Husk

About

"Husk" is a single-player horror action game set in the abandoned town of Shivercliff with a down-to-earth storyline focusing on violence and addiction. Inspired by classics like Silent Hill, it offers an immersive 90's climate, atmospheric soundtrack, and various monsters to fight. The game, powered by Unreal Engine 4, provides a classical survival horror experience with different locations and boss fights, lasting around 4-5 hours.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

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

55%

Audience ScoreBased on 86 reviews

story14 positive mentions

stability18 negative mentions

The game features a spooky atmosphere and decent graphics, creating an immersive experience for players.
The story is engaging enough for fans of the genre, with some players finding it reminiscent of classic titles like Silent Hill and Alan Wake.
Exploration is a key element, and many players appreciate the detailed environments and the sense of nostalgia it evokes.

The gameplay suffers from technical issues, including bugs, poor enemy AI, and frustrating combat mechanics that detract from the overall experience.
Many players found the pacing slow, particularly in repetitive areas like the hospital, leading to boredom and a lack of engagement.
Some players criticized the game for feeling like a walking simulator with minimal interaction and lackluster enemy design.

story
46 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30%
61%
9%
The game's story has received mixed reviews, with some players appreciating its emotional depth conveyed through letters and monologues, while others found it predictable and lacking in engagement. The atmosphere is praised as immersive and beautiful, but the narrative often feels bogged down by repetitive settings and gameplay issues, leading to a sense of frustration. Overall, while the story has potential, it falls short for many, making it a divisive aspect of the game.
- “I delight in immersing myself in the environment as well as indulging in its story.”
- “The story is told mostly through written letters, self-monologue, and phone calls, which are a lot stronger voiced and actually convey emotion and have decent writing.”
- “The story and horror elements are well done and kept surprising me.”
- “Poor clone of Silent Hill, good atmosphere but bad gameplay and story.”
- “A really good introduction and beautiful world to explore is severely let down by story, sound, AI, and a hospital level that would never end.”
- “And finally the story itself falls way short of Silent Hill and is pretty predictable.”
atmosphere
42 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
52%
40%
7%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its eerie and immersive qualities, effectively creating a haunting environment that enhances the overall experience. Many players appreciate the detailed settings and strong use of lighting, which contribute to a sense of dread without relying on cheap jump scares. However, some critiques mention that while the atmosphere is compelling, the gameplay mechanics, particularly enemy encounters, detract from the overall enjoyment.
- “I appreciated the atmosphere and setting, as it generally creeped me out, and it was nice that the game didn't rely on cheap jump scares.”
- “The atmosphere is great; it has a very lonely, dark, sad feeling about it, and the way it is set up is great.”
- “Not surprising as this is an Unreal Engine game, the lighting and smoke effects are really good and provide a haunting atmosphere.”
- “Spooky atmosphere of an abandoned city along with bugs and poor optimization.”
- “Considering the game was released in 2017, you would think that they would at least have made enemy battles fun or even frightening and not just a chore. The size is fairly hefty, taking up 13GB of hard drive space, which is not worth your time nor mine. It's a shame because the game actually plays really well. If only the devs had spent as much time on enemy fighting mechanics as they obviously have on building the atmosphere and the town itself, then the game would get a recommendation from me. But as it stands, the enemies are overpowered and can walk through barriers to attack.”
- “It keeps an eerie atmosphere, making you feel extra vulnerable by giving you security blankets and then taking them from you at times when you want them the most.”
graphics
32 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
44%
38%
19%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some players praising the atmospheric environments and solid visuals, particularly for an indie title using Unreal Engine 4. However, others criticize the graphics as outdated and buggy, detracting from the overall experience. While many appreciate the attention to detail and artistic design, performance issues and glitches have been noted, impacting the game's reception.
- “The game has the most beautiful and uncomfortably scary environment that I have seen since Alan Wake. It varies along the story as well: caves, small town, harbor, woods, hospital... and the graphics are amazing for an indie title.”
- “Graphic atmosphere and physics felt real.”
- “Graphics (Unreal Engine 4): the very decent graphics, with attention to detail, reflected in diversified level design, fills the game with the right touch of mystery.”
- “Omg this is one of the worst games I ever played, buggy enemies, graphics are way outdated and what starts as a story suddenly is nothing great.”
- “Terrible graphics, boring gameplay, buggy mechanics - 2/10, don't waste your time.”
- “Graphics are but one of a dozen elements to make a good game experience.”
music
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
70%
20%
10%
The music in the game is described as beautiful and atmospheric, enhancing the overall experience, though it is noted to be minimal and sometimes low in volume. The soundtrack effectively ramps up during key moments, contributing to the game's tension, while the voice acting also receives praise for its quality. Overall, the combination of music and sound design significantly enriches the game's mood and environment.
- “The soundtrack is beautiful, so are the voice actors, and just everything in this game screams 'atmosphere'... and as 'bad' as people make the combat, I'm an absolute noob at games and had no severe problems with it.”
- “The music is perfect.”
- “Thumbs up for voice acting and soundtrack.”
- “Very brief soundtrack”
- “Very brief soundtrack”
gameplay
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
67%
17%
The gameplay has been criticized for relying on tedious mechanics such as looping levels and poorly designed enemy encounters, which detract from the overall experience. While the exploration and puzzle-solving elements are present, they are often overshadowed by glitches, unengaging combat, and a lack of innovation, leading to a general consensus that the game fails to deliver a compelling experience. Despite a decent atmosphere, many reviewers found the gameplay to be boring and frustrating, resulting in low recommendations.
- “Gameplay: first person, main focus is clearly 'exploration' and solving easy puzzles (collect keys, restore power, search for pin codes, etc.), but with survival aspects.”
- “I've seen let's plays of this game on YouTube, which is where I initially discovered the actual gameplay.”
- “Considering the game was released in 2017, you would think that they would at least have made enemy battles fun or even frightening, and not just a chore. The game actually plays really well, if only the devs had spent as much time on enemy fighting mechanics as they obviously have on building the atmosphere and the town itself.”
- “I hate when devs use cheap approaches to try and lengthen the gameplay, like ridiculous mazes or looping levels.”
- “Overall, the environment is pretty decent, but it wasn't engaging or unique enough to cause me to recommend it, and the mechanics of the game along with the glitches were too off-putting to be an enjoyable experience.”
- “Terrible graphics, boring gameplay, buggy mechanics - 2/10, don't waste your time.”
stability
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is heavily criticized, with numerous reports of bugs and glitches that significantly hinder the gameplay experience. Players have encountered issues such as unresponsive mechanics, audio and visual glitches, and progression blockers, suggesting a lack of thorough testing prior to release. While some appreciate the artwork, the overall consensus is that the game's stability issues detract from its potential enjoyment.
- “Overall, the environment is pretty decent, but it wasn't engaging or unique enough to cause me to recommend it, and the mechanics of the game along with the glitches were too off-putting to be an enjoyable experience.”
- “Still buggy, I'm currently stuck on a part where I need to open a door that won't open, but it says 'open' when I get close.”
- “I really enjoyed the artwork and graphics, and I feel that a lot of work has been put into the game, but sadly due to not having a large-scale beta test, the game falls kind of flat due to the slow-paced start and hidden glitches and bugs that you may or may not encounter depending on how you play the game.”
optimization
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
50%
38%
The game's optimization has been widely criticized, with players reporting significant performance issues, including frequent frame rate drops that make gameplay feel sluggish. While there are various graphics settings available to help mitigate these problems, many users feel that the overall experience is marred by bugs and poor optimization, detracting from the otherwise spooky atmosphere.
- “There are a lot of settings to adjust the details of graphics quality, to avoid performance issues.”
- “Spooky atmosphere of an abandoned city along with bugs and poor optimization.”
- “Well, first of all, there are several performance-related issues, with the framerate often turning into a slideshow.”
- “There are a lot of settings to adjust the details of graphics quality to avoid performance issues.”
humor
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is highlighted by the absurdly quick gun-drawing mechanic and the comically janky appearance of the monsters, which detracts from any intended horror elements and instead elicits laughter.
- “One funny element is how fast you bring the gun up; I mean, it is lightning fast.”
- “When some monsters finally showed up, they turned out to be so hilariously janky that I lost any hope this game would ever get even remotely scary.”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and repetitive, particularly due to the monotonous task of finding keys, which can lead to boredom over time.
- “It got boring and tedious after a while, especially with the repetition of finding keys.”