Loathful
- April 3, 2024
- Fazerdoo
- 2h median play time
Get on SteamLoathful is a Survival Horror in first person with PS1 graphics. Bring yourself in a retro-style adventure where all your nightmares are brought to life. Survive your demons, dive into your darkest fears to overthrow a mysterious virus who seems to have put his hands on this universe.
Reviews
- Immersive horror experience with a creepy atmosphere and well-timed jumpscares.
- Polished visuals and sound design, effectively capturing a retrofuturism vibe.
- Engaging gameplay with a mix of puzzles and monster mechanics that keep players on edge.
- Stamina system is poorly designed, with slow recharge times and missable upgrades that hinder gameplay.
- Game can be too dark and confusing, making navigation difficult and leading to missed content.
- Some players found the story confusing and felt the game lacked a cohesive narrative.
- atmosphere6 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is described as unsettling and immersive, featuring great sound design and nostalgic elements that enhance its creepiness. While some players appreciate the spooky moments, there are mixed feelings about the antagonist's design and the overall presentation, with some preferring the more anxiety-inducing demo experience.
“Fun game, cool atmosphere.”
“It has some spooky moments and nice atmosphere, but to be honest, the demo was much scarier as it had better presentation: giving you less context and no notes built more anxiety from the start.”
“Unsettling atmosphere.”
“Great sound design, and a lot of very creepy and nostalgic touches to the atmosphere.”
“If you want your antagonist to be scary and fitting with the atmosphere, then you should have probably not designed him like a goofy Clockwork Orange ripoff.”
- gameplay5 mentions
- 60 % positive mentions
- -20 % neutral mentions
- 60 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by a dynamic pace that maintains player engagement, featuring unique monster mechanics and item interactions. However, some players find the slow stamina recharge frustrating, as it limits exploration and is only relevant for specific puzzles and escape sequences. Overall, it offers a compelling horror experience, albeit with some gameplay limitations.
“Enough changes of pace to keep the player on edge and allow gameplay to take different turns.”
“Really good horror game with a heap of great monster mechanics.”
“It introduces several items with unique mechanics and takes them away again.”
“Stamina recharges too slowly, is missable for those who don't backtrack, and ultimately doesn't help with gameplay other than one puzzle and one escape sequence.”
“It introduces several items with unique mechanics, and takes them away again.”
“Maybe it's just the typical 2-hour gameplay trap, I don't know.”
- story4 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The story received mixed reviews, with some players finding it confusing and lacking depth, while others praised its engaging short narrative and strong analog horror presentation. Overall, it offers a brief but immersive experience, lasting around three hours.
“Excellent short story with around 3 hours of content.”
“Loathful's presentation is amazing, and follows the concept and story of something you would see in an analog horror series.”
“The story was confusing.”
“There wasn't enough story to fully get invested, and there was too much running around in the dark solving puzzles.”
- graphics3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The graphics are highly polished, featuring aesthetically pleasing visual glitches, well-crafted neural net videos, and impressive asset usage. Many reviewers praise the scene and set presentation as among the best in indie games, although some feel that despite the strong visuals, the overall experience may lack enjoyment.
“The graphics are good, and the scene and set presentation is some of the best I've seen in an indie game.”
“Very polished in many ways, including the replication of visual glitches aesthetically, well-made neural net videos, and good asset usage.”
“Really neat premise and awesome graphics.”
- stability3 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's stability is generally praised for its polished visuals and effective use of assets, though players have noted some issues with buggy save files and the intentional inclusion of visual glitches that may catch some off guard.
“Be aware, save files are a bit buggy.”
“The implication of the 'glitches' that the player will encounter at the end were building up, so I suppose I should've been ready for it.”
- humor2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is characterized by quirky dark comedy that enhances the overall experience, often eliciting genuine laughter from players. Users appreciate the clever and unexpected comedic elements that complement the horror theme.
“My search bar tried to auto-fill it as 'you thought you were getting lucky roblox id,' which made me laugh so hard.”
“If you enjoy a genuine, good horror experience with a bit of quirky dark humor, then do yourself a favor and get this game.”
- emotional1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players express a strong emotional connection to the game, appreciating its overall design, but some feel that certain gameplay mechanics, like stamina management, could be improved to enhance the experience during tense moments.
- grinding1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding experience in the sewer area to be overly tedious due to its large and confusing layout, which detracts from the overall enjoyment of the game.
“The layout of the sewer area feels too large, confusing, and tedious.”
“Grinding for resources takes an excessive amount of time, making the game feel more like a chore than an enjoyable experience.”
“The repetitive nature of grinding makes it hard to stay engaged with the game.”
