
50%
17%
The music in Eldervale is highly praised for its unique and well-crafted soundtrack, effectively blending soft musical notes with eerie growls and ambient sounds to create a tense atmosphere. This combination enhances the game's horror elements, with sudden stops in the music adding to the sense of fear and curiosity during exploration. Overall, the sound design significantly contributes to the immersive experience of the game.
- “Eldervale is a surprisingly well-made indie horror puzzle action game with a very unique and well-done soundtrack that plays off its limitations very well.”
- “Ever so faintly, you can hear the soft musical notes playing in the background, only to be tensed up by the strange sounds of whining pain or angry growls and grunts, giving off a great feeling of fear and curiosity.”
- “The music while exploring most places has a very strange style of mixing very soft musical notes with strange growls and echoing creature sounds.”
- “Ever so faintly can you hear the soft musical notes playing in the background only to be tensed up by the strange sounds of whining pain or angry growls and grunts, and it gives off a great feeling of fear and curiosity.”
- “Music and ambient sounds really built an amazing environment, and sometimes there were hard stops in the music, whether intentional or not, going around a corner, it terrified me!”
replayability
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
25%
38%
The "Deep Reserves" DLC is praised for its replayability, featuring a roguelike mode that, while somewhat short, offers multiple difficulty levels and skins to enhance the experience. Players find it a fun diversion that remains engaging even after completing Ophelia's quest, providing ample opportunities for replay.
- “The Deep Reserves DLC is a replayable roguelike mode that keeps players coming back for more.”
- “Somewhat short, but multiple difficulties and skins provide significant replay value.”
- “The Deep Reserves also offers a lot of replayability after Ophelia's quest is completed.”
- “Somewhat short, but multiple difficulties (and skins) provide replay value.”
- “"Deep Reserves" also offers a lot of replayability after Ophelia's quest is completed.”
- “+ Deep Reserves is a fun rogue-lite diversion offering a lot of replayability after the quest is completed.”
stability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game exhibits some stability issues, including bugs and jankiness, but overall, it is playable from start to finish without encountering any game-breaking glitches. Given that it was primarily developed by a single individual, many users find its stability commendable despite its flaws.
- “It has its flaws - really short and can be buggy and janky - but keep in mind it was essentially made by just one person, and for that, it's really good.”
- “Can be played from start to end and get the two endings without any game-breaking bugs or glitches (at least not that I've experienced).”
character development
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
50%
25%
Character development in the game is described as basic yet effective, fulfilling its purpose without being overly complex. Despite the simplicity of the character designs, the overall execution is commendable, especially given that the game was created by a solo developer.
- “The game checked a lot of boxes for me, from the sound, atmosphere, level design, character designs, etc. I was surprised how well done the game is, considering it's made by a solo dev.”
- “Character designs are a bit basic, but get the job done.”
emotional
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players express a strong sense of nostalgia while playing, drawing emotional connections to classic horror titles from the PS2 era, such as Silent Hill and Resident Evil. This retro atmosphere evokes fond memories and enhances the overall emotional experience of the game.
- “The PS2 vibes throughout the whole game made me feel nostalgic for sagas like Silent Hill, Resident Evil, Alone in the Dark, and similar titles from the 90s-2000s.”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious, which detracts from the overall enjoyment of combat.
- “This makes combat more tedious than it should be.”
optimization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
150%
150%
The game's optimization is not fully realized, but players can achieve smoother performance by adjusting the settings to lower levels.
- “Optimization is not yet 100%, but you can lower the settings for a smoother gaming experience.”
- “The game offers flexibility in settings, allowing players to adjust for better performance.”
- “While optimization isn't perfect, there are options to enhance gameplay by tweaking the settings.”
- “Optimization is not yet 100%, but you can lower the settings for a smoother game.”
- “Optimization is lacking, leading to frequent frame drops and stuttering during gameplay.”
- “The game struggles with optimization, making it difficult to enjoy the experience even on high-end hardware.”
monetization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is praised for its quality, especially given that it is developed by a solo creator and features no advertising, indicating a player-friendly monetization approach.